The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 1905. NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 792, 7 April 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 1905. NEW ZEALAND'S POSITION.

The custom which had of lute years arisen and developed almost into u science, namely, that of interviewing prominent and representative men, may have some disadvantages from the point of view of the persons interviewed, but the public certainly derive a vast amount of information *as a result of the process. It is, therefore, hardly necessary to gise to our readers for commenting on the outcome of an interv'ew which the London correspondent of the Auckland Herald recently hud .with Mr David Nathan during his visit to London. The, business ability of Mr Nathan seems to be os well known and as highly appreciated at Home as it is in the colony, and the very pertinent and ciominonsense remarks which he made on the 0 occasion referred to carry considere able weight as coming from one who _ is recognised as a leading member of y the commercial community of New Zealand. It is most gratifying to find that 'the views Mr Nathan has g heard expressed' in London as to New Zealand .are of a nature that reflects great praise on the policy of f the present Government. "In financial circles," stales Mr Nathan, "es- 1 pccially among members of largo institutions, I have found the opinion expressed that the progress made under the present Government during J the last 10 years has been phenom-' r cnal, and no reason is seen why, with careful administration, the I steady progress which we are making I there should not be continued. It ia 1 . thought that if a policy of immigra- I tion were introduced, this progress would be materially increased. At' the same time, those competent to | judge emphasise as strongly as words will allow them to do what I they consider to be a chief point, 1 ' namely, that our borrowing in the i • Mother Country should be limited." I At the same time he finds that the i withdrawal from local enterprise of I sums of money, not only by the Go- > . vernment, but by local bodies, is , deemed an enormous miiitak'e, and that at least three of the biggest men connected with the tanking > world of London go so far as to say that it would have been better 1 to keep on certain taxation, which ' in the progressive state of the colony 1 would not have been felt, than to ' have removed it. This, of course, is* 1 debatable, and has to bo considered ' in connection with a variety of mat- ' ters that do not appear on the surface, though to outsiders the sug- 1 gested deduction may be logically ar- ' rived at. The excessive expenditure I of municipalities is another matter j •' which is arousing widespread attension at Home, and has In some cases I caused the bankers, as well as tfc» " Stock Exchange, to close their poc- ► kcts, the results being that the mu- 1 nicipalities are, as was recently i pointed out in these columns, attempting 1 'to do banking business ' themselves by adopting the danger- , : ous system of taking money on dt- I posit. As an instance in point Jlr i. Nathan said ; -"Take electricity. Now, 1 motor 'buse» have come to stay. ,i Anyone can realise that after Lhe i' show at present in progress at Olym- I s pia, and from what one sees in the '

f streets. And it looks as if enormous investments of the various corporations in electric tramways will be anything but profitable. This it a ver;<j, serious question for Xew Zealand, and especially for Wellington. Probably this will not be pleasant reading to some people there who know quite well that Wellington could have received from a synilicato a rental or guaranteed pro/it of at least £JO,OOO a year, or, to be exact, four per cent, profit on the total cost of the tramways. The city would have enjoyed this income of £IO,OOO a year without any risks. Now it will have to face. a little later on, when manufacturers are able to supply the demand, a competition from omnlbusu.s, which may provo very severe."' There ig no doubt that the greatest prudence and care will have to be exercised by municipalities in entering into commercial enterprises on borrowed, money. It is, however, when touching' on the political position of the colony that Mr Nathan is most happy in his sentiments. He (old ! his interviewer that the thing which had struck him was the difference, lie found in the opinions now held in England as compared with those in vogue five years ago. "Then it was quite usual to hear people speak, first of all, of New Zealand's socialistic legislation. Xow it seems to me that..much of the legislation of the- description referred to, which was laughed and jeered at a few years ago, is being more and more seriously considered. And I would not be at all surprised to sec much of it oi) the Statute Jioofce of tins coujj-

try in the course of the next few | years. For instance, there is to bo \ a Minister for Trade and Commerce ' here ; the papers are full of the necessity for control of hospital management by some central government ; even the question of putting I (ho London docks under public control i is being discussed." In regard io the I dairying industry, he pertinently re- I .marks that the season had been an ! enormors one for butter, and that i nil the wise ones had been wrong | jagain, and that it is the unexpected which has happened. It is evident that circumstances have combined to give New Zealand butter an advantage this year that will probably be a great help in the future. Cer- , lainly, so far as Taranaki is concerned, the high prices obtaining are ; most acceptable, for they have ruled c.t a lime when they \\\re greatly needed, and the producers have every reason for thankfulness oil this head. On the whole, Mr Nathan has fairly dealt with the situation, and those who are using their energies to belittle the credit of the colony because they cannot sco oyo to eye with the Government of the day will do well to ponder over the information which is now at their hispos.U us to ehis colony's position from the point of view of London's financial magnates 1 .