The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1886. POLITICAL TRICKERY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1455, 16 January 1886, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JANUARY 16, 1886. POLITICAL TRICKERY.

f«a speech delivered by (he Hon. Mr Ballance last Wednesday evening at Wanganui appears to have been a very good one. A full report has not reached us yet ; we have only the Press Agency summary of it, ami consequently we think it rather premature to offer any definite opinion on it. Still he touched on many points which give room for comment. He appears to have dealt unmercifully with Major Atkinson. He painted him as a political trickster, whose sole object would appear to have been to retain office by deluding the public. Passing over the tricky way in which (be gallant Major behaved last session, by shirking the responsibilities of leading the Opposition, we find the more serious charge made against him of having deliberately misled the public with regard to the financial position of the colony. He is accused of piling yearly deficiencies on top of each other till they amounted to the sum of L 830,000,

and then charging tin m to the loan account. This, of course, amounted to borrowing money “on the fily.” Major Atkinson was all this time preaching economy, while surreptitiously adding to our indebtedness. The last year he was in office his deficiency amounted to LI 50,000, and no doubt had not his little plans been upset be would have quietly continued increasing this till it became large enough to wipe out with a loan from a loan. The present Government faced the difficulty in a more straightforward way. They arrived at the condnsion that we could not go on paying interest out of loans forever, and they resolved to raise sufficient money to pay their way by means of taxation. With this ohject in view they proposed to increase the Customs duties, but though Major Atkinson is an ad vocate of Protection, and was well aware that more revenue was necessary, he opposed them. Common sense will show anyone that if the country requires a revenue of L 4,000.000 to pay its way that sum ought to be raised by taxation. It will not do to raise L 3.500.000 and take the other L 500,000 out of loans obtained for the purpose of prosecuting public works. Yet apparently that is tho policy Major Atkinson has all along been purging if wo are to believe Mr Ballance.

The next accusation made against Major Atkinson was equally damaging. When the L 5,000,000 loan was raised ho promised that it should bo spent only at the rate of L 1,000,000 per year, but when the present Government took office they found that Major Atkinson was spending the money at the rate of L 1,800,000 n-year. It will be remembered that the late Ministry made a great point ot this. The economy which they were practising was the cardinal feature of their policy. Major Atkinson used to tell the people that one of the causes of the depression was that public expenditure had been reduced to L 1,000,000 a year. He was then endeavoring to hoodwink the public—trying, in fact, to get into power by means of false representations, if Mr Ballance's statements are true. The excuse Major Atkinson gave for this was that he could not be responsible for the extravagance of his Minister for Public Works. This is a most extraordinary disclosure. It proves that Major Atkinson was deluding the public by assuming virtues which he had not; that he aimed at making the country believe that he was the apostle of rconomy, while at the same time he was spending the money at as rapid a rate as ever. He was governing by means of false pretences, if Mr Ballance’s statements are true, and is not worthy of the confidence of the country. The present Government went to work on exactly opposite lines. 1 bey saw that sufficient money had not been raised in the past to defray the expenses of the Government ; that deficits had, instead of being met by increased taxation, been made up out of loans, and thus money borrowed for public works had been frequently employed in paying interest on borrowed money. They resolved to change that state of things by increasing the Customs daties. . Now it is obvious that this is the best plan. If we borrow money we ought to pay interest on it out of the yearly revenue of the colony, So long as we continue to pay interest out of our loans we must be going to the bad, and the sooner we adopt the self-reliant policy of paying our way, and cease to borrow, except for the purpose of prosecuting reproductive works, the belter. Major Atkinson’s policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul must cease ; it cannot go on. It has gone on long enough with sad results.