The Wairarapa Daily FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1891.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3880, 7 August 1891, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1891.

Liberal Ministries in New Zealand have ever been spendthrifts. It is a way they have, and the present Cabinet seems destined to live up to the traditions of the party. The rake's progress has begun, and the public purse is already open at both ends. It is, however, not anticipated that the full measure of prodigality will be reached till the session is over and the watchful guard of 'he

Opposition is withdrawn. Then, unless we are much mistaken, the public money will flow freely 1 A bankrupt the other day deolared on oath that he had spent money—other people's money of course, for he was a true liberal—on the late election, because he w<ts certain that if his man were returned he would be rewarded by a Government billet. How many hundreds of persons are tWe in New ' Zealand who served their party during the late election and are now waiting to be paid out of the public purse ? On Wednesday last, the Hon. Mr Richardson, a trustworthy authority, stated in the House that "the estimated surplus had disappeared in the first quarter of this financial year. He gave a lengthy statement in order to show that the revenue was decreasing while the expenditure waa greatly increasing, the result being that there was a deficiency of £IOO,OOO in six months. For the last six years there never had been such a quarter's ex* penditure as in the quarter ending the 31st March last; and they had

to go back to 1887 to find an expenditure equal to that of the quarter ending June last. The Minister of Justice was the only one who had kept on the right side of the ledger for both quarters; all the other Ministers had exceeded the estimates. The estimated excess of revenue from land was to be derived from the favourable manner in which the proposals were received by the country, but he thought the hon. Treasurer must feel yery fortunate if the territorial revenue did not fall short of the estimated revenue of the six proceeding years. The result would, he apprehended, be a deficit of something like a quarter of a million." Now this was pretty plain speaking, and it was significant that the Govern mentdidnot attempt to answer the chargeofjwantonextravagancebrought against them by an ex-Minister. It must therefore be accepted as true, and if these things happen in the green tree what will be done in the dry? A cabinet but little more than six months old has already become

demoralised as far as the management of the public purse is concerned. The Colonial Treasurer appears to have already lost control over tbe public expenditure, and a fresh debt has even now began to accumulate, which will involve additional taxation in tbe sweet by and by. Sir George Grey, when he was Premier, brought New Zealand to tbe verge ot bank., ruptcy. Mr Ballanoe appears to be travelling the same road. The Ministry perhaps has one virtue; it no longer professes to practice cr preach retrenchment. Where are the parliamentary skinflints who were wont to cry " wolf " when there was no wolf, and how is it that now t,he wolf is absolutely gobbling up the sheep that they ar« silent?