The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 1913. ARE WE PAYING OUR WAY?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 249, 11 March 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, MARCH 11, 1913. ARE WE PAYING OUR WAY?

Speaking before tin; Dominions Royal Commission in Wellington the other d;ty, the president of tin- Wellington Chamber of Commerce. .Mr. A. E. Uabin, said tliat the country was not paying its way to the extent of four millions a year, and that its financial position was not sound. Subsequently lie appeared before the commission to qualify his previous statement, which lie did in these words: 'Whilst it is a fact that our exports, at the present, are insunicient to pav for our imports, together with our interest obligations, yet I do not consider that the Dominion is in any financial danger. The heavy imports of recent years may be largely attributed to importations for works undertaken by the (iovernment and local bodies, and are in the nature of capital expenditure which will, in the course of a few years, bring in adequate return for the outlay. 11l the meantime, the trade returns do not look well, but (here is 110 reason to think that the capital expenditure represented by a considerable portion of our imports will not show better return and tend to increase the volume of our exports." The remarks are arousing a good deal of adverse criticism in Wellington. .Air. David ■!. Nathan, a director of the liank of New Zealand, and a past chairman of the Chamber of Conimeree, says that •Mr. Cabin's remarks- will not be con- I Jinncd l>y any commercial man in New Zealand. lie stated to the Commission that the Dominion fur a few years past had suffered from the statement.; of a

similar description made by politicians j for party purposes, but none had ever j treated those statements seriously. The I present Government, in a statement to the London press a month ago, when they invited subscriptions to the last loan, gave, he said, an optimistic yet true account of the national position of the Dominion Mr. Xatlian proceeded to show that in every walk of life the Dominion lias progressed and is progressing, in every sense of the word. He said:— The population has increased. The public health has be-en improved. The death rate has decreased. The number of children has increased. The amount spent on education lias been increased. The trade, shows a growth of from. £13,000,000 to £38.000,000. and this growth has been regularly steady. .The total trade per head, wealth of imports and exports, show a steady increase. The Customs duties has been decreased. Our shipping, both in tonnage and number of men employed, lias been increased. Land settlement has progressed. There are more people on the land,,producing more than ever they did before. Native lands have been gradually absorbed, and brought into profitable use. The number of freeholders has been increased by 10,000 in seventeen years. The numbers of cattle, sheep, horsc.s and live stock generally have increased. ,The quality of tile dairy produce has improved, and is improving. Our local manufactures show a growth, both in the wages paid, the horse power employed, anil the amount of capital that-is employed in land, buildings, machinery and plant. The output of the manufacturers lias grown by eight and a-quarter millions in live years. The accumulation of capital in the banks that issue and the Savings Banks shows also a continuous growth. The deposits have grown from fifteen and a-half millions in mOO to twenty-six and threequarter millions in 1!)11. The banks' assets have grown from seventeen millions jiqi to twenty-nine millions.. The advances made by the banks have grown from twelve millions to twenty-two millions. The Post Office Savings Banks show a continuous growth year by year. For the present, deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank are seventeen millions, and as far as one eun tell, they are steadily growing at the rate of £500,000 per year. Building societies and other financial businesses show also a similar comparative growth. The life and industrial insurance shows an equal growth. The numbers of wills proved also show conclusively that the wealth of the country is well spread, and is increasing. The growth of the income of the railways, telephones and other-public conveniences show conclusively, in my opinion, that the Dominion is not at all in the financial state that Mr. Mabiu is reported to have said it is.

Mr. Harold Hoauchainp. acHng-ciiairman nf the Bank of Xew Zealand, said that the fact that a very large amount of money borrowed from time to time has been spent on reproductive work, had apparently been ignored. The narrow margin between imports and exports was entirely due to the general extravagance of living, and he pointed out the forms of this extravagance. lie counselled thrift, which would soon bring about a better condition of things financially. Mr. Beruiclumip also showed that for the past seven years the excess of exports over imports'had been £18.009,000. He thought the development of the country could be made on more satisfactory lines if by legislation we more greatly encouraged the investment of oversea capital,, as has been done in the case of Canada. The Hon. W. Fraser. Acting-Minister of Finance, in "a statement to a reporter, said he was extremely surprised that anyone holding the office of president of the Chamber of Commerce in Wellington should make such wild statements as to the financial position of New Zealand as were uttered by Mr. Mabin. hi the first place, lie asserted that the Dominion had to pay in London over £3,000,1)00 in interest annually, while the exports for the year only exceeded the imports by £1.000,000. The inference drawn from these figures was, lie said, quite incorrect. The total debt on March 31, 1912, was £B-1,353,5)13, and the interesting and sinking fund thereon was £3.20-2,720. From this sum, however, had to be deducted the interest payable on £l7->(J0.043 borrowed for advances to settlers, workers and local authorities—also for purchasing land for settlement, amounting to £003,802. The interest received for these loans and the rents from settlement lands more than cover this sum. Again, the working railways have absorbed £28,070,914 of the total debt, and the excess of railway revenue over expenditure for that year was £1.213,890. If we add this sum to the £oo:i.B(>2 and deduct the total from the £3.292.720 we have the amount of interest oil the public debt, which has to be provided for out of taxation. While the value of imports is ascertainable by reference to invoices, the value of exports is a purely conjectural matter, for the realised value is only known to the exporters. Moreover. the amount of exports for any one year depends on whether the season is an early one or a late one. As it happens, last year was an exceptionally 1 at<• one. Thus it is evident that the declared excess of exports over imports is not a conclusive argument on which to base a statement of the inability of the Dominion to pay interest on its loans. Surely, continued Mr. Fraser, the fact that for many years past the excess of revenue over expenditure in the Consolidated Fund account, which includes all interest charges, has been such as to enable the Clovernment to transfer annually to the Public Works account, for the construction of roads, bridges and railways, a sum varying from £400,(100 to £BOO.OOO, is conclusive proof of the ability uf the Dominion to pay its \v;.v.

