The Tumeka Leader SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1889. THE MILLIONS A YEAR.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1973, 23 November 1889, Page 2

The Tumeka Leader SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1889. THE MILLIONS A YEAR.

Six years ago we drew attention to the fact that this colony was losing at the rate of £4,000,000. We were laughed at, of course, but very Bhortly afterwards a general election took place, and such politicians as Mr Bryce, Mr Eolleston, Sir John Hall, aud others, said exactly the same thing. Messrs Bryce and Eolleston said the amount was i\ millions;, Sir John Hall held it was 3| millions, but in our opinion 4 millions was then nearer the truth than either statement. The manager of the London and Westminster Bank said the same thing, and so did Mr Westgarth, and now we find The Economist, undoubtedly the greatest financial authority extant, has awakened and made the same discovery. The following extract from The Economist, with some comments, appears in a recent number of the Banking Eecord .*—

" The high sense.of honour which a large number of New Zealanders possess is not an aasefc out of which interest can be paid. A few more loans on unproductive works, coupled with bad harvests, and it would, in our -judgment, be practically impossible for New .Ztviland to mo.et its engagements." In commenting upon this text, the writer proceeds on the assumption that the total mdebtedcess of the colony is £90,569,274, the private indebtedness being thus classified : Mortgages (foreign capita!) £16,832,507 Mortgages (colonial capital) 14,988,602 Other indebtedness, exclusive of mortgages ... ... 20,365,593 Total £52,186,702 The balance of the indebtedness consists of colonial, municipal, and harbour loans, and other liabilities of a public character. After deducting from the private indebtfldness £10,000,000, which the writer believes to' be h&ld in (he colony, he goes on to calculate the abi'ity of the colony to bear this charge, which he thus computes : Tho Government remit annna'ly, as per estimates for the year eoded 31st March, 1889 £1,838,539 Interest at 6 per cent, on £42,000;,000 2,520,000 Total || < £4,353,539 Hie conclusions are stated ia the closing sontence of the article :—" This amount of £4,358,000 is, however, more than the difference between our exports, say £9,000,000, and our imports, £5,750,000, and how it is to be found is matter of grave concern to the colony."

The comments made by the writei in the Kecord are rather amusing tc anyone who understands the question He really does not understand the A.B.C. of international monetary operations. The matter has so frequently been explained in these columns, that we do not think il necessary to enter upon a repetition oi it now. There is one thing which cannot be gainsaid: We have been the first to discover this and to poini out the dangerous charater of oui operations, we have thus opened the eyes of the public to it, and done a good service, Retrenchmeat can nevei help this in the remotest degree; the enly care for it is to import less, and export more, and this we are glad, to say ia being done. Our position has greatly improved during the last few years; our imports have shrunk from 1 millions to 5 millions, and eur exports have greatly increased. At the rate things are going on we believe that our exports will exceed our imports by about two millions this year, so that the four millions against us will be reduced by one-half. This is encouraging, and we owe not one cent of it to retrenchment; we owe it te the increase in the customs duties, the flax industry, and increased prices. Still we really require to trim our sails a little better. To go to the bad even at the rate of two millions is undesirable, if not very dangerous, and the sooner we put ourselves on a proper footing the better. The whole secret lies in increasing production by settling people on the land, and by developing our own resources. It is evident we must change our Government before we can do much more in that direction,

and the sooner we do it the better fer the colony. ♦■ __" i

VILLAGE "SETTLEMENTS. Amongst village settlers in thii colony are threes men, who througl accidents have been disabled for life Two of them have lost the use of one arm each, and the other one is equallj helpless. The three men are practically helpless, and would' undoubtedly have been a burden on charitable aid; -only for the fact that they have been fortunate enough in obtaining village settlement blocks. One of them has taken to rearing pigs, and is making a good thing out of them ; another has a few acres of strawberries, and the third one has his land under a crop of onions, and both have good prospects before them this year. Only for the village settlement these families would have been living on charitable aid, but here they are now working out their own living, as enterprising independent settlers. Let us ask the men of property now, who have to pay taxes, Is it not better that these men should in this way be earning their own living than be a burden on the community ? That is simply a question, and we cannot understand how any man living can answer it m the negative, yet our Minister of Lands is doing his very best to prevent the extension of village settlements. It is, too, a fact that many others are ready to lend him assistance, and this is exactly what surprises us. It is astonishing that i

taxpayers prefer to pay charitable aid taxes than allow people to settle on the land and earn their own living. But so it is, and there apparently is very little prospect of a change. In 1888, at the instance of Major Steward, of Ashburton, £IO,OOO was put on the estimates to enable village settlements to be extended, but it was lost by one vote, and no effort has since been made in that direction. Under clause 168 of the Land Act 1885, passed by the Stout-Vogel Government, power is given to buy land for the purposes of village settlements, but the power has never been exercised. The clause is of course a dead letter. If this alause had been put into operation, a great deal of good would have been done; we should have been relieved of a good deal of the cost of charitable aid, and many of those who fled from our shores during the past couple of years would have been thriving settlers now. But nothing will teach those who resist all attempts to settle the land. It is no use arguing with them, just as it was no use arguing with the London Dock Companies, until they brought the strike upon themselves. The result is the strike cost the Dock Companies more than it would take to pay the men the extra amount they demanded for 50 years. The Dock Companies have lost about a couple of millions of money, and they have to pay the extra money into the bargain. The end of this selfish resistance to settling the people on the land will be similar, It will all recoil on the heads of the moneyed men, and then they will regret their action.