The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1871.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 827, 20 June 1871, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. In the cause of Truth and Justice we strive. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1871.

Now that Mr Vogel's mission h;.s beeu accomplished in respect to the negotiation of an instalment of the loan, sanctioned by the Assembly, for Public Works and Immigration, the question remains—what proportion of this million and a quarter will be immediately available for railways and other works ? We know that last last year there was a considerable deficiency in the estimated revenue, and it is tolerably certain that this year the revenue will exhibit a still greater decrease. It is also a matter of general notoriety that the creation of offices has entailed a greatly increased expenditure, and that the general expenses of administration have never been greater than at present during the history of the Colony. A large portion, therefore, of this loan must be absorbed in liquidating claims arising out of this expensive management, and meeting the deficit of a falling revenue. Treasury bills falling due, and over due, must be retired, the bank overdraft must be repaid, and other claims liquidated. We are also immediately brought face to face with a greatly increased burden in providing for the interest and sinking fund on that portion of the loan already negotiated, the former item alone representing annually a sum of £62,500. And when the entire loan has been placed upon the market this amount will be increased to a quarter of a million annually. To incur further liability is neither a novel nor, until our borrowing power is exhausted, a difficult mode of gettingoverembarrassments. In the same way that the present instalment will be useful for wiping out existing pressing claims, future

instalments will supply the same simple means of providing for deficits in revenue, and of maintaining a large official and public works expenditure. But this heaping of debt upou debt can only end in national disgrace, unless the most rigid economy and prudence are exercised, or some general and unlooked-for prosperity comes to our aid.

Perhaps the most objectionable feature in the public works scheme of the Government is its comprehensiveness. The question of reproductiveness and general public utility has been merged in a desire that each section of the Colony should participate in the advantages arising out of a large public works expenditure. The proposed railway from Nelson to Foxhill is notably an instance of a work from the construction of which no proportionate advantage can be derived. It cannot assist settlement, since the lands are incapable of supporting a large population, and its construction, therefore, will in no way tend to increase the population and to lighten the burden of taxation. The only advantage to be derived from the work will consist in a fleeting and fictitious prosperity arising out of the rail, way expenditure. Works such as this can only lead to a collapse of the entire scheme, and involve the country in difficulties which can only be surmounted, after many years of oppressive taxation, by prudent management and the judicious use of the means at our disposal.