THE QUEENSLAND DEBT.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2562, 7 June 1881, Page 3

THE QUEENSLAND DEBT.

The people of Queensland are piling up their “ State ” debts at a rate which proves them to be exceedingly sanguine, and they have attained a pre eminence in this doubtful career second only to New Zealand. In 18GI, with a population of about 35,000, their debt was only £70,000, or £2 per head. In 1871 the population had grown to 125,000 and the debt to £4,000,000, or above £32 per head. In 1880, with about 225,000 people, the debt amounted to £12,000,000, or £54 per head. Most of this money .has been obtained from England at about 4.f per cent, so that, including English investments in Queensland banks and land companies, the colony lias to remit above £OOO,OOO a year, in the shape ef dividends and interest. The revenue proper is about a million, and about half a million more is derived from land sales. The permanence of the latter item depends very much upon emigration, and is not, after all, .a net addition, for it necessitates a considerable expenditure upon means of communication in some shape, so that the interest and dividends payable upon their debts, &c„ absorb nearly half the revenue. Queensland possesses, of course, “natural resources,” as no doubt most of the investors in Queensland stock or bonds have been diligently informed, but from the state of the exports it would not appear as if they were being developed in a ratio at all equal to the increase of population ; and it-would seem, therefore, to behove English capitalists to look after their present investments, and not encourage the colony in further extravagance by investing too easily in its promises.