The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1884. MR NEWLYN'S CHEAP MONEY SCHEME.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1237, 9 September 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1884. MR NEWLYN'S CHEAP MONEY SCHEME.

It is with much pleasure we acknowledge the receipt of a pamphlet written by Mr J. H. Newlyn on the above subject. Before examining its contents, however, we desire to refer to a feature of it which strikes us as rather peculiar. Mr Newlyn enumerates triumphantly the candidates who have favorably of the scheme, and mentions amongst them Mr Sutter. Now Mr Sutter certainly promised to support such a scheme when hard pushed by questioning at Pleasant Point, but at the declaration of the poll—when he found himself elected—he said it was all a bubble, aud that choap money meant dear land. Mr Sutter is perhaps the .bigg3st money-lender in South Canterbury, and no friend to such a scheme ; but he is mentioned by Mr Newlyn, while the two most active advocates of the cause—the Rev. T. Jasper Smythe and Mr Twomey—are completely ignored. The Rev. Mr Smythe published several letters, as well as communications which passed between himself and Sir Julius Vogel, on the subject ; Mr Twomey spent his time and money in contesting the Gladstone election, to ventilate practically the same scheme, and also published letters in the Ashburton and Chrishchurch papers which Mr Newlyn must have seen. The Rev. Mr Smythe has been taken notice of by outside papers, and candidates all over the South Island have referred lo Mr Twomey's scheme, yet Mr Newlyn completely ignores both, whilst Mr Sutter is held up as the guardian angel of the proposal. We are inclined to think the omission is the result of a touch of jealousy which Mr Newlyn has allowed to creep in amidst his feelings of patriotism and philanthropy. Mr Newlyn claims originality for the scheme, and as he carries under his coat perhaps as much human nature as other people, he does not like to let everyone know that other people spoke of the same thing long before he did. Now there is one thing we can say about this : If Mr Twomey ever writes a pamphlet on this subject, Mr Newlyn will get full credit for the excellent work he is doing. We can promise on behalf of Mr Twomey that he will not be influenced by any such feeling, because he recognises that the proposal requires all the tact and ability at the command of its advocates, and that its progress will be slow if they allow such petty feelings to mingle in their deliberations. Mr Newlyn's original scheme was that enunciated by the Rev. Mr Smythe in the Tiraaru Herald, The rev. gentleman claims to have originated the scheme in Ireland, where it has been working for the last three or four years. When Sir Juliuß Vogel came to Ashburton, in reply to questions he said something which amounted to a disapproval of the scheme, but he also said something about an intermediate body having the administration of it, and about terminal annuities. We have not the paper containing Sir Julius Vogel's speech now, but we remember that ho said something to this effect. Mr Newlyn at once tacked on the " great man's " ideas to the Rev. Mr Smythe's scheme, and strutted it out before the farmers of Pendarves as a brand-new creation of his inventive intellect.

"And still they gazed, aud still the wonder grsw That one small head could carry all he knew."

It is unfortunate that Mr Newlyn pushes his own individuality so far in advance of his ideas, because he is doing good work which must be marred to some extent by the self-sufficiency of its advocate. We do not undervalue his work at all, because, though we do not think his is the best plan, it is probably the next to it. He is at any rate calling attention to the scandalous rate of interest which is ruining the colony, and if he is not the originator he is the next best thing an indefatigable advocate of the new scheme. Mr Newlyn says : f'The broad features of the scheme are : The guarantee of a moderate interest by the Government, who will only deal with the combined landowners in the form of an Association ; the nse of the State machinery, if a simple assistance is to the scheme, and the mutual liability of all the land ppming under its provisions ; the accumulation of a reason* able sinking fund lobe used in assisting clients whos3 properties repreaent good value for the money raised on them, but who niay be behind with the interest due any one ,or twp half years ; the division of a portion of the gipkjng fpnd every five years as a bonus to shareholders ; the gradual clearing off of tha mortgage debt, where desired, by paying annually a portion of the principal with the interest—which is the plan that the State might advantageously adopt 5 the reduction of all charges to their minimum, so that tha Association shotald give individual* the advantage of the profits due to combination and theraisipg cf loans in bulk." Mr Newlyn evidently wants to get up an association of farmers who will, to put it plainly, get the Government to ba£k their bill in the English market. If that can be done we will be pleas-pd, but we doubt it. We beljeye the Rev. Mr Smyth'-'s scheme-«that is, the first one Mr Newlyn adopted—to he better than that. As regards the terminal annuitieß part of it, the present generation would hardly reap any benefit, because the extra amount to wipe out the debt, together with the minimum interest, would equal the present rate.

