The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1880.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1213, 6 March 1880, Page 2

The Oamaru Mail WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE NEW ZEALAND AGRICULTURIST. SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1880.

The development of the natural riches of the Colony is a matter to which we have naturally turned our attention at such a time as the present. We can no longer doubt that our past prosperity has been of a superficial character. Gigantic loans have been expended on public works and immigration, and the Colony finds itself with numerous unpaying railway* and a large unemployed population. Each man, woman, and child in the' Colony is indebted to the English money lenders to' the tuns of L7O. This means an indeptednessof the adult male population to the same source of at least L3OO per head. This liability is, of course, on account of Colonial loans. To arrive at our total ' ,public liabilities to the capitalists of : .Great Britain, our liabilities on ac- , count .of Municipality and Harbor Board {nans must bfi added to' the amount. Kotorithstandine fill this borrowed prosperity, trade is duii and money scarce. | go necessitous is oor condition that the stipulation apo/j. which procured the last L 5,000,000 Wfi should not indulge in further borrowing u#til after the expiration of three y.esr? baa been viewed ' as one that woujd be! productive of financial disaster. Thelast 15,000,000 has left us as deeply in the recesses of a financial maze as ever. Major Atkinson has just told a deputation that w£j>tal upon him to ask the Government to undertake the West Coast railway of the JSorth JsJa#a4, that, with the utmost possible economy aad careful management, Uifi'jAoie of the ££,000,000 loan jasfc procured would be by June, 1881. We beltfiPe this ,ot the Colonial Treasurer. At no period ip ; tb,e history of the Colonf vets' we so financiallv involved as at present, mrflre vr.e likely to attain to a more iorUiT&te tuition until the policy of the past J>a? bgfifi reversed | and at such a moment ss ifejß all political feelings should give war to the accomplishment o£ this end. We have stimulated ourtradebyartificialmeans, and our administrators have acted in a manner that leads to the supposition that they have been ejtbar oblivious of the necessity of providing for t]ue inevitable reaction, or careless of consequence*. Like time ; and tide, however, roe £&est& of Javish- : ness wait for no man. The f&fwpsflless gequeie of imprudence have eome Uffip. U* and found us unprepared. If, at the heigfct of prosperity- produced by the stimulus /of foreign capital, our administrators hadj with the wisdom of a medical man, built qp o»r constitution, we should uot now have been n%iss;tated either to repeat our physic or suffer tfyv emaciation . and ipapotency of relapse. The judicious expenditure, "untrammelled by" political borrowed money, land for the jpeopfie, and the development .pf .our own riches, would have i gives a iteap is> that would

have rendered relapse impossible} and enabled us to walk without the aid of the crutches that have been provided for us from abroad; The people are not leaß culpable than their Government. They have relied too implicitly upon the ephemeral prosperity of the day, and have done too little to make that prosperity substantial and permanent by helping themselves. They became v demoralised by a huge Government, expgndi-; ture, and dazzled by the magnificence of a bogus prosperity. A moment's wise contemplation of the situation would have convinced them that both must fall away, and excited them to prepare for the change. If this Colony is ever to be delivered out of its present critical position, such a desideratum will only be brought about by public and private retrenchment. Our indebtedness is already » grievous burthen, and. each colonistiWUl need to live within his means id order to enable him to pay. the taxation, of which he is just now getting a foretaste. The people of this Colony; are more, .severely taxed than those of any other- P ut thei,e is nothing to fear; There is abgpdant" testimony thai our relapse do.es » ot mean -collapse. With elastic natural resources, the present burthens would have to be considerably inoreased before repudiation and emigration would be compulsory. But we must not borrow any mora foreign capital, and spend the whole, or nearly tfca whole, of it on unremunerative public works, » policy which would increase our indebteupe®? without- P r °" viding us with any additional of liquidating them. Our destiny will be, to a great extent, affected by the Bailsvay Commission, which will shortly sit at Wellington, If the Commission should resolve fco earjry fcfre views that, we believe, are held by Mr. Jofin 3>§id, I nfjp of its number, we shall have causa to j be thankful that the Government rele- 1 gated to others an unpalatable duty which they were too yr.epk themselves to carry out. Retrenchment m the .civil Service will be nothing unless ba.cke,d up by determination to discontinue the profligacy £hat has signalised the past public yorks policy. It would 03 of 'little avail to save thousands and spend hiwdred*. of thousands. A strictly economical policy will, we are aware, throw a large .number of men out of work.; But the beat of them should be encouraged to settle on the lands of the Colony, and the remainder should be providedfor through the impetus which plentiful and cheap labor should give to the 4£y e l°p inen k our native industries. Goal raises £l)4 Oth.er r industries should spring into g.iijpjQ.te'd ' existence as if by magic. If the people and the Government were to encourage such a reversal of pur improvidence, no country in - the yofW fWHM exceed our prosperity.