Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874] WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1894. CHEAP MONEY FOR FARMERS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4811, 29 August 1894, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [Established 1874] WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1894. CHEAP MONEY FOR FARMERS.

The proposal of tho Seddon Government to borrow large sums of money for loans to farmers, must be viewed _ as a very risky speculation, and before pledging the credit of the Colony Ministers should exercise the utmost caution. There have been in tho past innumerable instances of heavy and serious losses 011 such investments, and the same losses aro t> bound to follow tho Government scheme, There is no power, even " in Mr Seddon, to stem tho current j s of depreciation in the values of the land throughout the whole of the Colony—borne on the ever fluctuating tide of the markets for our pro■t duce—apart from tho fact that land in many parts of this and other countries, lias been found, from many causes, to depreciate in productive value, Take a case-and a very , common one—where men settle on ' land, paying only a small portion of ' the purchase money, and borrowing . tho remainder to the sum of many I pounds per acre, After a few years, during which they manage to pay interest on capital by hard tillage, a • badseason comes along, crops fail, or ' tho market isgluttedand nopricecan be got for their produce. Hundreds of tons of such produce have been known to lie rotting in the ground ! Again, how many crops of grain were left to be reaped last year by those who held the liens, because the price of wheat was too low to pay the cost of harvesting, and the money' and labour spent in tho crop werei irrevocably lost to hard-working and industrious settlers. Is it not because of the greed of gain of many who have taken up this land ? They have worked it to death for their own ends because only a small portioned their own money wasinvested, ' they had all to gain and nothing much to lose. After they were satisfied, the land could be sold at what it would fetch, and the unfortunate mortgagee pay the piper. Again, take as another illustration the land taken up in bush country, after im- . provement the land tnrhi'ng out ■ —as it somotimes equal | to expectation. Stock does not; thrive 011 it; grass dies out; and 1 the owner becomes disheartened and ' decides to get out of a bad bargain { by borrowing the utmost farthing j and then throws the land ] on the unfortunate capitalist, ] who has to make the best t of a bad bargain. Or another in- 5 stance given in our columns the 5 other day—where a man obtained c one per cent, on the capital which ? he had invested, What protection has the .Government more than the c .ordinary capitalist ? Much less, we .should no.tthjs cheap , money scheme be made ip metjus „ to catch yotes for those in power, j, and especially the party now in si power p Will not all sorts of sums y be advanced on properties of little a value for • the sake of catching the 1 81 popular vote, We may expect to see J 1 land taken up 011 the hill tops, and! < after a year, or two the Government'l

will find themselves saddled with interest they cannot .recover, Surely matters must be atapretty pass when any Government is allowed to hatch and carry through such a madbrained scheme! Liberalism is all very well, but when the colony is to be saddled with an unlimited fund for purchasing votes, it is time to look for Liberals of a different stamp to the Seddon-McKenzio class. Par better send them to Samoa to teach the natives a few of their Radical ideas, and leavo the people of New Zealand to deal with the- money question on a more equitable basis than that which characterises the scheme they have propounded.