When Mr Newlyn learns that Government pays 5 per cent for the loans they borrowed at 4, and the Borough Council of Timaru pays 7 per cent, he will realise that there is not so much in his scheme. We do not wish to throw cold water on the scheme ; on the contrary, we feel friendly disposed towards it, because it would do some good ; but it would be nothing at all compared with a National Bank. We are sorry Mr Newlyn has not adopted that idea, and with the hope that we may yet convert him we shall give him something to reflect upon. We are told that the public and private debt of this colony is somowhere between 60 and 70 millions of pounds sterling. We must have borrowed that sum or we would uot owe it, and the most of it ought to be somewhere in this colony now. Innocent people like ourselves, at any rate, would think that at least two-thirds of it is roaming about between Auckland and the Bluff. The fact, however, is contrary to this common-sense notion. We have in this colony only ±2,000,000 in gold coin, and the question arises, Where is the money gone to ? The only explanation is that we never had it. We could not have paid it awny on imports, because our exports paid for them. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that the money never reached us, and that the banks are carrying on the business of the colony by means of notes and bills. If so, why should not the Government do it ? If the banks in this colony transact the business of the colony with only £2,000,000 in coin, who can say that the Government could not transact the business of the farmers with the same amount of capital? The more we examine this qupstion, the more we feel convinced that wo are being fleeced and swindled on all sides. We are told that £15,000,000 of lecal money has been lent on mortgage, In the name cf common sense, if there is only £2,000,000 in the colony how can this be ? The fact is, the banks and money-lenders are manipulating the money in some way that they make us pay 10 per cent, for paper, and if the people propose to make money on the same principle, thoughtless idiots who cannot see further than the end of their own noses laugh about a printing press and a bundle of paper. This is a question on which volumes could be written, but we have no room for further comment now. We hope to be able to refer to this matter at some future date. <» PARTY TACTICS. It appears to us that the leaders of parties in Wellington have shown great want of tact and judgment so far. In the first place, when the first StoutVogel Ministry took the reins of Government the Opposition made a mistake in forcing on an immediate division. They ought to have allowed them to go on until they brought down their proposal for the abolition of the property tax. If they had done this the property tax and land tax members would have had to take sides, and a definite division of parties would have been the result. As there are 60 members pledged to the property tax, the Stout-Vogehtes would have been defeated, and the property tax people would have come into power again. Instead of that they brought forward a motion which involved no principle, and consequently no definite division of parties resulted from it. Land tax members followed property tax leaders, and vice versa. The present StoutVogel Government do not appear to be better led. Last Friday evening their candidate for the Chairmanship of Committees was defeated under circumstances.which amounted to a defeat of the Government. This is a position to which £2OO a year is attaohed, and, as a matter of course, the Government of the day always try to secure it for one of their own. following. The Government on this occasion selected Mr Steward, of Waimate. but the Opposition selected Mr Hamlin, the late Chairman of Committees. Under ordinary circumstances the election of Mr Hamlin would have been treated as a defeat of the Government, but so tired were both parties of defeats that they determined to fight this battle on neutral grounds, and not make it a party question. Yet, in the face of this understanding, Sir Julius Vogel was injudicious enough to appeal to his followers to support Mr Stewaid as he was the Goyernmpnt candidate. Had Sir Julius Vogel not made this appeal the defeat of Mr Steward would have very little significance, but in the face of such an effort being put forward by the Government, the defeat cannot be looked upon otherwise than as a severe blow to the Ministerial party. It was very injudicious on Sir Julius Vogel's part to expose his weakness in this way, for the knowledge that he has uot a majority is calculated to lessen bis prestige. It appears to us that the present Ministiy hold their seats through the forbearance of their opponents, and that in all probability they will be turned out of office as soon as their financial statement is laid before the country, This will be in a week hence, It such is the case, a dissolution is likely to ensue, However, Sir Julius Vogel has hitherto promised that something great would be made known in his financial statement, and if be has a trump card yet to play ho may avert defeat, What it is no one seems to know, but we hope it will be such as will enable him to carry on the Government, until such time as parties regain their proper frame of mind. To dissolve Parliament would be worse than useless; it would put the colony to,,

a, great amount of expense, and as the same leaders would go back no good would be doDe. On this ground we hope no dissolution will take place whoever may govern.

THE PANAMA CANAL. Thk New York Times of July 15, says

—" The trouble into which the Panama Canal Company is drifting is shown by Commander Rich, who gives his reasons for resigning the agency of the Company at the isthmus. He struggled, without success, to prevent the fearful waste of funds with which the work was carried on ; but what excited his special indignation, and caused bis abrupt departure from the Company's service, was the reckless misrepresentation regarding the progress of the excavatiou. His repeated protests were unheeded, and he refused to bave anything more to do with the Cowpany on any terms. It is evident that this huge project, blown up and sustained thus long by the prestige of Ferdinand de Lesseps, is in danger or collapsing through the utter loss of confidence in the management, and the prospects of the Company are very likely to prove the monumental failure of the age." This is bad news for this colony. If the Panama Canal were ever successfully opened, it would bring us nearer by about 20 days' sail to the markets of Europe, and enable us lo compete successfully with India and America. It would givs us a great advantage over the sister colonies in the Southern Hemisphere. For the sake of the trade of this colony we hope the above is exaggerated. ACCLIMATISATION. New Zealand will eventually ba acclimatised. The acclimatisers of this colony introduced sparrows and rabbits, and they are now sorry for it, but they are now importing far more destructive animals. An English paper says : " About 100 stoats and weasels, which have been caught with considerable difficulty in different parts of Lincolnshire by a man nßmed Allbones, a vermin-catcber, of Brigg, were on Tuesday conveyed by him to London en route for New Zealand, having been purchase! by the Government of that country for the purpose of destroying the rabbits which overrun the colony. As the passage out will occupy 45 days, 1,500 live pigeons have been shipped for consumption by the animals. A consignment of about the same cumber was t.-iken out last year by the same man, but during a gale all but 10 animals out of this extraordinary shipment were washed overboard. These 10 were liberated as soon as they landed, and within a few hours one of them destroyed seven ducks, several miles from where it was set free. A price of 5s per head was offered to Allbones for the stoats and weasels to be taken out." When these ferocious enemies of domestic animals commence their depredations we shall be sorry they were ever imported. What shall we import to destroy stoats and weasels ?