THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1901. NEW ZEALAND'S FINANCE.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume III, Issue 106, 24 September 1901, Page 2

THE WAIMATE ADVERTISER. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1901. NEW ZEALAND'S FINANCE.

Tfl : E consideration of the estimates by the House of Repre-

sentatives is, judging by the progress so far, to- be a lengthy and therefoie costly

process. Sir J. G. Ward said'the other day that at the present rate the estimates' would be passed in about fifty-one days, and this at four days a week gives us almost three months. In former years ; the chief criticism has come from the Opposition benches, but now that there is no regularly constituted Opposition,, the Government supporters have taken upon themselves to criticise the finances j of their political chief. The Premier is-blamed for not giving full details of every iterA-, and at least one member has declared' his intention of demanding par- ■ ticu'lars of every item. This certainly is a- ditty of every : member of the House, whether Government or Opposition in. their opinions. No member can in reason object increases,.say, in the Railway Department,' which are caused directly by; increased business, but every member should object to high salaries being raised still higher. Daring the years-of unexampled prosperity we have enjoyed, the tendency in public life has been • to be lavish with the money which came in in such gratifying amounts, and this- has- been also felt in local politics; Almost every week wd read of- some Borough or other taking a poll and raising a big loan for town improvements; many o$ which could easily have been done without.- We do not wish to be pessimistic, but we think that this plentifulness of money should not be looked upon as an everlasting state of affairs. The lean years may come as they have an uncomfortable' habit of doing r and then we will feel the pressure of paying the interest on the loans which gave us so< much pleasure in the spending. Wheat and wool, our two Staple products are at the lowest ebb and that without any prospect of a turn in

the tide r and'the farming community,, the mainstay of the :Colony, cannot stand- much more "taxation. In theface of all this : it is well that we find members -of the House opposing so large-an increase in our estimates as £280,000 T . '•: EHE FARMERS' UNIO& In these days of unions of all sorts and conditions,, one more or less does not matter much, but no one can deny that the latest of them'all,. the Farmers' tinion* is one of the most important) And it would be a thousand pities- if the local branch of the Union was not a Bucceßß, is

strength" has become such k truism -that it is hardly worth repeating; but even now ntSmberis of the farmers 'in this distridt don't seenrto recognise its truth? That a crass. whißh produces eleven-thirteenths of the colony"* exports Should not have every j consideration shown them seemß ridiculous. The classes producing the rest of the exports have hitherto had a good deal more •than their share of good things hi the shape of laws, and it is high time the farmers united and pu% the towns and the country into their true relationship. Farmer*

admit they have baen dilatory in the past, and, though they do not admit it, a number of them have not shaken off that dilatoriness* In most organisation* only a few good leaders are necessary, and the rest of the members will follow, but in the local branch of the Farmers' Union the leaders are there but the 'followers are comparatively few in numbers-. Knowing What they do of the good already accomplished for their class by the formation of this union, farmers- Should turn up in force on Saturday next uicl form a branch more in keeping with one of the best agricultural? districts in'the colony.