The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 1898.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 267, 29 March 1898, Page 2

The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 1898.

The Premier has allowed himself to bo interviewed by a representative of the Lytteltou Times, and as wo published in our last issne, stated that he proposed borrowing £2,000,000, of which he proposes to apply £750,000 to the North Islurd Trunk Railway, £500,000 to the Otago Central, £500,000 to the Midland, and £250,000 to Irrigation "Works in Canterbury. In a'spcech he made subsequently at Bulclutha, Mr Seddon said he was not going to commit the colony to a borrowing policy. Is the borrowing of £2,0007000 in his estimation not a " borrowing policy," or has he since found that his proposal was not well received, even by his own supporters, caused him to change his mind.

The principle of Old Age Pensions provides too good an election cry to be neglected. Men of nil shades of opinion are agreed that those who have done good service to the colony should be provided for in their old age, and the Premier is astute enough to be aware that when a principle is accepted, the majority ef people are apt to overlook the defects in the machinery by which it is to be enforced. There are two weak spots in the Premier's Bill, the one is that it is not bused on any certain financial basis, and the other that it leaves discretionary power in the hands of the Executive, a power which past experience teaches would, by the present administration at any rate, be used as a political lever. At any rate, he told his interviewer he was quite prepared to go to the country on the Bill.

The Masters and Apprentices Bill is to be again introduced. This is a sop to the Trades Unions. It panders to their selfishness and if it were properly named it would be called a Bill to prevent all but a limited number of the rising generation from learning a trade.

It is to be sincerely hoped that the Opposition, aided by some of of the Government party who are not prepared to blindly follow Mr Seddon into the lobby, will insist upon a clear statement of tho finances of the colony being placed before Parliament, in order that tho House and country may be able to judge as to the fitness of the Ministry to be entrusted with the expenditure of another loan. At the present moment there is no man outside the ministerial cjrele and the highest officers of the Treasury who can form any opinion as to how the colony stands financially. It is certainly an anomaly for the Premier to state in the same speech that there is a surplus of £400,000, and his intention to go upon the market for another loan. The proposal has all the appearance of being the straw at which the drowning man is to grasp as the last hope of keeping himself afloat. If we may judge by the expressions of opinion on the matter which reach us from all parts of the colony, the straw will elude his grasp. The Wellington election may be said to have been the first stroke of the passing bell.