The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1884. A POLICY FOR THE GOVERNMENT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1219, 19 August 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1884. A POLICY FOR THE GOVERNMENT.

The New Ministry is the most intellectual and the ablest we hare had in New Zealand. There is not amongst them one who is not a man of mark, and if they are as honest, patriotic, and courageous as they are clever and capable, they can not only retain their seats, but make this colony one of the richest, and the most pros rous on the face of the earth in a very short time. It is absolutely necessary that they should consider the condition of the colony as well as the feelings and aspirations of the people, to effect tins. First, they must realise that the source of all prosperity or adversity is the land, and also that it is the mainspring of National life. Men of their knowledge of the world, will at once agree on that point, and also on that it is at the source of prosperity the enquiry as to the cause of adversity must begin. Thai being settled, the circumstances connected with land and the landowners must be investigated, and the inquiry can only lead to the following conclusions : The landowners bought land in many intances too dear, and not having sufficient capital had to borrow money on it. The prices of gram and wool have come down, and nine out of e>ery ten of them now find themselves barely able to pay interest on their borrowed capital. Thus all the land produces is going into the pockets of moneylenders, the landowners have no money to spend in improvements or with the tradespeople in the towns, and the consequence is depression. The townspeople, especially the working men, have erroneous ideas of the depression ; they attribute it to the existence of large estates, and their genera! cry is “burst them up.” The facts are, that even if the “bursting-up” policy were honest, or conformable with justice and the rights of property, its adoption would not improve matters. If a “ bursting up” land tax were adopted, and the owners of large estates forced to rush them into the market,- there' would not be sufficient people in the colony possessed of capital to buy the land, and no one except fj fool would believe that foreign capitalists would come to invest their money in a colony where the rights of property were not respected. The result would obviously be that the large estate owners would be ruined, and the depression rendered worse than it is now. The landowners in nine cases out of ten are very anxious to dispose of some of their estates, and there is a very strong element whose thoughts by day and night centres on compelling them to sell—-but owing to the depressed condition of things laud will not sell. Now, there is a course which could be adopted that would please all parties, and make this colony the most prosperous on the face of the earth, not only for a time a time but for ever, and it is this : Let the Government borrow money, and establish a bank of its own. Having done this let them take over the mortgages on land as fast as they become due, and give money to the farmers at 5 per. cent. Also, let them buy up such portions of large estates as are required for industrial occupation, and lease them in suitably-sized blocks to farmers at 5 per cent on the purchase money. The Government have power under the Property Tax to seize any man’s land hy giving him 10 per cent over the Property Tax valuation for it, and if the large estate owners should hold out for unreasonably high prices the Go--1 vernment could exercise this power. It would not be unjust to do so, because the Property Tax valuation is the value put upon the land by the owner of it, and if he has undervalued it he has been robbing the State and deserves no consideration. To lease the land would be 'be better than to sell it,- because as no purchase money would be necessary, men of small means could settle upon it, while if sold settlement would be limited to men of capital. By the adoption of this plan the large estates would be burst up and no one ruined, the farmers whom the moneylenders are bursting up daily would be saved, and such a flood of prosperity would set in as never before was witnessed. This undoubtedly could be done. It has leaked out that Sir Julius Vogel has a notion of borrowing £5,000,000 of money. Let him do so and invest it in establishing a bank, and he can do all we have pointed out, together with finishing public works, and this colony need never again borrow one half-penny. It may. appear rather strange to some people to say that with only £5,000,000 all this can be done, but if it is remembered that with a capital of £1,000,000 the Bank of New Zealand transacted business to the extent of over 141 millions last year, and held at the time of its report discounted bills to the value of over 9-| rmllfop the assertion will come within the range of com mon sense. Let us see now how it would work. Tom Jones’s farm is mortgaged to John Smith for £IOOO, and the Government have decided to advance the money, lorn Jones would get a Government cheque, which he would pay into the bank, and give his own cheque to John Smith who would go straight to the bank with it and ledge it to hisvredit. Now all this time the money would never leave the bank, all that was done being to debit and credit with £IOOO the accounts interested. And it was thus the Bank of New Zealand wag able $o (raogacj; over 14| milJionp

