New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4361, 12 March 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 1875.

New South Wales is financially iu an enviable position. With a public debt less than that of Victoria," and very much loss than that of New Zealand, and with an unalienated territory greater in extent than either of those colonies, New South Wales may be said to start the financial year 1875, with a credit to revenue of £1,538,270;—" or " fully six months' gross revenue of the " Colony," as the Sydney Morning Herald remarks. Now, this is a most remarkable state of things, so remarkable, and so exceptional, indeed, that one wonders how ever it has come to pass in the oldest of a group of colonies which always manifested a strong inclination to " over-run the constable."

This result has been gradually brought about by prudent administration, a liberalfiscal policy, and absolute security for investments. There have been no Legislative surprises to disturb the calculations of capitalists. There have been no speculative proposals by Government, suggesting as a prudential measure the contraction of credits preparatory to a new departure in business enterprises. Nor has the New South Wales Parliament adopted the other extreme of pursuing a retrograde policy, by laying embargoes on trade, in the hopeless and impossible task of increasing the colonial capital and commerce by limiting exchanges. On the contrary, the Sydney Parliament pursued an exactly opposite courße. When the finances of the colony required it, new taxes were imposed for revenue purposes; when the state of the Treasury permitted, these taxes were abolished. The Stamp Duties Act, which New Zealand originally borrowed from New South' Wales, has lapsed by effluxion of time, and it is doubtful whether Mr. Treasurer Forster will propose its renewal, although the machinery for carrying it on is in existence. This will further relieve business of an annual impost of £IOO,OOO. The newspaper stamp duty has been repealed, and .a liberal tariff generally lias been adopted. Yet all this has been brought to pass since May, 1872. At that time, when Mr. Piddington took charge of the finances of>New South Wales, "the Consolidated " Revenue was overdrawn to the extent "of £304,717;' so that, (remarks the " Sydney Morning Herald), if we add " the present credit to the then over- " draft, there is a difference between the " impecuniosity of the colony then, and "its wealth now, of £1,842,987." The administrative credit, however, is mainly due to Mr. Lloyd, who went into office with Mr. Parkes, in December, 1872, at which date the Consolidated Revenue was still overdrawn, although Sir James Martin's Treasurer had acted with much prudence and foresight. But Mr. Lloyd took the most statesman-like view of the position. With the prescience of a true statesman, he saw in the revival of mining enterprise, and in the discovery of tin ore over a wide area, an opportunity for-drawing to New South Wales the - floating- capital and population which were being-squeezed out of Victoria, by reason of its protective policy ; and with the rapidity of execution which generally accompanies prescience, he proposed the abolition of ad valorem duties, and the substitution of a tariff, for revenue purposes, which is as near an approach to Free Trade as the financial position of the colony warranted. The effect was surprising. The revenue increased with the rapid increase of trade. Population flowed into the colony. Sydney threw off its old-fashioned business ways, and pushed out feelers in every direction. Public workswere projected; assisted immigration was resumed ; and a liberal land policy, in the interest of settlement, was pursued. To crown all, not only was the overdraft of £304,717, which stood to debit of Consolidated Revenue on May, 1872, paid oft, but a credit balance of £1,538,279 was handed over by Mr. Lloyd iu February, 1875, to his successor. Surely these results are far too remarkable not to arrest the attention of our public men. They are not an accident. Chance had nothing to do with them. The whole may be clearly traced to wise and liberal statesmanship, and prudent administration. It i§ true that Mr. Lloyd never claimed any special merit. The Morning Herald, writing on this point, says :—" Mr. Lloyd has had the " good fortune to be Treasurer at a time " when the funds of the colony were " more abundant than at any previous " period of our history. He has very " properly always abstained from claim- " ing to himself any portion of the credit " of this prosperity, and has not assumed " that it was a special mark of the favor "of Providence on the, country which "had the wisdom to elect so proper a "financier. Tho credit, however, that he " may fairly claim, is to have handled the " money wisely. We cannot as yet say " what criticisms his successors have in " store for him ; biit, so far as the facts " are at present known, Mr. Lloyd has "administered the affairs of his depart- " monfc wisely and well, and tho proposals " that he made for turning his surplus to " account appear to us to have been judi- " cious. His tenure of office will always " be noteworthy iu our history as that in "which the ad valorem duties were re- " pealed. It was his good fortune to be " able to relieve the pressure of taxation, " and his Budget speeches were models " of clearness and fulness. His successor "now enters into possession of an unox- " am pled sum of money, and we sincerely " trust that it will be wisely and vir- " tuously used." It might be well if on all occasions public men were as modest in parading their achievements as Mr. Lloyd has been ; and it is a noteworthy fact, that he has fallen, along with his colleagues, not on account of any administrative misdoings, but solely through a blunder in the matter of tho pardon of Gardiner, tho bushranger. There can be no doubt the country and tho Legislature were right in rejecting the Parkes Administration, with all its merits, for its unconstitutional procedure ; but wo doubt if there is another colony in Australasia which would have displayed a similarly independent public spirit on such a question. We fear there is not. Wherefore, we are forced to give tho palm to New South Wales financially, and in being in tho possession of an electorate having an independent and enlightonod public opinion. We have been accustomed hitiierto to hold our heads very high, and to look with supreme contempt upon New South Wales politics and politicians ; but let us ask, what chance an Opposition in Now Zealand would

have had against a Government, say on the nice constitutional point involved in communicating the Governor's minute on Gardiner's pardon to the Legislature, if that Government had had in hand a surplus of nearly two millions, and had just negotiated a railway loan of a million-and-a-half, the lines being still unsettled ? Why, the. Government, would, have been carried 'sky-high, arid the Opposition would have found . themselves nowhere. Let us, therefore, as a community, be honest to ourselves and our neighbors. Our public business is conducted with much greater decorum than those of New South Wales. We may have more "talent" in our public men ; but we have yet to find a colonial public opinion. That Mr. Parkes was defeated with everything in his favor to purchase support is a fact that speaks volumes for the purity of his administration ; and the danger of the position for his successors is pointed out by the Morning Herald in the following suggestive passage, with which we shall conclude this article :

" Constitutionally speaking, it is almost " a dangerous power for the Government " to possess to have such a sum of money "at its disposal. It may of course be " employed in an underhand way in "corrupting constituencies, in bribing " hon. members, by a promise of all '' sorts of good things for the people on " whose favor their own position de- " pends, and in doing this with an eye " not so much to the general good of the " country, as to keeping themselves in " power. We hope, however, that the " new ministers will have more virtue "than to lend themselves to such a "course. We had better be poor again "than for our public wealth to be the " means of corrupting our public men. " Mr. Forster, however, will well under- " stand that the position being one unprecedented and abnormal, there is "attached to it a special danger. The " distribution of the money will be re- " garded with an unusual amount of "jealousy, and this jealousy will be " proper under the circumstances. It is " only by a watchfull oversight over all " that the Government does, and over all " its processes of making itself popular, " that we can have any effectual guarantee " against abuses."