Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9366, 8 February 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 8,1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

WE have frequently pointed oat that the “surpluses” alleged to have been obtained by our Ministers or Wizards of Finance, have no reality, and this contention Is proved by a Parliamentary paper just to hand from the Government Printer. This gives “the liabilities outstanding on 31st March” which are not taken into account by the Treasurer in delivering his Budget, which deals only with the actual receipts and expenditure for the year up to March 31st. By excluding the liabilities a surplus is shown. In this particular case these liabilities amounted to no less than £1,433,279. The Minister claimed that there was a surplus of £767,849, whereas if the liabilities had been paid or taken into account, as they should have been, there was really a deficit of £665,480! It will be seen that the statements made by the Minister in regard to the financial position at March 31st were altogether incorrect, and instead of the public funds being over threequarters of a million to the good they were neatly chat amount to the S bad. Parliament should insist on the accounts being properly kept, so that the true position at the end of each financial year would be clearly disclosed in the Budget.

ONE of the claims made by the present Ministry is that they have .advanced settlement of the land in every possible way. In reply to this assertion it is only necessary to point to the fact that in the year 1907-8 the area of settled land increased by onlyglSOjOOO acres. This area may he realised when it is noted that in one block it would measure about 15 miles square. In the North Island alone there are 13>£ million acres still unsettled, of which 10 millions are probably quite as good as the average of settled land in the Dominion. Supposing no addition whatever is made to the settled land in the South it will take 70 years to complete the settlement of the North Island at the rate of progress now made. Immigrants are pouring steadily into the country and, though they may appear very ignorant of New Zealand conditions, there is no reason to suppose that they are inferior in energy or less ready to meet hardships than the old settlers who laid the foundations of our present prosperity. The tendency is always to believe that the past was an age of giants —even schoolboys who return to their old school lament the'degoneracy of the present generation of boys—but we believe that the immigrants ‘-now landing in the country and the sons of settlers already here, are quite capable of doing as good work as has been done in the past. But the new generation must be given opportunities of showing its capacity. In reply to the objection that the best of the land ihas. already been taken up and thrt only second-class lands we answer that even admitting the truth of the assertion, which may he controverted, the improved means of marketing produce owing to the existence of freezing works and dairy factories, more than make up for the disadvantages of rougher or leas accessible land. But the land must be thrown open for settlement and the freehold tenure must be granted in order that new settlers may feel that tbey arepyorking for themselves and their families, and not so that Ministers may have more money under their control to buy votes in the towns. The North Island has shown its dissatisfaction with the present Ministry by electing a large number of Opposition members, and the best return they can make for the confidence of electors is to do all in their power to compel Ministers to throw open bush land for settlement.