THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1892. UNFULFILLED PROPHECIES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2364, 2 June 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1892. UNFULFILLED PROPHECIES.

Thinks are not at all turning out pleasantly for the Conservatives of tin's colony. They started with the prophecy that the colon}' would be ruined with the new taxation, but nothing of the kind lias so far occurred. Our securities in the London market were never in better demand, or at a higher figure; frightened capital seems to have settled down at home, where it is now cheaper than ever ; the population which the previous Government drove away from the colony is returning and settling once more in our midst, and. taken altogether, the general tone of tilings is better than it. used to be. It is unfortunate for our Tory friends that none of their doleful predictions have been fulfilled. They said the Government were galloping to a deficit, but it lias already been shown that they will have a handsome surplus. They have done what no previous Ministry have attempted, that is, paid off £150,000 of our national debt, and after doing that they have a surplus of

£105,000 or so. All previous minis- , ters added to the debt of the colony, ; but the present Government have ' commenced to reduce it. That in itself is a great thing. Then we were told that the Government were gallopping to another loan, but we have the assurance of ministers that nothing of the kind is contemplated. It is probable they will try to raise some small sum in the colony to make roads and bridges in the North Island, where new settlements are being opened up, but that can scarcely be called a loan in the sense we have hitherto understood the term. Money borrowed within the colony does not impoverish us in the same way as a foreign loan does. We would rather see the Government pay G per cent, locally for money, than that they should borrow in the English market at 4 per cent. The interest payable on foreign loans leaves the colony for ever, and thus impoverishes it; the interest on a local loan remains amongst ourselves, and adds to our national wealth. But the Government will not have the slightest difficulty in raising the money at 5 per cent., and the difference between that and the rate at which they could borrow in the English market will be made up in the Income tax. If borrowed in England the interest would not be liable to taxation, but if borrowed in New Zealand some of the interest must go back to the Government again through the Income tax. Thus, what they would lose in one way would be made up in another, and the whole colony would be enriched by the transaction. But it does not appear to us that the Government will require any large sum, as they have been shepherding the little money which they inherited from their predecessors in the most economical manner. According to the Wellington correspondent of the Lyttelton Times “ the Public Works expenditure for last year stands as follows: 1889-90, £262,308 ; 1890-01, £212,000; 1891-92, £197,000. Last year’s expenditure was less than the previous year’s by £15,000, and fell short of the year before that by £05,000. This year it is averaging £l-1,000 per month, or at the rate of £IOB,OOO a year, which is less than that of 1889-90 by £91.000, and less than 1890-91 by £l-1,000, and 1891-92 by £29,000. The present year’s rate is the lowest that has been known since the inauguration of the public Works policy. The figures do not bear out the prediction that ministers intended to live by log-rolling on a basis of lavisli expenditure,” Of course they do not, but they make the false prophets of the Opposition look very foolish. The present Government J/aye introduced economy in every department, and the country will soon begin to feel life benefit of it. Erom a financial point of view their work must be pronounced good. They have paid off our national debt the sum of £Js<'.()()(), they have reduced the expenditure on public works by nearly £100,000; they have effected a saving in the public service of £15,000. and if that is not economical financing we do not know what it is.

In other respects, too, the Tories are receiving heavy knocks. In Dunedin they held up 1. R- Scott as a martyr, but it lias since turned out that he was a dummy. Mr Edwards was held up as a frightful example of the maliciousness of the present Government, but, alas, the Privy Council has upheld them. The Government has also cleaned out the Augean stable of the Public Trust Office, and they are still bring.ffig guilty Atkinsonian partisans to justice, J» all their actions they have come opt with dying colors, and in no instance has the prophecy of their opponents been fulfilled. It is very Iv.'.r d Oil their opponents, no doubt, but probably it will teach them to be less reckless in their statements in future.

LAND VALUES. Wonderful are the efforts which thd opponents of the Government _ are putting forward now to rehabilitate themselves in the good opinion of the electors of this colony. AVild and reckless statements proving useless, malicious misrepresentations of facts being disregarded, they are now trying to organise with the view of consolidating their forces. In Auckland the National Liberal Association has been formed, the chief feature of which is that a man of wealth must be given two votes, one for himself and one for his property, Benjamin Franklin it was, we believe, who exploded this idea. At an election where a man could not vote unless he had some propert}' he claimed a vote in virtue of a donkey he was riding. “ Very well,” said the returning officer. “ let the donkey vote.” That is exactly what the Auckland people want—a vote for their donkeys, sheep, and cattle. This did well in several parts of the North Island, but when it came down to Christchurch there was added to it a condemnation of the socialistic tendencies of the present Government and a determination 'o secure to the people •* individual liberty,” AVe wish to lay particu'ar emphasis on this ‘‘ individual liberty ” point, because we desire, to ask our readers : Have they felt that the present Government has deprived them of any of their liberty so far ? AA e do not think they have; w'e do not think that anyone has felt that his liberty has been

curtailed in the least, and then we should like to know what is the

meaning of this high-sounding, beautiful sentiment. Simply this; giaduatecl taxation, repression of dummyism, and settlement of men where sheep have hitherto been. But the people of Christchurch were not satisfied with an association of this kind. There is one thing winch the Tories of Canterbury have realised in its fullest truth, and that is that they have lost hold of the small farmer. Hitherto they have made a cat’s-paw of him, and made him, if not a beast of burden, a tax-paying machine. They have fleeced him as effectually as he has his own sheep. Let us give instances of this ; Mr Postlethwaite’s estate was valued at £G an acre, but some of it sold at £IG and £l7, and it could undoubtedly have been sold at about £l2 all round. The Kiverslea estate was valued at £lO an acre, and some of it sold at £25, while it averaged between £l7 and £lB. Mr James Guild got his valuation reduced to £l2 or £l4 an acre, but he did not hesitate to give £25 an acre for some Eiverslea land. Now, these estates were not contributing their fair share to the revenue of the colony, nor to the Hoad Boards, nor to the County Council, and the poor unfortunate farmers have in consequence had to bear heavier burdens all round. But these were small estates compared with others. For instance, the Levels station valuation was reduced by £42,000 in one year, and so on. This is where the shoe pinches, and realising that the “ individual liberty” business was not good enough the large landowners have called a meeting of Christchurch farmers by private circular to form a “farmers’ league,” Evidently they cast their net in sight of the birds, for cockatoos were conspicuous by their absence. The cockatoo is beginning to know a thing or two : he does not at all see why he should form a league to take taxation off the large cormorants, and put it on his own shoulders, and so quietly stopped away like a good, sensible bird. The league, however, has been formed, and its leader, Mr C. Ensor, has issued a wail in the Lyttelton Times concerning the injustice of the valuations made just now. No doubt he, like others, was escaping taxation in the past, and now, finding justice has been done to him, .he does not like it. We, however, feelHhat he will not be able to catch many bona fide farmers with that chaff, and that his league will not set the Thames on fire.