The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1898.

Waikato Argus, Volume V, Issue 333, 27 August 1898, Page 2

The Waikato Argus GEORGE EDGECUMBE, Proprietor. SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 1898.

A LAMENTABLE example of that naked ignorance of finance which Mr Seddon and his followers display so wantonly, without being ashamed of it, appears in the speech delivered by Mr Graham in the House on Wednesday. "During the present administration," says this honourable gentleman, " two million pounds had been transferred from the Consolidated Fund to the Public Works Fund, which had saved the colony £70,000 in interest." The telegraphic reports of the proceedings in Parliament are necessarily very brief, and it does not appear that any of the members who spoke subsequently alluded to this part of Mr Graham's speech. Probably no one did. Members are becoming only too prone to think that the errors and absurdities of the Government are just as evident to the general body of the public as to themselves. This is a great mistake. Unfortunately, the bulk of the people have no efficient touchstone ready to hand, and are subjected constantly to the unwholesome influence of members and organs whose material interests are served by keeping Seddonisni alive. Nothing is more grateful to the uninstructed ear than the news that the country has been " saved from paying interest"; and when it is stated by the chairman of the late famous Banking Committee (and therefore distinguished authority on finance) that Mr Seddon has effected such a saving to the miraculous tune of £70,000, then the time, whatever the clocks may say, is that hour of the morning when "joy cometh."

Yet what are the actual facts ? The two millions " transferred " (how bewitchingly easy it is to " transfer ") from the Consolidated Fund to the Public Works Fund represents an average of, say, £3 per capita contributed by the men, women and children of the colony in excess of the amount required for the ordinary purposes of administration, but which contribution saves each individual from the payment of about two shillings yearly in interest. Now, if we take the case of a family which might represent the true average, say a small farmer with a household of six, we shall see that while Mr Seddon exhorts him to be thankful that he has been saved an annual charge of 12s, he very adroitly abstracts £lB from his trousers pocket! What farmer is there who could not invest the £lB in such a way as to bring in more than 12s a year 1 ? Upon the broad question, as to whether it is wiser to construct public works out of revenue or out of loan, we shall say nothing here, but whichever course be adopted, it is perfectly clear that the taxpayers have got to find the money, and that no financial miracles of Mr Sedden's will relieve them of their liability. To over-estimate the probable expenditure and to under-estimate the revenue will, in the natural order of things, produce surpluses, and these surpluses may, in the eyes of Mr Seddon's admirers, come to be regarded as windfalls—as godsends ; but it displays no capacity for finance and is politically immoral, inasmuch as it leads to extravagance and waste. The Treasurer who knows his business, and whose aim is the public welfare, will endeavour to be scrupulously exact in his forecast, knowing, as he must, that even the smallest act of carelessness may inflict severe hardships. The Treasurer who does not know his business, or who, knowing it, uses his position to create forced loans from the people to be spent in the maintenance of his " system," is a serious menace to public liberty. It can never be too clearly perceived that these two millions simply represent money borrowed without their authority from the people, and from which no tangible return is to be necessarily expected. So soon as it is thoroughly comprehended that the " surplus " business is identical with the now discredited practice of " sly borrowing," so soon will the financial bubble of Seddonism be pricked.