worth of business on a capital of £1,000,000. The money never leaves the bants ; all business ■is done by cheques, bills, and notes, and tbe most of the £5,000,000 would remain in the Government Bank in the same way, and it could make use of it. Besides this the bank would have further resources. 'I he balance of ouV revenue after payingl our English engagements is nearly ±,2,000,000, and that would come every year to swell the treasury of the bank, as civil servants could be paid in note?. It is notes the Bank of New Zealand pays them at present. The revenue of local bodies is £1,000,000 the Life Insurance and Post Office Savings Bank money is £2,000,000, and our exports are about £7,000,000, most of which would go through the Government Bank, as farmers are our exporters; Of course if all the mortgages were taken over in one day, there would be some difficulty, but by only taking them as they expired there would be none. As there would be no 17$ per cent to pay to shareholders the profits of the bank would in time wipe off our National debt. Now here is a policy for the new Government, and if they adopt it and go to the country on it, they will return with a majority of three to one.- Since it was first broached a few weeks ago it has spread like wildfire, and this scheme, or something like it, is being discussed in the papers along this coast and in the North Island. The present Government includes the best financiers, and the ablest men in New Zealand, and this article contains sufficient for. them to go upon. If they have couragre enough to adopt this they will have the country at their back the very moment they make it properly known.

THE STODT-YOGrEL MINISTRY. It is difficult to speak with any certainty as to whether the present Ministry will struggle along or not. The. correspondent of the Timaru Herald writes:-—“The Post has an article deprecating any amendment on the Address, on the ground that every! Ministry are entitled to bring their policy before Parliament. The’false reasoning is so obvious, however, that this argument will not go for much, because everybody knows that the Governor’s Speech is the recognised medium for bringing the. Ministerial policy before Parliament.” Everybody does not know that “ the Governor’ 1 ’ speech is the recognised medium, etc.,” and we wonder at anyone having the hardihood of asking intelligent readers to swallow such nonsense. The fact is, it is next to impossible for a Ministry to do more than foreshadow their policy in a mere speech. No Ministry ever did it. To turn the present Government out before they have time to lay their views before,the House, is like hanging them before t trial. The country was tired enough 1 of the late Ministry, and we feel sure it is most anxious that their successors should be allowed breathing time to perfect their policy. There is, however, a danger of their being turned out on the Address ,in Reply. The correspondent of the Press says :—“Mr Ormond has occupied a singularly prominent position throughout the present crisis, and seldom before in New Zealand politics has so much weight been attached to the opinion of one man. I have excellent reason to believe that Mr Ormond is opposed to the Government, being attacked at once on the Address in Reply, but is in favor of their being allowed full opportunity of disclosing their policy. He would, therefore, I believe vote against the proposed amendment, and give the Ministry his support -so long as they adhere to a moderate policy, especially in regard to tin question of further borrowing.” If Mr Ormond backs up the Ministry at all, there is every prospect that they will pull through the Address-in-Replj ordeal. The correspondent of the Otago Daily Times gives the following outline of their policy “ Abolition of the property tax and introduction of a land tax ; Local Government Reform Bill ; abolition of plural voting ; completion of the Otago Central and construction of North Island Main Trunk Railway ; alteration of District Railways Act, so as to facilitate the construction of the Middle Island-West Coast line by a private company ; Payment of Members Bill ; a measure to provide for harbor works ; the formation of a non-political railway board for each Island ; the promotion ot local industries by tariff additions ; a measure for encouraging the growth of beetroot sugar ; a Native Bill similar to Mr Bryce’s, but with the exception that the pre-erative right is excluded ; a Bill with reference to trade and annexation in the South Seas ; a measure to deal with sinking funds ; a measure to encourage the mining industry ; and a proposal to dispose of the mail contract by allowing tin New Zealand (Shipping 1 Company to carry the mails on alternate fortnights with the San Francisco service, and giving them the postage,” With the exception of a land tax, the programme appears a good oile, but of course its usefulness will depend on the manner, in which these subjects are dealt with. Hovyeyer, we feel confident that the colony, soearpegtly desires a change that even if the presept Ministry is pot all that it would like, it is anxious that they should have a fair trial. The Lyttelton Tipies says the members of the Atkinson Ministry are averse to an amendment on the Address in Reply, We hope so, as it would indeed be nothing to their credit after having so long been in office to jump upon their successors the very first moment they made their appearance in harness.