THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1872.

Thames Guardian and Mining Record, Volume I, Issue 170, 25 April 1872, Page 2

THE Thames Guardian AND MINING RECORD. THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 1872.

The ‘ New Zealand Gazette ’ of Tuesday last informs us that the next session of the General Assembly stands prorogued until the 29th May. Presuming that it will then meet for the dispatch of business, the time is not far distant when the present Ministry will have to meet the House, and it would not at all surprise us if a vote of want of confidence were passed upon them. In our articles of yesterday and previous dates we have pointed out how fast the money is going, and how little there is

to show for it. The Thames, which contributes the largest portion of any district in the colony in proportion to its size and population, has had next to nothing at all done for it, nor is likely to have, for every penny will be spent before its turn corner, unless pressure be brought to bear upon the Government. In vacation time the Ministers have it all their own way, and can squander the public funds at random, without being called to account; but in session a check can be put upon them if the members will only exert their powers, and their constituents ought to insist upon this being done. We are no advocates for setting up a mere cuckoo cry of “ Down with the Government simply for opposition’s sake, but we think we have published sufficient testimony from the records of the blue books to convince anyone not bound hand and foot that the present system of lavish expenditure cannot be kept up much longer, otherwise the colony must collapse. To keef) the 'pot boiling at the present rate an amount of taxation will have to be imposed, which the colonists will be neither able nor willing to bear much longer. As soon as the Parliament meets it will be the duty of the House to insist upon a well adjusted scheme of financial reform. During the interval which will occur between this time and the meeting of the Assembly the electors should request their representatives to meet them and give a pledge of support to a more economical administration of public affairs. From the natural features of the country, and the mode in which its sparse population is scattered over it, a considerable amount of Governmental expenditure must be incurred, and we believe in Government servants being liberally paid ; but there are a large number of officers in New Zealand which we feel certain might be swept away with no detriment to the public service. We have on former occasions pointed out some of the directions in which the pruning knife might be judiciously applied, and we believe the intelligent voice of the whole community must be with us on the question. The only representative the Thames has in the Assembly has unfortunately been scarcely ever amongst us since his election ; he is now absent in Australia, and whether he will return in time to pledge himself to the course of

action we have pointed out we do not know, but we hope that he may. He has yet to redeem his promise of meeting his constituents and giving them an account of his stewardship during the pnt session, and in addition, we expect to hear also that he is prepared to advocate a reduction of the Civil List, the Native Department, and an altered system of administering the delegated powers on the goldfields. Upon the judicious management of our goldfields we believe a great deal depends. In addition to the rich quartz reefing districts already discovered, there is the prospect before us of a rich goldfield beingsoon developed in the Taupo country, and the attention of the powers that be should be at once directed towards the best means of opening out these sources of wealth to the enterprise of the miners. If the attention of the present Ministry were more directed to the development of these resources than to the finding of “ billets ” for their friends and supporters, it would be better for the interests of the country, and would be to their own interest as well, for by adopting such a course alone are.they likely to retain office. The former Ministry was charged, and not without reason, with extravagance, but certainly the present occupants of the Executive Benches beat their predecessors hollow in this particular, and as the revenue is diminishing, we can less afford the burdens they are • pleased to impose upon us. New Zealand may now boast of being the most heavily taxed colony in the British dominions, and yet in the face of all this the authorities seem to expect a steady flow of immigration to our shores. Were public affairs administered here with wisdom and economy, the country would so increase in prosperity that population would be attracted without the adventitious and expensive system of keeping an agent at home at a cost of about £2,000 a year to entrap Scandinavian immigrants. The climate and natural resources of New Zealand ought of themselves to attract a steady stream of immigration from the old country, hut people at home will naturally seek homes where they can get land more easily, and be liable to less taxation than in the Britain of the South under its present Government.