The Southland Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1864.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 39, 30 August 1864, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1864.

Previously to the arrival of the last English mail it was very generally taken for 'granted that there would be no difficulty in obtaining the Imperial guarantee for a portion of the Three Million Loan sanctioned Inst year by the General Assembly. Mr. Cardwell stated in his despatch to Sir George Gkey that 'the Home Government were prepared' to bring a bill before Parliament -to guarantee one million of the loan, leaving the remaining two' millions to be raised on. the security of the Colony alone. _We have now before us a copy of the bill as submitted to Parliament, but although, in accordance with Mr. Cardwell's promise, it • asks Parliament to guarantee oue million, the' conditions' affixed are of such a nature that the boon if accepted would be of little or no value to the Colony. Firstly, the bill stipulates that, the principal shall, be repayable and' repaid at the expiration of thirty years; from the day on which* it shall have; been borrowed." and raised. Secondly,, that a sum equal to two per cent, of the; principal shall be yearly set apart as a sinking fund. Thirdly, 'that both princi- : pal and interest shall be a charge on thei general revenue of New Zealand, .".having " priority over all other charges upon the " said revenue, except charges created in " virtue of an Act passed by the said " General Assembly, intituled * The New " Zealand Loan Act, 1856,' and of an Act " of Parliament passed in the twenty- " first year of Her 1 "Majesty, intituled, " 'An Act to guarantee a Loan for the " service of' New Zealand." It is also ■stipulated that for the purposes ofthe Act, the receipts arising from the disposal of waste lands of the Crown shall be deemed part of such general revenue. When ...we compare the clauses of this Bill with those of the Three 'Million Loan Act of , the General Assembly -, we -shall at once see that the two measures clash in several material points. To begin with the time of re-payment. The Colonial Act provides for the re-payment of the principal at the expiration of fifty years. the, Imperial Act, for that part of the loan the Home Government proposes to guarantee, names thirty years as the limit. The Colonial Act specifies a sum equal to one per cent, ofthe principal to be set aside as a sinking fund; the Imperial Act says two per cent. Tlie General Assembly had no intention of this loan having priority over other loans which had previously obtained its sanction, but by the Imperial Act itis made a first charge on the revenue, with the exception of a loan for £500.000, authorised by the General Assembly in 1856, and which also obtained the Imperial guarantee. But the most important point on which thes*e two measures differ "is as to the revenue on which both principal and interest shall be chargeable. The Imperial Act clearly sets forth that the receipts arising from the sale of waste lands of the Crown shall be considered part of. the security. The Colonial Act contemplates nothing of the kind, but confines the security to what is known as tlie " Ordinary Eevenue " of the Colony. When the General Assembly, in passing the Three Million Loan Act, fixed the date for re-payment at fifty years, it did so because that time seemed to be, all things considered, the shortest date at which the Colony would be in a position to meet so j heavy a liability without seriously interfering with its prospects of advancement. To cut off twenty years from that time and make the 10an ... repayable in thirty years, is to lay a heavier burden on the Colony than there appears to be any necessity for doing. Certainly it is demanding 'greater things from New Zealand than the Assembly was disposed to ask, when it passed the Three Million Loan Act ; and we have no reason for supposing that next Session will see. a. change in its temper in this respect. The benefit the Colony would derive from the Imperial guarantee is nullified by % curtailing the period of the loan, and doubling the amount to be set apart as a sinking fund ; but when, we come to the stipulation that the revenue derived from the sale of the waste lands is to form a part of the security to the Imperial Government before the guarantee is granted, we can arrive at but one conclusion as to what the action of the General Assembly will be. To obtain the guarantee, a" new bill would have to be introduced embodying the ' terms of the Imperial Government, and it is not difficult to foresee that no such bill would meet with tho assent of the majority of the House of Representatives. The method of dealing with the waste lands of the Crown Avould have to be placed on an entirely new basis. Existing Acts would have to be repealed, and the Provinces deprived of what ea-eh at the present time regards as its chief -source of weitlth* ' These matters are, however, only questions of policy, . imd.it is possible that a Ministry might be found willing ; to ; risk the . introduction of .ther -necessary _ measures, though with but small chance of tiieir JAh%<£9vspry or the Assembly. Not so with the stipulation of priority for this one

million. To give precedence: to V tliis < loan is to he guilty of gross vdg- j honesty to the . debenture Holders ofthe , loan of IS6O, for £150,000. From ■ tirf; < tone of. the various speakers m botn 1 Houses of Parliament, it seems pretty J certain that on other terms than the ones ] we have mentioned, Will the Imperial , guarantee be given. Earl G-rey objected to the guarantee being given at all to a. debt which " was contracted for the exclu- " sive benefit of the Northern part of the ; "Colony. The Middle Island was already : " demanding that the interest of the loan- " should be charged upon the Pro- " vince of Auckland alone ; but the re- " venues of that Province were utterly - "unequal to bear such a burden, and- it " would, therefore, be quite unsafe and " inexpedient for us to guarantee the in-. " terest." The Session ofthe General Assembly in 1865' will surely be a memorable one in the annals of New Zealand Legislation. The Three Million Loan will again become the subject of discussion, and it. will be impossible to bring: it under notice without at the same time opening the whole question of loans, both Colonial and Provincial. It would be impolitic, if it were not impossible, that such an examination into the financial state of the Colony should be longer delayed. There; is not a Province which is not anxious at; the present moment to borrow, and from, the manner in which Provincial Debentures are viewed in the market, ' it _ is evident that some general scheme, which will meet the requirements of all, * -mil. require to be set on foot. In devising: this scheme, in solving the problem of the; loans, may not the conclusion be arrived at that the Provinces and Provincial Councils have: nearly completed the work for which they were first inaugurated, and that the time is drawing near when under . a more: comprehensive form of Government, New Zealand would advance more rapidly than, under her present multiplicity of laws and law-givers?