The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1882.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 973, 13 January 1882, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, JANUARY 13, 1882.

We lately referred to the total indebtedness of the colony, and our annual "rent to pay." The figures were £32,000,000 and £1,600,000 interestand sinking fund, (The mystery of the sinking fund, and what becomes of it, could best be cleared up by a motion for a return in the next session of Parliament.) To those figures, we added the cost of government—£l,soo,ooo, and we may as well add the yearly profit of the banks and other kindred institutions, remitted upon foreign capital, which we will place at .£250,000, making in all £3,550,000, for rent upon the use of money and the cost, of governm ni to be paid yearly in hard sovereigns out of a production of about £8,000,000, or about ten shillings in the £. We have little hesitation in saying that if every debt was fairly accounted for. our yearly rent "or interest would amount to nearly ten shillings in the £ upon our productions. Is it prudent therefore to borrow more 1 Is not the present" non-productive "strain almost too heavy to bear? Can the colony accumulate money under such a strain? How 18 it possible for the old settlers to accumulate small sums of money to

start their sons upon the Waste Lands of the colony if this terrible strain continues, or does the Government expect an incoming population to settle upon the lands'! (Incoming population generally takes a long time to settle,) Of course we expect to have our worthy and gallant Colonial Treasurer, the Hon. Major Atkinson, holding up his hands in horror at our venturing on his domains, and designating the Trust Office and the Life Insurance Funds with the name of " thimble and pea mutters," as we did in our late article. For this we crave his pardon, and earnestly hope that all our figures may be wrong, Yet such is our view of .the case, A. yearly dead weight of three-and-a-half millions to bo wiped off before we can count upon a penny for ourselves—and the Hon, Mr Hall talks of borrowing further, That gentleman could not possibly commit a greater injury to the future production of the colony than borrowing further capital, But we have a suggestion or two to make now that the figures are plainly before us. Firstly, we say "borrow no more money," the colony owes quite enough. Stop public works, except in the instance of fostering means of foreign communication, to enable us readily to dispose of our productions; this being a colonial work of vast importance and quite opposite to the mistaken policy of incurring a great debt for opening inland communication, before it was, in the greater number of places required. Secondly, we direct Major Atkinson's attention to consolidating the Colonial and Local Debts into a £30,000,000 four per cent, fifty year's Loan, the interest upon which would be £1,200,000, By adopting such a measure, and carrying it into effect, a yearly saving of half-a million might be effected, provided always the sinking funds do not stand in the way, The credit of New Zealand is sufficiently strong to bear such an operation, which is a common one in the history of the English National Debt, and an example just followed by the United States Government, At a cost of £IO,OOO America converted its huge National Debt into a three-and-a-half per cent, Loan, and saved, we believe, a hundred millions of money, But it is no use whatever effecting this saving if the colony plunges further into debt in a year or two, to construct more railways. Unless the colony clearly sees that the "opening up of inland communication by railways policy in New Zealand" is years and years before its time; that the productions of the colony had better walk to the ports (except wool) than be carried to the ports, for a good many years to come, any present saving would be comparatively'useless, For a costly non-productive railway adds but to amount of yearly dead weight in keeping it in repair, and we should much prefer to see the colony struggle along under its present load, which might be relieved when a sounder tone takes possession of the public mind. In such a conversion as is here suggested we of course leave all details of dealing with the various local Loans to the Colonial Treasurer, those details being simple matters of finance, but it would be very undesirable to move one more step in the matter, until a more economical and sounder tone pervaded the public mind, In deprecating an increase of borrowed money we must not be understood to mean that in the

went of a new Loan being floated this district should not have its fair share of it to the last sixpence The extension of our line to Woodville is one of the most profitable works which can be undertaken in the North Island, but we would be prepared to forego the completion of this section if railway construction throughout the colony were for a time suspended,