THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1893. THE PUBLIC DEBT.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2510, 1 June 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, JUNE 1, 1893. THE PUBLIC DEBT.

For nearly twelve months a controversy iias been going on as to whether the late Mr Bidlaiica reduced the public debt of the colony or not. The Liberal party claims that lie did ; the Opposition that he did not; and between the two statements the puidio rest in blissful ignorance of the exact truth. Now the exact truth is that hor.li parties are right, paradoxical as it may appear. There are two ways of looking at our public debt; there is the gross public debt and the net public debt, the difference between them being the amount of the sinking fund. The Government party say that the debt which ought to trouble us is the gross debt, because it is on that we have ,to pay interest. If we reduce the gross debt of the colony, we reduce the amount we have to provide annually for paying interest, and consequently that is what concerns us most. The Opposition, on the other hand, say it is with the net debt we ought to concern ourselves, because that is the actual amount we owe, and this constitutes the difference between the two parties. No one disputes the figures ; no one doubts that the gross debt was reduced by £117,282, and that consequently the amount we have to provide for interest has been reduced by over £SOOO a year. This is admitted by all, and it is also admitted by all that the net debt increased. There is no dispute about either ; and the whole question is: Was the late Premier right in saying he had reduced the debt of the colony, when he had only reduced the amount on which interest was payable? Technically it appears to us the Opposition has the best of the argument, for our actual debt is our net debt, but for all practical purposes what we have to concern ourselves with is the amount we have to pay in interest annually. There is no hope of our being able to wipe off our debt, that is impossible in the lifetime of the present generation,; and consequently that does not concern ns so much as the reduction of the annual expeuditure in the shape of interest! ea borrowed capital, All parses}

agree that Mr Ballance reduced the amount we have to provide annually to pay interest, and consequently he ought to be credited with it. If we had to pay up the last penny to-morrow, we should have more to pay than when the present Government came into power; but we cannot and will not be called upon to do so. We shall be called upon to pay interest, and we have less interest to pay now than three years ago. Practically our debt has been lessened, technically it has been increased, and there is nothing in all the noise but bluft’. There is so little to be said against the present Government, that the Opposition are glad to find some excuse for making a mountain out of a molehill, but the general public will say: “ Thank goodness, they did not borrow £2,400,000 like their predecessors in office, at any rate.” Is it any wonder that there is a difficulty in ascertaining what is true and false in history, when it is so hard to settle definitely what happened less than twelve months ago ?

WHAT CONSERVATIVES WOULD

DO. The Otago Daily Times is very indignant because the Honorable W. P, Reeves said in his Dunedin speech that if the Conservatives got into power they would destroy the work already done. That is exactly what they have done iu the past. The late Atkinson Government destroyed the perpetual leasing and the village homestead settlements; allowed dummyism to run riot, sold land iu immense areas, borrowed £2,400,0U0, of money and drove about 20,000 people out of the country. With these facts before him, was not Mr Reeves justified iu saying what he did I If the next election puts them into office, they will take the graduated tax off the large estates, and place the burden on the shoulders of the small farmers. They have said so themselves. They also propose to give two votes to men of property. That is another part of their programme. They also say that it is better to borrow money to construct public works than raise it by means of taxation as the present Government are doing. They also want to remove the impediments placed in the way of cash speculators acquiring laud. They also do not believe in the co-operative system of labor, nor iu (state farms on which to settle the unemployed; nor buying up land under the Land for Settlement Act, nor in a great many other things. All these, and a great many other things, they would undoubtedly change, yet the Otago Daily Times is highly indignant because Mr Reeves said they would destroy the work which had so far been done.

THE LABOR BUREAU, In discussing the Hon. W. P. Reeves’s speech iu Dunedin, the Gtago Daily Times asks — “ But why did he (Mr Reeves) lead his audience to believe there was an absolute want of sympathy on the part of Conservatives with the efforts made by the bureau to obtain work for the unemployed throughout the colony '! But we venture to assert°th<.re is no general or strong opposition to it—nay, we go further, and say that it has the warm sympathy of Conservatives and Liberals alike,” “Oh 1 (So it has come to this now. The reason Mr Reeves believed that the Conservatives did nut sympathise with the Labor Bureau was because they all denounced it, and they would denounce it still only that a general election is at hand, and consequently it is no good. The (Stout- Vogei Government established what was practically a Labor Bureau, but their successors shut it up when they took office. Why did not the Conservatives sympathise with it then ? Jusl because they did not, and they do not now. They would shut it up to-morrow, if they haa the power,

INTERESTING TO WHEAT GROWERS.

A CABLEGRAM from London says that it is estimated that the effect of the unprecedented drought will be to reduce the wheat yield of the world below the average. This is good news for the farmers of New Zealaud. For years they have not got anything like a fair price for their wheat, but it is possible that next year t-ey will have good-old-times prices. There is something rotten iu the social condition of the world wh®u the misfortunes of one portion of the people is the advantage of another portion; This is not as it ought to be, but so it is, and it behoves New Zealand farmers to take advantage of it by putting in large areas of wheat this year.

democratic measure. Our cablegrams announce that a Bill has passed the Canadian Parliament providing that a vote of all the people shall be taken iu January on the question of prohibiting, or making, or importing intoxicating liquors into the Dominion. This is what is known as the Referendum, which we have advocated for years iu the columns of this paper. It is the most democratic measure that has ever passed through any legislature in the world, as it gives the people complete power. We have frequently suggested that the Referendum should bo applied to certain questions in New Zealaud, and we trust Canada’s example will be followed at no distant date.

THE SURPLUS. The Otago Daily Times says that as a matter of fact the present surplus is due to the finance of the late Sir Harry Atkinson In the name of common sense, when will the present Government get credit for anything they may do? Are they ever to remain, like Don Pedro in the play, “ null and void,” or is the ghost of Sir Harry Atkinson still presiding oyer the Treasury ? It is certainly astonishing that a paper like the Otago Daily limes can make itself so ridiculous.

THE PREMIERSHIP. Captain Russkll, in his speech at Napier, insisted that Mr Seddon had Greater claims on the Premiership than Sir Robert Stout. Now is it not most extraordinary that this matter is giving a vast amount of trouble to the Conservative party, and that each and all of them declare in favor of Mr Seddonjj? Is it because they love Mr Seddon that -they are praising him up ? Most undoubtedly it is not, but it is because they are more afraid of Sir Robert Stout. We shall see what they will gain by all this iu the end.