The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1885. THE MEMBER FOR RANGITIKEI.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2125, 21 October 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1885. THE MEMBER FOR RANGITIKEI.

Mr 11, 0. Bruce, the member for the I Rangitikei District, mid one of the young men of the House, recently addressed his constituents, and in the course of his speech made one or two very remarkable statements. One of ' them would have been remarkable even had it come from a fifth standard '• school boy. After calculating that the present indebtedness of the colony is ! - thirty-five million, he went on to sav that" We are at present sending out of '■ this colony, in the shape of interest on borrowed money, four niillion3annually, i- and the total value of our exports is only seven millions; we have h falling revenue, and, worse than all, wool falling, nor is it likely ever again to rise, The latest fall the other day meant a reduction in our annual income of .£300,000, and every fresh million we borrow adds at least £50,000 a year to our liabilities," As the bulk of the New Zealand loans were raised at rates varying four to five per cent., it would be interesting to learn by what intricate calculations 3 Mr Bruce has arrived at the conclusion r that we are paying four millions per j annum in interest. Had he looked at the Financial Statement, he would • have found that the rate of interest is as we have just stated, and not upwards of ten per cent. In the concluding n portion of the paragraph which wa d have quoted, Mr Bruce gets a little t nearer the mark; but he is still exagggpi'atiiig, and either prevaricating or displaying a most lamentable inca ' pacity to grasp figures, The last loan was floated at four per cent,, so that the interest per million is not at least £50,000, but exactly £40,000, apart from the premium realized. If, as is perfectly true, every frwh million we borrow adds to our liabilities, it should also lie remembered that that million immediately forms a portion of our assels. A good deal of money has, no doubt, been squandered on works that are not proving reproductive, but '■ we have not yet, thank goodness, come '' to such a state of recklessness as to throw money into the sea. Mr Bruce has nothing at all to prove that wool c will not rise again, and if he applies i, hia estimate that the last fall means a loss to the colony of £300,000 a year to the last year, he is again alto- ? gether astray from the facts. Tho I last sale is only one out of fivo, and happens to be the least important of that number, as only small odd lots come forward to it from this colony. Anyone who harks back - will find that there has nearly always been a fall during the September sales, • Mr Brucb on finance is unique, and it is a pity that his modesty prevented him from immortalising himself by having his views recorded in Hansard. Another statement worth noting for its absurdity is the following " Amongst those who came in with me,

as good a Ministry could be formed as those who occupy the Treasury benches, Out of such men as Scobie McKenzie, Menteath, Fisher, Samuels, Richardson, Garrick, and Lake, quite as. able a Ministry could be formed as those now in power, and one, in my opinion, possessed of a much sounder knowledge of economic science." it will be seen that none of the members whose names he mentions have held seats in previous Parliaments. We know that there are some very talented young members in the House, and we are also of opinion that the present Ministry has proved a failure; but we doubt whether the young members named could form a Ministry—all young members, be it understood—with a larger following than one, and that one would be the member for Rangitikei, When the next election comes round the electors of that district will probably look round for some one to represent them whose ideas are somewhat more advanced than those of their present representative.