The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 7,1864.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 3, 7 June 1864, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 7,1864.

Tub now* that the New Zealand Provincial Debentures were, for the time being, difficult of sale,. if not altogether unsaleable in the home markets, created, not unnaturally, considerable uneasiness in those Provinces, which, calculating on their ready sale, had forestalled it by obtaining advances from the banks. The Councils of the Provinces of Canterbury and Otago were immediately summoned to grapple with the financial position which an unanticipated tightness in the money market at home had produced. The Superintendents of those Provinces found themselves on meeting their respective Councils in a very different position to that in which JLis Honor of Southland will be placed when he condescends to call together his faithful lieges. "We have been informed that the Provinces of Canterbury and Otago arc in precisely the same position as regards financial difficulties as ourselves. _ They happen, however, to be in precisely a different one. Of the three Provinces, Canterbury is doubtless by far the best able to cope -with and overcome what, let us hope, will prove a temporary embarrassment. Indeed, the chief subject brought under the consideration of the Council by the .Superintendent of that Province, is not so much the difficulty of negotiating past loans, as for devising some means for ensuring the ready acceptance on the Stock Exchange for any. future ones, which the extension of its railway system, to meet the requirements of its 'population, may render necessary. Any little difficulty which may have been experienced is> satisfactorily placing the debentures for the construction of the Christchurch and Lyttleton Kailway does not seem to have impeded the prosecution of the work or weakened the confidence of the public in its construct ion ! within the specified time. The question for the consideration of the Council was the devising of such security for the payment of the interest on, and i liquidation' of, any fat urn loans as would | render them unexceptionable investments in the home markets. The fact is, and j we cannot but say it -with regret, the position of Canterbury is indeed very different from ours. "With a large and steady revenue from its lands, it enjoys what we want most, a thoroughly respectable Government, one which inspires confidence both in the lender desirous of investing in Govcrmnent securities, and he who, leaving the old world, weary of its burthens, m°the shape of rates and taxes, seeks some spot in the new in which to raise up his ;houschold gods, where he may reasonably hope that his children will be spared that pressure from taxation which he has felt to be unendurable himself. Otago, while it has its own financial difficulties to contend with, is also placed m a different and much more advantageous position than ourselves. Some time since, the General Government sanctioned the loan of half a million to that Province for general purposes, no spe^ cific object being mentioned. Of the policy of granting this we have at present nothing to do : the loan was to meet the ordinary expenditure, and as such the greater part was expended. The mistake made was one common to all the Provinces. The money was advanced by the banks, and spent, before the deben-. tures were negotiated, and hence the present difficulty of Otago. Here, however, was no misappropriation of funds — no diverting from its proper channel that money, granted by the General Government in good faith, for a specific purpose, to be spent in a manner which, had that Government been informed of it, would ■ never have been sanctioned. Otago having \ made a mistake is in a fair way of rectifying it thanks to the .energetic and candid expostulations of our contemporary, the Otago Daily TwnJes, who has wisely conceived that to be the better policy which unhesitatingly exposes the position in which the Pro-

yincc is x>laccd, instead of seeking to argue plausibly away the present difficulty, and lull into fatal" security -1 ho public mind; a security which, by. encouraging further 'lavish expenditure, would lead ;to,greater ,embarassmerit. \ • y ~ '■ In -the financial- difficulty Otago, there is nothing to destroy the confidence ats.'goodfaithr with the barilcsV ! If? it was ; ' a mistake; .as .undoubtedly it was, to.draw oixf unds., not yet realised, the mistake: was shared in by its bankers; nay, was in some measure encouraged by them. Had the bank refused to advance, the debentures would have -been sold, when their sale could' have been effected, prior to. the. recent' tightness in the home money market,; and Otago would have had no financial difficulty to contend with/ Southland, however, stands in an exceptional' and unenviable position, as regards either of the Provinces of Canterbury ;or Otago. The tightness of the money .market, the. unriegotiableness of the ' loans : does not affect us ; we have already got the money from the banks, and have misappropriated it — have used more than a thh;d of it for purposes never contemplated or authorised by the General Government, and in direct opposition to the principle laid down by the General Assembly. As we have before stated, the General Government has acted with great liberality to- this Province; having granted, without tKe. slightest demur, loans to the amount of £290,000 within thirteen months. We do not say that this liberality was not perfectly justifiable— that the Province from its position and progress was not. entitled to it. "We think itwas ; but we have no hesitation in saying that this liberality has been abused, and that it will be some time before it will be further extended. The preamble of ourfirst Loan 0 rdinanee states "that it is " an Ordinance to authorise the raising of a loan of £ L 10,000 by the sale of debentures, to a'tfini/ the expense of constructing a Railway between the Bluff Harbor and the town of InvcrcargilL and jet ti/ works connected therewith, in the Province of Southland." Clause II of the Ordinance says, "1^ shall be lawful for the Superintendent of the said Province from time to time to raise, by sale of debenture-!, as hereinafter provided, all such sum or sums of money not exceeding in the whole the sum of £110,000, as shall be required for the construction of the said liaihmy and jetty works , connected therewith"'' The two other Ordinances are similarly worded as to the specific object for which the money is to bo ruined. Here there can be no mistake. There is a dear declaration of the purpose for which the authority to borrow is given ; a. distinct statement of what it will be hucftd to do under the Ordinance. This io sent v:> f>r His Excellency's assent. On tho f:u'.h i f the wording of the Act, believing it will bo carried out in its mte»". i ii.y, the Viceregal assent is given, and the money which 'the Ordinance slates can be lawfully applied only to a certain object, is inisitppyopriated to another totally foreign. Is it possible,' under these circumstances, that the (General Government can continue to have tiny confidence. m lirf — a t least while the present Superintendent is in power? Xo wonder, with ail our public estate, we were unable lately to vai<e a few thoussmds to prevent the stoppage of our railways, it was not 'from any want of eoniideuce in the nature of the .security to be plodded, but in the Government pledging. It is all very well to lay tiie blame of the " shin-plasters" on Mr. " I3EAYEX. To suppose the idea originated with him is simply ridiculous the " master mind " which could devise the misappropriation of the Kailway Funds, was quite cjiial to a shin-plaster. It is true Mr. ]3i;.vvji::N' executed Ins mission in as clum.-.y a manner n^ he well could, but we feel assured the s'.iinph'.sler was not " the child of his fancy." The Provincial Treasurer may write what the Otarjo Daily Times properly designates as a " Pecksnifiiau" epistle, and loudly declaim the honesty of the Government"; but hoAvill have some little difficulty, after what has occurred, in convincing the public that it is the customary garment with which it is clothed. Conceiving it to be for the true interests of the Province that our present position should be thoroughly sifted, openly and boldly explained, we have not hesitated in attempting . a task which cannot but be painful. We have had secresy enough in the conduct of our affairs on the part of the Government. It is the duty of the Press to do all in its power to counteract the evil effects of such a system, and give every publicity to the facts such as they are. The public creditor cannot be deceived by newspaper articles plausibly arguing that the provinces of Canterbury and Otago arc -in the same position as ourselves, nor are the neighbouring Provinces, possessing a community of interests with ourselves in New Zealand as a whole, likely to rest contented on being, told that the '"shin plaster" was a whim of the moment, never intended to be acted on ; the present financial crisis a trumpery and transient difficulty, and that Sir Geoege Grey's disallowance of the loan of £120,000 a highly reprehensible act. The misfortune is, that through ignorance of the true state of the case, matters are made worse tfian they are in reality, and the cause of our present position falsely imputed to our having undertaken our Eailway works. Had the money raised on the Eailway loans been applied to its legitimate purpose, we would have been at the present time in a better position than either Canterbury or Otago. The Eailway, whe,n finished, would have been an asset ;^ whereas the money spent by Otago out of her £506,000 loan is not likely to prove so profitable an .investment. We hare lost this vantage-ground, and/ with it what is of more consequence, our reputation for good faith. ' : .V; „ . ' ;