THE MAIN SOUTH liOAD. > Tlie problem of the upkeep •■ilyme I Main South road continues to exorcise the Taranaki CountyxCouncil. Coun- | cillors realise thatyif the construction of the Opunake-Moturoa railway is indefinitely postponed the question of some alternative""method of traction will have to be -taken into consideration. Some months ago while on a visit to New Plymouth, Mr. Irwin Crooks, consulting engineer, of Auckland, brought under the notice of the Council the success in England of railless electric traction. He cited the cases of a number of cities in the Ohl Country, and, acting on his suggestion, the Council wrote to the Leeds, Dundee and Bradford City Councils regarding the system. Each was plied with a _set of questions, and the satisfactory nature of the replies confirms the favorable impression of the railless (or trackless, as it is sometimes called) electric cars created in the minds of councillors by Mr. Crooks. The primary object of the Council in seeking to electrify the Main South road was to lessen the wear and tear, and simultaneously the cost of upkeep, and particular care was therefore taken in approaching the corporations in question to seek information available in this connection. The answers in all three cases arc of a very reassuring nature. The civic authorities in Leeds and Dundee are at one in affirming that "there is no excessive wear and tear on the roadway" l>y the railless cars. "Quite the contrary," adds the town clerk of the former city, while in answer to the same question the general manager of the Bradford City Tramways replies: "\"o more thari with other motor vehicles of similar size and weight." All three city councils were asked to state whether a particularly good road surface was required for the cars. Bradford and Leeds replied in the negative, and the answer of Dundee puts the case for the ears in an even better light. It runs in the. following strain: "The same as for ordinary trallic." The general manager of the Bradford system states that if the road surface becomes irregular the cars are affected only a "very little," while the Dundee authority replies that there ■is no effect at all. In Leeds, according to the town clerk, the effect is shown in vibration of the ears and an increase in the wear and tear of the tyres. The weight of the cars appears to be the same in each city, namely, 3 tons 12cwt., and solid rubber tyres are used. The respective cost per mile of installation, apart from the generating station, discloses some disparity, doubtless owing to the varying local conditions. The figures for each city are set down as follows: Dundee £9OO, plus cars £2OO e;ich; Leeds .£I3OO (without feeders), plus cars £750 each; Bradford £IOOO to £ISOO, plus cars £750 each. Reviewing all three systems, the maximum speed of the cars ranges from 25 miles per hour in the case of Dundee to 12 miles at Leeds, and the minimum speed from 7'/> to 12 miles. The amount of horse power required for each car is the same in each city—4o h.p. In Leeds the system covers.4% miles of road, and in the other cities cited a lesser number of miles. Having been tried and found satisfactory, however, two of the corporations in question anticipate immediate extensions of the railless car system, while in the case of Dundee the intentions of the municipal authorities are not communicated. The town clerk of Leeds volunteers the following statement: —"We find this method extremely economical and satisfactory, and this year have included in a Bill very large extensions of the system," while according to the general manairer of the Bradford City Tramways: "The route eouipped on this system, as will be seen from the above, is only a very short one, and was fitted up for experimental purposes. The. result, however, has been entirely satisfactory, and my corporation is apI plying this session for powers to equip a further 12 miles of route on this system." Obviouslv, if the proposed Opu-nake-Moturoa railway were constructed there would be 110 need to consider trackless cars or any other alternative svstem of traffic. Nevertheless, the County Council is wise in gathering and collating information regarding the suggested electrification of the Main South road, so as to be prepared for eventualities. Of course, should they be compelled by force of circumstances to seriously consider the question of embarking on an electric traction scheme, nothing short of the fullest information on the subject should suffice.