The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1913. OUR DEBT.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 245, 6 March 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1913. OUR DEBT.

I here have bci'ii all sorts and sizes of opinions expressed during the last fewweeks concerning our latest loan, and incidentally with regard to the public debt under which we are supposed to he staggering to "the denmition bowwows." Under these distressful circumstances it is interesting to note some figures which Mr. J. .A. Ha nan, a bright and peculiarly intelligent person for a politician, has compiled with regard to tlie ability of Now Zealand to bear the burden of debt that is so often quoted against her by some of her eager critics. One of his tallies sets out the increases in population in various outlying portions of tlie Empire between 1901 and 1911. The figures show that during that particular decade the population of Canada increased by 31.8 per cent, of Xew Zealand 30.5 per cent., of the South African Union by 19.3 per cent., and of Australia by 17.0 per cent. A still more

striking table places New Zealand at the head of the exporting countries of the world. The figures give the exports per head of population during the year 1910, and they are significant enough to lie quoted in full. They read as follows: £ New Zealand 21.033 Australia 10.741 Great l.ritain 11.774 South Africa 0.302 Canada 8.02 Genua tiy .... 5.75 United States 3.74 India 0.457

Of course, the -Imy these figures tell is not solely a matter for congratulation in this country. While hearing testimony to the great productiveness of the Dominion, they suggest that the sparseness of its population is contributing a good deal to its position in the table. Tf its population were doubled and the people were given easy access to the laud, its exports would lie doubled within a very short time, but as the growth proceeded the country would begin to devote- more of its attention to manufacturing industries, and then, in the natural order of tilings, the exports as well as the imports per head of population would begin to decline. In the meantime, however, the enterprise of its people has been made obvious enough by Mr. Hanan's illuminative figures. If the Dominion's credit on the London money market depends upon its ability to pay, its stocks should not be long in recovering their former estimation in the eyes of investors. Fortunately the vast proportion of our heavy loan expenditure is employed in rjproductive works, and cannot, therefore, apart from, the tangibility of the security, be regarded as a debt. People have a habit of overlooking this essential fact, but it exists all the same, and it is the one vital reason why even in this period of bad financial weather our stocks still remain \ a very appreciable security on that "kittlest of all cattle," the London Stock Exchange.