OUR COLONIAL DEBT.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 862, 16 September 1871, Page 3

OUR COLONIAL DEBT.

((From the " Hawke's Bay Telegraph," August 18v) The inevitable consequenoe of Mr YogePs poKcy muafc be taxation, and we fear that in supporting that policy that the •colonists «f New Zealand did not give the dark aide of the question -sufficient consideration. Mr Vogel himself stated that taxation was a necessary part of the scheme, but this •disagreeable feature of his policy was lost sight of by nearly all in their anxiety to share in the benefits of a large expenditure of borrowed money. The public works scheme acted on the minds of the colonists, much in the same manner as the announcement of the discovery of a new and splendid goldfield. It will now be the duty of the Assembly to provide the means of paying the interest of the new loan, and it is tolerably certain that a reaction will take place. Already the colony is groaning under a heavy weight of taxation, and it is difficult to imagine any additional burden that will be borne with any degree of pleasure to meet our increased and rapidly growing liabilities. The difference between the national debt of Great' Britain and our own colonial debt is so vast that we hesitate drawing a comparison, but it ought to be known that that difference is in favour of England. The New Zealand debt has at present reached £7,500,000, and as our population is but little over a quarter of a million, every man, woman, and child,- being Europeans, in the colony are in debt to the extent of £3O, and they have to pay annually £2 per head to meet the interest on that debt. In 1870 the interest on the English National Debtwas £24,270,000 which was equal to a charge of but 15s 9d per head of the population. The difference in favour of England does not cease here, the interest of the National Debt is expended in England, and the creditors live within that country. The interest of the greater portion of the New Zealand debt—if not the whole of it—leaves the colony, and drains it of half a million pounds sterling every year.