THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1893. THE YEAR’S FINANCES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2488, 11 April 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1893. THE YEAR’S FINANCES.

The financial results of the year are, to put it mildly, extremely satisfactory. The honorable Mr Ballance expected to have a surplus of £330,000, but it is not at all improbable that when the last half-penny is collected it will reach close up to half a million of money. A surplus or a deficit is nothing under ordinary circumstances, and they neither indicate prosperity nor adversity. The first may be produced by overtaxing the people; the second by under-taxing them; and the Treasurer who does either does not do the right thing. The ideal Treasurer is he who has the exact sum he requires to pay his way, and no more ; he neither over-taxes nor under-taxes, and is consequently doing exactly the proper thing. But the general public do not look at things in that way ; they look at a surplus ixa an indication of prosperity, and at a deficit as the reverse. It is true that the financial results of a year very often give an idea of the condition of the people. If, for instance, the stamp revenue is less it means a contraction of business ; if the Customs duties fall off it shows that the people are not consuming goods through inability to buy them, and so on with other sources of revenue. All these and a great many other questions must be taken into consideration when examining a surplus or a deficit with regard to its bearing on the social condition of the people, and when this is done one has to see whether the Government have been careful or extravagant Now as regards the financial results of the present year, a prosperous condition is indicated by them. The chief sources of revenue which bear on this point have exceeded anticipations, and this proves that the long-continued commercial depression is fast disappearing. That is the first fact discovered by the year’s finances. As regards Mr Ballance, he must not be condemned as a Treasurer who produced a surplus by over-taxing the people through ignorance. He intended to have a surplus, and he has it. Moreover, Mr Ballance had no previous experience to guide him. Had he had the past experience of the Property Tax he would have deserved no credit for his management ; but he had not, he was, so to speak, working in the dark ; he had to guess at what the Land and Income Tax would produce, and it must be admitted that, considering this, his estimates have proved marvellously accurate. He has displayed great sagacity, clear-sightedness, and financial acumen, that place him first of the first of New Zealand statesmen. There is no getting out of this; it is of no use to try to minimise his work. Mr Ballance has lifted the colony into an enviable position, and though carping Oppositionists may find some pettifogging faults with him, the great work he has done during the last couple of years will form a subject on which the future historian wiil gladly dwell. The result of the year’s financial operations is that we have now close on half a million of money to our credit, and that consequently all necessity for further borrowing is obviated. With this we can open up the country, and prosecute public works, while, unlike the past, our annual burden is not increasing. This is a splendid outlook for the country, more especially as taxation is by no means heavy. Of course it is heavy on those on whom it falls with graduated effect, but this is as it should be. These people have accu- , mulated wealth out of the past expenditure of borrowed money, and have hitherto man&gnfi to escape taxation proportionately id the benefits they received. We do not blame them. They held the power in their own hands, and it was only natural that they should feather their own nests. They have done so, and now it is only just and fair that they should be made to gonfribute to taxation proportionately t,o tin? benefits conferred on them. These are the only people v f r hose increasedtlfe burden of the average lias bjjgii' lightened, and this fact, together ipitlji t}ie of having sufficient money to (to without further borrowing makes our ! pobjtjpti as pleasant as wfl could desire. | Putting ashfO the wealthy classes, the i political situation fpay f?S summed up 1 ‘''tn ; Less taxation, \yith sufficient money : , -silent hvimv borrowing, and a to , * Wim ftbie to reduce our good prospect o * g S fJW tho already-incurred nidetn- U5S '. >v (0 all-important question is : What .? v ® Government going to do with regard to the surplus I They can reduce taxation if they like, but in our opinion they would commit a great blunder, if they did so. There can be no doubt that if they adhere to the present taxation they will have a larger surplus next year, for as the colony becomes more prosperous tho revenue will increase proportionately. The surplus will enable them to prosecute public works, to open up land for settlement, to buy large estates for subdivision, to establish State farms, and to do the work of the country without further borrowing. The colony can well afford to pay the present tax; she is, in fact, growing prosperous under it, and it would be a great blunder to reduce it, at least for a few years, until she is placed safely beyond the necessity of any farther borrowing. We notice that Mr Scddon has promised to increase the exemption for improvements, but however desirable that may be,

it appears to us that it would be better to let well alone for a few years. The exemption at present is £3OOO, and anyone whose improvements are more than that can well afford to pay. For our part we would rather see the tax on tea and other necessaries of life reduced, but we should be perfectly satisfied with things as they are at present, provided further borrowing can be obviated. No more borrowing should be the watchword of the coming election.

JUSTICES’ JUSTICE. An exchange informs us that two justices at Greytown fined a man named Peterson £2O for an assault on a constable and £lO for drunkeness, with costs £4 ss, So disgusted was a number of people at the absurdity of the fines that they subscribed £43 for the man to pay them and then cheered him. This is monstrous, but not much worse than the sentence passed on a man in Rangiora last week. A man named E. W. Hawkins, employed as an accountant and general hand by a butcher named Barker, at Ohoka, was charged before the Mayor, Mr Sansom, and a Mr Good, with having embezzled the sum of 18s 6d, the property of his employer. Barker, the butcher, was the only witness. Hawkins had been in his employment for three years, first at £1 per week and then at £1 7s 6d. He kept the accounts and made himself generally useful. Banker said, 11 he was a thorough good man only for drink; at first he was very conscientious.” There was money due to him for wages when he took the 18s 6d. Now here was a man of good character whose only crime was that he kept 18s 6d of his employer’s money at a time when wages were due to him. Is it not as likely as not that the man had only forgotten to account for it. Mistakes are occurring every day and it may be that this man was only guilty of 3 mistake. Besides, it appears that he is a man who could pay the amount, for it was asserted on his behalf that there is £IOOO coining to him from Home. Looked at dispassionately, and remembering that he had for three years been handling his employer’s money, his crime was not a serious one. Yet the intelligent bench of justices sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment with hard labor. Mr Joyce, his solicitor, endeavoured to get the court to deal with him under the Probation Act, but they refused to do so and adhered to their decision. In our opinion both the Greytown and Rangiora justices should be struck off the list at once. There may have been some reason in the fine of £2O inflicted for assaulting a constable but to add a fine of £lO for drunkenness could have only been inflicted by lunatics, who ought to have been in the asylum instead of administering justice.

N.Z. POLITICS. The Right Honorable A, J. Balfour cannot altogether see his way to approve of the actions of the New Zealand democracy. In a letter to aMr Norwood Young, of Wellington, he writes : \ “ Political economists and social reformers in this country follow with great interest the experiments which are being made by the New Zealand democracy. Up to the present time I am afraid the success of the experiments has not been such as to convince us in England that our colonists have found the secret of universal happiness and prosperity.”

Of course not. Universal prosperity in Mr Balfour’s opinion would consist of millionaire aud slaves, but that is exactly what the democracy of New Zealand has determined to prevent. Not only is Mr Balfour not convinced, but also colonists' themselves, that an era of “universal prosperity ” has not been reached yet, and will not for a long time. Mr Balfour’s observations are ridiculous, but no doubt he is disgusted with the progress the democracy of New Zealand is making, as he recognises in it the deathblow to his caste. A few years hence the democracy of England will be voting under the same franchise as New Zealanders, aud then Mr Balfour will find that his sphere of influence will be more limited than it is at present.