THE FINANCES OF THE COLONY

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4427, 25 May 1893, Page 2

THE FINANCES OF THE COLONY

We take from the N.Z. Times the following remarks mado by Mr Dutbie, in his recent address to tho Wellington electors With regard to finances, the Government pretended to have aohieved a great success. Hitherto liberal Govern, ments in this country bad been singularly unsuccessful with their finance, which had invariably produced a dotioit. Now that tbey had a real surplus for the first<time, the present Liberal Government were' corespondingly jubilant. They claimed a surplus of over half a million, But how was it made up 1 By adding to the actual surplus of the past year the surplus of the proceeding year, £165,000, end by including public works and land fund votes, £228,602. The actual surplus was only £282,780 —a very good surplus indeed, and therefore affording the less excuse for exaggeration, But recurrent surpluses showed that the taxation was unnecessarily heavy. Speaking of the railway surplus, the Pretaier had tried to explain it away by saying it was easily done by makiug low estimates. But the Government wore themselves guilty of the fault tbey tried to impute to the Railway Commissioners, Last year the Customs revenue was estimated at £50,271 less than 1892, and yet the result bad been £67,690. The people were being over-burthened with taxation to produce tbeir surpluses, which were utilised io construct politioal-and cockatoo railways, such as that which tho Premier had now gone to open at Qokitika, or such as tho To Aioha railway, Although he had been a suppoiter of the property tax, yet, now that the land and income tax had been passed, he felt justified in loyally standing by it. The Government had promised to remove the tax from improvements, but in this promise they were not ea.'nest, as they took no opportunity to give effect to it last session. Ministers and tbeir supporters were fond of reminding the publio that they were a non-borrowing and self-reliant Government, (Applause,) He expected this round of applause, for the phrase was a taking one, and people were apt to be deluded by counding phraseß. Asa matter of fact the present Government actually wallowed in borrowed money. On the 31st March, 1891, tbey had in the Treasury chest £718,096, they took the released sinking fund (£816,582) and they had Sir Harry Atkinson's surplus (£148,965), making a total of i £1,178,593. Notwithstanding all ] this, this non-borrowing Government i had actually borrowed £562,000, and ' had been borrowing about £BO,OOO a year to lend to local bodies i without taking the necessary I precautions to form a sinking fund, i True they had used £IOO,OOO of Sir < Harry Atkinson's surplus to reduce I the Stout'Vogel floating deficiency of i £850,000, and they had applied 1 £200,000 to the Publio -Works fun d but they.had borrowed in 1891 I £900,000 on Bhort>dated Treasury i bill", and a further sum of £550,000 I last year. These Treasury bills were i »Bource of danger, as they might 1 jappen to fall due when the Colony jould be not well prepared to mee, hem,