B.—No. 2.

Customs Revenue, had the Victorian Tariff been in force, as against £731,883 actually received. That, I think, disposes of the allegation of the heavier rate of our taxation as compared with the similar taxation of Victoria. When we recollect that this Colony has had to incur an enormous exceptional expenditure on account of the peculiar position of the Native question —an expenditure which, from first to last, I estimate at something like £5,000,000 in addition to the expenditure which would have been required in the case of a Colony like Victoria —I think we must conclude that our natural resources are sueh — whether we look to the rate of increase in our population, to the value of our exports and imports, or to any other material sign of progress —as must lead us to the conviction that New Zealand is by no means the poor and overburdened country its detractors would have us believe. There is a favourite old anecdote of an Irish settler in the United States, who went to a store and asked the price of an article. "A dollar," he was told. "A dollar!" he exclaimed; " why, I'd have bought the same in Ireland for sixpence or less." But he pulled out a handful of coin, and added, " Never mind, I have the dollars here, while I hadn't the sixpence in Ireland." So, I ask honourable Members to recollect, when they are disposed to listen to adverse criticisms concerning this Colony, that in New Zealand poverty is a rare exception—that the labourer here is more or less comfortably housed —that it is not necessary for him to force his children to work from the earliest age, but that he can, if so minded, find for them the means of education —that he can have animal food daily, whilst there are in the mother country hundreds of thousands of adults who know not the taste of animal food for months together. It is alleged that the cost of Government in New Zealand is superlatively heavy. Of course, it may be accepted as a fact, generally, that the smaller the population the greater the cost per head of Government is likely to be. But I deny that New Zealand is an expensively governed country, considering the vast diffusion of the machinery of Government which really exists. The advantages of Government, in some form, are brought home to every little centre of population throughout the Colony. While in a larger country, the convenience of 100,000 or 200,000 people would only to a certain extent be defe_red to, here it is customary to specially defer to the convenience of a few scores or a few hundreds of people. For example, there are few large cities in Europe in which mails would be delivered outside the usual hours; but in New Zealand there is hardly a village comprising 100 people that does not, as a matter of course, request and receive something beyond ordinary consideration in the delivery of mails, no matter at what hour they arrive. The same remark applies to other official facilities ; and, indeed, the smallest aggregations of population in the Colony, in the most out-of-the-way places, ask for the conveniences that in older countries are only expected by large communities. Honorable Members will allow me to make a comparison between the cost of Government in New Zealand and Victoria. Taking the calendar year 1871,1 find that the Colonial expenditure in New Zealand, exclusive of interest and sinking fund on account of the public debt, amounted to £591,715 15s. 6cl. ; and that the expenditure of the Provincial Governments for Civil Service, including Education, Police, Gaols, Harbours, and Miscellaneous, but excluding Public Works, amounted to £251,196 12s. Id. ; making together, £816,212 7s. 7d. In Victoria, for 1870 (the latest returns to hand), the Departmental expenditure was £2,195,708 ; from which I deduct £1,080,519 for various purposes not included in the stated expenditure in this Colony. There is thus left, £1,115,189 as the nett cost of Government in Victoria, against £816,212 7s. 7d. for the cost of Government in New Zealand, including, be it remembered, the Provincial Governments. Of course, I shall be told that notwithstanding the large total excess, the cost per head of population was less in Victoria; and I am bound to admit, seeing that "Victoria's population is nearly three times as numerous as ours, that such is the case. On the other hand, I submit that, continuing our present system of Government, with a population three times as large as we have now, we should not reach the sum which I have mentioned as the cost of Government in Victoria. In short, although our system

New Zealand's exceptional expenditure, for Native purposes, And present position,

Disprove doctrine of detractors.

Relative positions of labourer at Home and in the Colony.

New Zealand not an expensively governed country:

Considering extent to which advantages of Q-overnmental machinery are demanded and supplied.

Comparative cost of Government —New Zealand and Victoria.

Cost per head in Victoria less than in New Zealand;

But Victoria's population three times that of New Zealand;

15

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.