South Canterbury Times. WENDBSDAY, MARCH 2, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2480, 2 March 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. WENDBSDAY, MARCH 2, 1881.

We Lave already expressed the opinion that there is very little merit in the bonus system of promoting industries inaugurated by the Go vernment. A signal illustration of bhe fallacy of granting bonuses with the view of inducing new enterprises' to germinate has been afforded 6y the New Zealand Drug Company. The report of the Directors, which has just been adopted by the shareholders contains the following significa.it clause: — “ The Government now h aving publicly “ advertised t’nata bonus of £SOO per “ annum will be given for three years “ in successir m for the production each “ year, by machinery established in “ New Zealand, capable o:c producing “ not less than 50 tons of good li marketable sulphuric acid ; and. as i was the, intention, as- ornbo died in the

“ prospectus of the Company, that “ sulphuric acid works should he “ erected in connection with the husiu ness, the Directors have resolved to “ immediately procure the necessary “ plant and erect the works.” This passage from the report of the druggists, contains, we submit, the most ample proof that could bo desired of the way in which the bonus system is likely to work. The £-1500 which the Government have resolved to pay for the production of sulphuric acid is neither more nor less that money squandered. The Drug Company has only been in existence a little over twelve months, and one of the proposals contained in their prospectus was that sulphuric aeid works shouldbe erected in connection with their business. Was the Governraant aware of this when a bonus of £SOO per annum for three years for the production of sulphuric acid was offered ? If they were, then it is to be hoped that none of the members who assented to this bonus are interested in the New Zealand Drug Company for they have virtually agreed to subsidise this Company to the tunc of £ISOO out of the consolidated revenue. The Government in this instance have exhibited an amount of generosity towards a very promising undertaking that is surprising, if not alarming. We do not blame the prosperous corporation of druggists for taking advantage of the State benevolence, but wo certainly think Parliament and the country should have been consulted before a bonus of this kind was resolved upon. If, as. the drug directors state, it was resolved to erect sulphuric acid works in the colony, then no bonus whatever was needed. The fact that the profits from distilled brimstone were a part of the inducement originally held out to investors in this drug speculation clearly demonstrates that any monetary recognition on the part of the Government was quite unnecessary. A donation of this kind has an excessively disagreeable aspect in the face of. the (veight of taxation that presses on the people of New Zealand, and the heavy nature of the colony’s liabilities. In the case of the Now Zealand Drug Company the manufacture of sulphuric acid was a foregone conclusion, and the Government has acted most indiscrctely in offering £SOO a year for the production of an article which the promoters from the first intended to produce. We do not impute to the Government however, corrupt motives, for we are not aware that any member of the Cabinet has the slightest interest in this highly favored and prosperous concern ; and, in the absence of information to the contrary, we must charitably suppose that the Government had no knowledge of the Company’s prospectus or of the intentions of the Company when they resolved on this quite unnecessary bonus.