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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 149, 19 November 1914, Page 4

THE "DEPLETED" TBEASMIY. At Waitara on Tuesday evening Mr C Y Wilson, in the course of a speech which, on the whole, was temperate, dispassionate, and informative, in contradistinction to some of the other political speeches Taranaki audiences have had to suffer lately, referred to the subject of the public finances when Sir Joseph Ward vacated office. "Sir Joseph Ward " .he said, "left the lending departments [with oyer u million arid a half of adjrarices promised, and oiily< £ 634,000 "toj.

pay them with. It was to tlio Hon. James Allen's credit that, despite the smallpox epidemic, tho strike, and so on, he had, on June 30, 1914, restored the stability of the State Advances Department." This is an old friend that is doing very useful service for the (Reform candidates. But what are the facts? It is true, that the commitments for local authorities' advances were out of all proportion to the money in hand—commitments, £711,820; money in the fund, £08,783. This certainly looks black for the Liberal Government. But at the same time the commitments in the Advances to Settlers' Fund were £73,142, and the amount in hand £044,739, whilst in the Advances to Workers' Fund tiie commitments were ,£559,881, and the money available—£oss,l6B. In other words, the total commitments were £1,344,843, and the money to pay them £1,398,688, leaving a surplus in hand of £51,845. Tho Treasurer had power under tho law to transfer the funds of one branch to another. It was simply a transaction that any wise business man would in like circumstances adopt. But about these commitments to local bodies. Mr. Wilson did not mention that a great deal of the money was authorised to cover a period up to the end of 1914. A number of local bodies that had requirements wanted to know whether they could be sure of their loans for carrying on their,work, and they got them on the understanding that payments were to be made over a period of

years. Sir Joseph Ward, as a matter of fact, took the trouble to get it on the oath of the late Secretary of thp Advances Department that the money was to have been divided in the proportion of £266,650 in 1912, £192,000 in 1913, and the remainder in 1914. At the present time £54,000'0f the money has not yet been asked for. These are the facts of the. position, and it is hard to understand what purpose is to be served In continually harping upon what are undoubtedly misleading statements, except to damage the reputation of the reckless, profligate, wicked Liberals.