TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 42, 21 October 1867, Page 2

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

T,B.—Though it is now well-understood that neither the debts of individuals nor of States can ever be diminished by the' mere borrowing of money to pay them off, it was the practice of financiers in former times to act as if this would be the case. If the borrowed money is obtained at a lower rate of interest it would have this effect but not otherwise. G.W.—We have not heard whether tenders have yefbeen advertised for the erection of the Church at Greytown, and we can’t believe that any tender would be accepted until this was done. We think that you are laboring under a mistake.

Amicus.—Though a little tract was published in 1786 in which it was demonstrated that no debt can be paid off except by the application of surplus revenue to that object, it produced no impression at the time, the nation believing that the Sinking Fund was the means by which, by the operation of compound interest, a vast treasure was to be accumulated out of nothing See our answer to T. B. Richard® was of opinion that a really effective Sinking Fund would operate rather to encourage expenditure than to diminish debt. The best Sinking Fund is a prosperous community, J.T.—As soon as the native title to the land you speak of is proclaimed extinguished we will, direct the attention of the Government to the advisability of offering it for sale in small lots by auction. Good land ought not to be open for sale in this district at 10s- nor even at 20s. per acre, but ought in all cases to be submitted to public competition.