Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, MAY 4, 1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9435, 4 May 1909, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TUESDAY, MAY 4,1909. EDITORIAL NOTES.

IP the report is correct that the Momohaki State Farm is to he;given up it will he a matter for great regret that the money spent there in the past should ha almost entirely thrown away as it must he ,if the farm is let or sold to an ordinary tenant. The farmers of the district are just beginning to realise the value of the experiments conducted on the State farms, and it will be a real loss if one of the -most successful of the farms Is abolished. We think that it would be an excellent thing if the branches of the Farmers’ Union between New Plymouth and Palmerston would make an offer to take over the Momahaki estate and continue experiments on a modest scale. The Government would certainly he ready to meet such a project half way by charging merely the agricultural rent for the place and farmers would have a magnificent opportunity of proving that it is possible to carry on valuable experiments without enormous expense. We do not think that such a farm could ever.be made to pay, nor should this he the main object in view, hut the excess of expenditure over receipts could he made comparatively small. The publication of annual detailed balance-sheets would also prove a very valuable lesson to farmers as to the best method of keeping farm accounts.

AFTER a period of incubation lasting a mouth from the time the ac* counts were closed, Sir Joseph Ward has succeeded in hatching out a surplus which ho eagerly maintains is a real swan, and not a mere ugly duckling. It ia true that the new fledgling is less than one quarter as large as similar ones in past years, hut it at any rate amounts to £184,213, and the Prime Minister cackles with delight. As last year was coming to a close there was some anxiety as to whether the expenditure would not exceed the revenue, but strenuous efforts were made after the election to make both ends meet and the Prime Minister is able triumphantly to announce that the revenue the expenditure by £215,872. The enormous struggle that must have been required will be recognised when it is noted that the expenditure since Sir Joseph Ward has been ia office has been increasing at an average rate of over half a million per annum. In the June quarter of the current year the increase was £22,281; in the September quarter —just before the election—it was £445,448; in theDecemher quarter £97,054; while in the March quarter there was a decrease, of £3775. In fact, taking the whole year, although Sir Joseph forecasted a falling off in the revenue, he did not hesitate to plunge into expenditure half a million greater than in any previous year. He has managed to take more oat of the pockets of the taxpayers than he has’spent, but even on his own showing there will be very little to transfer to the Public Works Fund. .For some years past sums ranging from £500,000 to £BOO,OOO have been so transferred, hut this state of affairs has now come to au end, and either expenditure on Public Works will have to be much restricted or borrowing will have to go on on a larger scale. So far, therefore, as we can judge, the state of the finances does not appear quite as encouraging as when seen through the optimistic spectacles of the Prime Minister.

OF coarse Sir Joseph Ward’s figures are useless so far as giving a statement of the real position is concerned. He does not tell us what liabilities existed at March 31st, and only presents usgwith a statement of receipts and expenditure. Any business man could allege that he possessed a surplus, if he had received, say, £SOOO during the year and spent £4OOO, even though he owed at the end £IO,OOO in promissory notes. According to Sir Joseph’s methods he would have a surplus of £IOOO, instead of a net indebtedness of £9OOO. Last year when Sir Joseph declared a huge surplus, it was revealed in a return subsequently presented to Parliament that the liabilities existing at the time amounted to exactly £665,430 more than the alleged surplus. The statement shows beyond a donbtthat the present Ministry are incapable of administering affairs during a time of stress, though they managed to struggle along during prosperous

times with the aid of a few borrowed every veai".

WE view with suspicion the reference to the proposed legislation to define main roads to be taken over by the State, and to compel local bodies to maintain all the other roads. During Mr Seddon’s reign he gave the local bodies power to rate up to a very large amount, —a power that no local body has cared to exercise. But too pewer is there, and if any local body its liabilities, and a receiver is |,pnt in, that receiver will certainly levy up to the full amount! Viewed in connection with this power, we believe that Sir Joseph’s proposal indicates that the local bodies will be compelled to do all the work wiSiont receiving any subsidies from the State funds. We connael members of local bodies to keep watchful eyes on the legislation promised.

THE Chairman of Directors of the Bank of New Zealand, Mr Harold Beauchamp, referring to the Premier’s statement that more banks are required, considers that the hank’s capital should he increased, but for legitimate hanking business only, not for lending on mortgage, which should be done by mortgage companies or by the Advances to Settlers Department. But he says: “I do not think we can lock for any relief from mortgage investment companies so long as they have to face the competition of the Advances to Settlers’ Department. Therefore it is just as well to face the position at once and look to that Department for the hulk of the money that is required for mortgage.” But, would it not be simpler, less costly, and more effective to abolish the Department that prevents the loan companies from investing money New Zealand?