THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1909. A CONSIDERABLE INCREASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3090, 12 January 1909, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 1909. A CONSIDERABLE INCREASE.

The financial position of the Dominion is in a very satisfactory state indeed, if we are to accept, without a grain of salt, a statement made recently by Sir Joseph Ward to a "New Zealand Times" reporter. Tne Premier was delighted with the revenue figures to the end of December, 1908, and well he may be! The revenue in New Zealand certainly represents a very large sum, and on the face of things, one would be inclined to think that the people should be simply rolling in wealth. The revenue amounts to over nine millions, while the population is not even a million. There are European countries, the population of which is several millions more than that of this Dominion, while the revenue is several millions less. Yes, the revenue amounts to a huge sum, but a large revenue does not necessarily spell prosperity. There is the matter of expenditure that has to be placed against the income—then there is the extravagance of the Government that has to be reckoned with. Our

revenue has gone up rapidly of recent years, and so has the public debt. Budget after Budget has disclosed the fact that though millions have been borrowed yearly, there has not been that percentage of them expended on reproductive works that should have been spent. The people of the country are heavily taxed, some classes, who are in no position to stand it, especially so, and, apparently,the expenditure is increasing at a rate disproportionate with the increase in the revenue. Money should only be borrowed for strictly reproductive purposes, while taxation should be avoided as far as possible. Economical administration is essential to prosperity; without it there can never be a sound financial position established. It the Government were to work upon such lines for a few years the result would be one of inestimable advantage to the people, but "can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?" Sir Joseph Ward remarked to his interviewer that, so far as he was able to calculate, there had been a considerable increase in regard to expenditure for the year, and that this was a phase of our financial position that he proposed to deal with at an early date, upon a comprehensive basis. The Premier's explanation will, no doubt, be awaited with interest, but we are afraid that unless a very different financial policy is pursued there will be annually "a considerable increase" in the expenditure that will develop into a very serious phase of the financial position. The Premier will certainly make an elaborate explanation, and a clever one too, and we trust, in the interests of the country, that "the considerable increase" is capable of an explanation more or less satisfactory.