THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1894. THE GOVERNMENT POLICY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2726, 18 October 1894, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1894. THE GOVERNMENT POLICY.

If the policy inaugurated this session by the present Government does not reinvigoraie the country, and infuse fresh life and blood into it, we shall feel inclined to despair of any good being done. It is certain that the prices of our staple produce cannot be raised by anything which the Government can do, and it is certain also that this district is chiefly dependent on these prices, if grain and wool and frozen mutton remain low, the policy of the Government will not do us much good. There are no large estates to burst up, no public works to be constructed, and consequently the greatest benefit we can derive from the present policy is the probable settlement of some of our workmen on land. But New Zealand is an extensive country, and it must be looked at as a whole when discussing a question of public policy. There are Crown lands to settle, native lands to be bought and settled, roads to be made, and private land to settle all over the colony, and only for the fact that the Midland Railway Bill has been thrown out we should look forward to an unusually busy era in New Zealand. The North Island is evidently to have the lion’s share of the public expenditure. Native land is to be bought, and roads are to be made through it, but in all probability the largest share of the money to be spent on the purchase and settlement of large estates will be spent in the South Island. The amount proposed in the Public Works Statement this year is large—the largest for many years—but we must not forget that the works which it is proposed to undertake are entirely different from those of previous years. Until recently public works practically meant railway construction, and very frequently political railways at that. Now, however, this is all changed. Money is to be spent on giving roads for those who have been driven into the interior of North Island forests, but Sir Robert Stout condemns this on the ground that there is no revenue from roads. The eccentricities of some of the learned knight’s arguments lately have led us to conclude that he has been studying the works of the aucient Sophists of Greece very largely for some time. These poor people have been driven into the bush by the fact that all the front sections have been taken up, and his land has been roaded and bridged, and railways constructed to serve them. All this has been done out of public money, but now the back-section people are to have no assistance given them, because roads don’t pay. No road in the colony pays because no charge is made on them. Society has decided that our highways shall be free. In that case, why should not the backsection people have free roads as well as other people ? The objection to give them roads is absurd. How can the inland resources of the colony be developed if this is not done 1 Then £250,000 is to be spent on purchasing native land, and £250,000 on buying up land for settlement. This is not ordinary public works, but the very opposite, and if, therefore, the appropriations this year are larger than usual, the works to be undertaken are such as will be immediately renuraerative. The native lands and lands taken for settlement will pay interest on expenditure—that is what no railway has ever done —but in addition to this the people will be settled on +he land, and our products increased. The more laud we bring under cultivation the larger wiU frg the quantity of exports. The iliakiug 9f (tl)d the settling of people on the land is, therefore, calculated to promote prosperity, while the additional work which will be created in this way will absorb the surplus labour of the colony. Men will be profitably employed, they will have money to spend, and in sympathy with the increased spending power of the people, trade will become brisker. It is a pity the Midlaud Railway Bill did not pass, as the expenditure on that work when added to the progressive policy of the Government would add materially to the wage fund. Then the Government are determined to borrow money and lend it to farmers at a cheap rate cf interest. This will bring down the price of mC9 e y all round, and those who are now investing it at 6 to 8 per cent, on mortgage must find some other investment for it. The result will be that industries will be started, and houses built, and in this direction progress will also be made. Wealthy men must do something with their money, as they cannot keep it in an old stocking. It would not pay to do so. When they can no longer lend on mortgage they will be glad to invest in starting new industries that will develope tho resources of the colony. Looked at from all points of view we think the outlook is gettting brighter. We want only better prices for our products, but we regret to say that the prospect in that direction is gloomy.