THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1893. SHOCKINGLY UNTRUE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2517, 17 June 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1893. SHOCKINGLY UNTRUE.

Mr Rhodes said at Geraldine that the Stout-Vogel Government left to the late > tkiusou Administration a deficit of £400,000. Mr E. G. Wright, at Ashburton, a few nights ago has improved on this. He said: —.“ They (the Liberals), left ,a deficit of £900,000 in 1897; and the Stout-Vogel Ministry left a deficit of £509,000- in 1887; and if the present Government remain in office long enough they may be relied uqon to emulate their frieuds.” Mr Rhodes has declared he will be a candidate for Pareroa, and Mr Wright has announced himself for Rangitata, so it is important that the public around here should begin to consider what manner of men they are. Of course, Mr Rhodes is well-known, but Mr Wright is a stranger to us, comparatively speaking. It appears to us that it shows they have a bad case when they find it necessary to go back so deeply into history to find something to say against the present Government. It is unfortunate for them also that the public documents of the colony give the lie direct to their assertions. In his last Financial Statement, delivered on the 10th of Moy, 1887, Sir Julius Vogel said:— “ I greatly regret there is instead a deficiency, but, considering the fears which have been expressed of its amounting to a very large sum, honourable members will, I believe, be glad to learu that it amounts to no more than £92,293, I cannot accept any blame for this result. The circumstances which usually lead to the estimated revenue falling short have been conspicuously present; moreover, I informed the House before last session terminated that I feared the expected revenue would not not be realised. This is the first deficit since I resumed office in ISS4.” That is what appears in the last Financial Statement delivered by Sir Julius Vogel. The Stout-Vogel Government were then turned out of office, and the late Atkinson Administration came into office. On the Ist of November, 1887, Sir Harry Atkinson reviewed Sir Julius Vogel’s figures, and delivered his Financial Statement, He said : ‘•The deficit, as given by the late Colonial Treasurer for the year 188(5-87, was £92,293 ; but if we omit from the revenue two considerable items which will not recur this year, namely, the surplus of £37,859 with which the year 1880-87 began, and the windfall of £104,749 of released sinking fund, we find that what I have called the recurrent revenue fell short of the expenditure by £243,901.” Now Sir Julius Vogel said Hie deficit was £92,293, but it might be said that he was trying to make things look well for himself, only for the fact, that Sir Harry Atkinsou has confirmed his statement. Who then are we to believe : l Have Sir Julius Vogel and Sir Harry Atkinson conspired to tell a lie in the public records of the colony I or have Messrs Rhodes and Wright deliberately manufactured this falsehood to mislead the electors ? Mr Rhodes says the deficit was £400,000; Mr Wright says it was £500,000. Sir Julius Vogel and Harry Atkinson both agree in their Financial Statements that it was £92,293. Who will the public believe ? Let the public answer; we give them the information, and we challenge Messrs Rhodes and Wright to show that we have not accurately quoted the exact words of these public documents. Messrs Rhodes and Wright are not political, novices, dependent oh. newspaper reports ; they have the public documents, they know the exact truth, but in order to deceive the public they have chosen to state what they know is not true. , regard to Sir Herry Atkinson’s Vv i... he added the surplus statement, in w - well as what he of;the previous year, as called “ a windfall,” to the ' « meaning is plain. He wanted incroaseu taxation, and, in order to persuade the House to give it to him, he was trying to make things look as black as possible. What he actually says is this : “ The deficit is £92,293, but Sir Julius Vogel had a surplus last year, and he had a windfall. We shall have no surplus next year, and we may not have a windfall. The deficit will, therefore, be £234,901, and this is what must be provided for.” That is the meaning of Sir Harry Atkinson’s statement. The actual truth is that Sir Harry Atkinson’s deficit next year was £528,603, and this is the deficit Messrs Rhodes and Wright are trying to make the public believe the Liberal party are responsible for. Fancy charging the Liberals with a deficit that occurred twelve months after they had left office! This is like trying to make people believe that the present satisfactory finance is due. to the late Sir Harry Atkinson. There is nothing to be said against the Government, and so something muse be invented. But surely the public canuot repose confidence in men who thus deliberately make statements which they know are not true. Surely the least the public may expect from their representatives in Parliament is the truth. We du pay them £240 a year to invent fictions of this kind.. We challenge Messrs Wright and Rhodes to prove their words; if they fail to do so, then they must be deemed as having deliberately attempted to mislead the public. If they do not prove their assertions, then the public cannot in future believe anything they say, because the man who can make one false statement can make a thousand of them, and no one can know when ho is sneaking the truth. Sir Harry Atkinson left behind him to Sir Julius Vogel a deficit of £150,000 in 1884. How is it we never hear anything about this !