The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, DEC. 11, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2562, 11 December 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, DEC. 11, 1888.

Equal and exact justice to all men, 01 whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

We are fond of making comparisons between the climatic and physical condi lions of New Zealand and those of the Australian colonies, very much to tin; disadvantage of the latter. There are manifold natural blessings possessed by us that the Australians may justly covet, and of which we may boast. But neither the genial climate nor the rich gifts of Nature can compensateusfor long successive years of mis-government, nor reconcile us to the disastrous effects of a vicious system of taxation, The most favoured country under the sun can be made hateful and unbearable to a people by a course of unwise statesmanship and maladministration. More is required besides tine climate and picturesque loveliness to foster contentment, and support life. A country without such special advantages can become more desirable to practical men, who give second place to sentiment, by reason of, the lighter burdens placed upon it by more rational rulers. The Australian colonies, or some of them, are suffering from a severe visitation of drought; we, of course, sympathise with them. But Victoria has a public revenue that may well fill us with envy and make us sigh for a modicum of good fortune of that description. Last year that progressive colony produced a budget that showed nearly one million sterling in excess of the estimated revenue ; and this year, the returns for only live months, have already yielded over three quarters of a million above the expectod revenue. Those are the substantial blessings we would wish to see enjoyed by this country to whom a surplus of any kind is an utterly unknown element, and likely to remain so. The Colonial Treasurer loaded us with additional Customs taxation under the firm conviction that it would procure him nearly £100,000 of increased income by which the colony would be able to meet some of its present liabilities. Unfortunately his hopes are not likely to be realised; up to the present time the receipts from that source have fallen very much below the estimate. What a contrast this colony presents to Victoria ! The latest statistics to hand show that our public expenditure for the year ended 31st December last exceeded the ordinary revenue by over half a million. Are we ever to see a different and a better state of things ? The country has demanded that the ruinous system of government shall be replaced by one of greater simplicity and economy; one of vastly reduced proportions and cost. There has yet been no reform at all approaching to that simple and economical shape the people desire to have. In his last able paper, published in the I-lerald and by us, Dr. Laishley expresses the opinion, and proceeds to demonstrate it, that the expenditure can be reduced by one and a-half millions. It is substantial retrenchment of this nature that is needed, and will most assuredly be resorted to before New Zealand can be lifted to a sound position. A study of the official returns of the KegistrarGeneral supply convincing evidence that with the partial reductions already made, the cost of our general administration can be cut down another three-quarters of a million without inflicting injury on the State or endangering its well-being. Anyone who peruses the last estimates. as Dr. Laishley invites his readers to do, will agree with jjim that they are "a monstrous compilation of financial folly—a wild collection of monetary 'zntraviyance— c.ramiaed wit// gro.miy u.ujustitiable items." He says emphatically that, " if t/te requisite const it iijioiial and fiaaneud clui/iyes are to be cui'/'ted out, with rare wept ions, no man mho has sat in tho. present demoralised Assembly shall be relumed. In order to secure the amount ho declares can be saved, Dr. Laishley favours the railways being sold, and the proceeds, osthunLed at nearly £15,000,000, devoted to the reduction of the principal of the debt a?)<J thereby securing a relative diminution o£ the large sum "for interest sent out of .th& colony annually.

There arc many objections to the siile of tin; railways. The fear of creating powerful corporations possessed of immense political and voting power whicli might control the Legislature for the exclusive benefit of vested interests, such as the great ritms in America, is the greatest objection. The tremendous influence acquired by those monopolies was owing, in the main, to the enormous gt'iut- of the public estate and extensive rights and privi leges conferred upon them by Congress. Warned by the example of the United States our own Legislature could hedge in the private owners of railways by such enactments as would preclude the growth of similar abuses likely to bo detrimental to the good of the commonwealth. There is a considerable section of the community inclining to tlie railways being sold. Another, perhaps more numerous, party, advocate leasing them in order to secure better management. Which-ever view possesses the greater merit on economic grounds, there is not the slightest divergence in general opinion that some radical steps will have to be taken with the railway system. It cannot be continued much longer to have them run in a way that does not cover the interest on their capital cost nor promotes the progress and settlement of the country. Dr. Laishley next proposes the consolidation of the loins left unredeemed by the sale of the railways, and the conversion of all the New Zealand stocks to 3 per cents., oil the principle introduced by Mr Goschen, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer. A great saving in the annual intercut would thus be made. A lortion of his article is then devoted to reviewing a large number of the services and appointments for which heavy provision was made in the I estimates, and which he shows are perfectly unnecessary and simply wasteful. Our readers will probably recollect we went through the estimates in a similar manner during last session, and dealt critically and exhaustively with their extravagances on precisely identical lines to the treatment Dr. Laishley metes out to them. The Doctor says retrenchment is unpopular. It may be so, in fact it is so with a certain minority ; it is decidedly unpopular with the present House, composed as it is almost wholly of incapable and unscrupulous members, who do not represent the country. No one can deny that the colony has demanded very complete financial reform ; but the will of the people has been ignored. In order to secure honest and pure administration ; to have the country's voice heard and obeyed, we must change the personnel of the Legislature. Dr. Laishley says : —

For, to place New Zealand even on the track to permanent prosperity, it cannot be too often reiterated that FinanceEconomy, Wealth-Production, and FairLegislation are absolutely indispenable; that to ensure these, constitutional reform is a pre-condition ; that to secure that condition, members of vastly superior calibre, as a rule, must be returned —and that, to secure the return of such members, a healthy public opinion has yet to be formed—to realise the situation and the remedy. Until then, to look for substantial, permanent improvement is idle.