The Waikato Times. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1877.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 848, 22 November 1877, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1877.

,Bindlah'd exact justice to all men. !! '» ■ ■■Viiate'vi-r -uiif.oi porn i<isi.>n. r«iig» ■•!■' r •■'■ •'•■ pDiit.ca: '■'■ i .■■■'. * # * ' !•Ire'shall the'PresT the Pboflb'h rig'.t '.:',j .i.fniuiiituLu. ** Unuwed by iunueucsand uubrihed by r; in

Xhe' Financial Siatement of the doibnial Treasurer Inis bi*n lopkeil forward to as bhe turni-ig (mint on .'vviiichde'pencledthefriiecf tuegoverrijcrjjpnt. Wearied with the protracted delay caused by the si party, auxious for the progress of the real business of the session, und caring less who should carry them oat than

for the measures themselves which were necessuyfor.tbe public welfare, men of moderate views were contentto abide the Treasurer's statement as- the crucial test of the fitms3 or otherwise of the government to continue in power. Others there were, the warmer' advocates of the present government, who did not beßit.ite to predict that the financial statement was the trump card in the hnnds of the Ministry, the laying d )vvn of which would sause the Opposition to at once throw up their hands. The statement is made, and though the Opposition may not, like the walis of Jericho, fall prostrate at, its bU>-t, and though it comes very much shoijt of what most of us expected and hoped for, j there is yet about ib sufficient of I boldness in conception and financial administrative reform to recommend it to the favorable consideration of the ■ conn try. A nd\ especial ly will i his be the case with the people of the .North lalanl. The colonisation of the laud fund is a tardy measure of justice ot which they hive been too long defra.udi.-d, .and ihoagh the treasury may gain less by the change than at fir-t appeals on the face of ir— for virtujdly the land fund has of late been indiree:ly drawn upon for genera,, purposes to a very large extent—the measure is one which will have a very material effect in enabling any government to administer the fin nces of the colouy on a fair and straightforward basis in. the hit'ire. That it will j rovoke ! auy very determined hostility on the part of Canterbury members we do not believe. The probable addition to cbe revenue Vhich it represents is scarcely so much s as the difference bttweenr- income and expenditure which even accordin sf to the adopted tabL-s of M-ijor Atkinson is said to exist, and winch cannot be bridged over for. ever by the ajpiicaim of Treasury Bills. The mouey must be found somewhere. The colonisation of the Lund Fund or a property tax has come to be recognised as the alternative to chos.* between, an I the former as less directly affecting honorable members own pjckets will probably be the more acceptable, or, to put it another way, the less objectionable of the two. We. are not inclined to critically discuss the Treasurer's Statement in detail. This jouinal has again and ■ again pointed out, what every Auckland statesman has insisted on, that the colonisation of the .and Fund is the only solution to the fiuai cial d.tficnlty of the co'ony, is. indeed, the very key stone of any New Zealand financial. policy. In boldly gtuppliug with ilns matter the government has * shown a virtue which, like charity, covers a multitude of sins. .... Since writing the above, we learn that the Opposition has broken up fur .the session, and that the Government, so tar, is secure.