Mr Bryce’s Confession.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume IV, Issue 518, 14 October 1890, Page 3

Mr Bryce’s Confession.

THE STATE OF THE COVNTBY. Thb journalistic mouthpieces of the present Ministry haye been loudly trumpeting forth fee work that has been done by that Ministry in regard to the finances of the country, After dwelling on the necessity of raising the character of Parliament Mr Bryce goes on to make the following confessions as to the Mate of the country ae nave bean accustomed tor many years to aid the ordinary revenue from loan in t variety of ways. We are doing so still, and will only oesM because the fund from which .he aid has ooms will be exhausted by the JOd of tlrf present financial year, For Jiaiaple, the cost ct ereetiug " public build*

nge, ” 1 as teen largely provided from lo> «, and ro have the funds to ‘’open land befcra eale.” The puree will be empty on the 31b nt Marek next, ano the ordinary revenue, although aided for the present year from loan, will, according to a statement by the ActingPremier, be £5O 000 in deficit. What she! we do ? Shall we endeavor to carry on settlement and the ordinary work of Government, relying solely on our own tesoutcea ? Shall we again enter the London money market as borrowers? Or shall we aid the settlement fund or the ordinary revenue by borrowing within the colony ? These are matters for grave and deliberate thought, not to be decided hastily. Tl:e public do not sufficiently appreciate that a very large part of thia colony’s expenditure doea not admit of retrenchment—the payments can neither be reduced nor evaded. The intereat aud sinking fund on our public debt alone by the Treasurer’s last statement, amounts to £1,875,000, and the other payments fixed by statute to £268,000 additional. In the interest on our debt and the other charges fixed by law, we have thus £2,144,000 to which the pruning knife cannot be applied. Let me now point out the items of revenue absorbed by these fixed charges. The whole of the estimated Customs revenue is required (ray) £1 375,000, the whole of the property tax £355,000, tbe Beer duty £54.000, Registration £39,300, Marine £19,700, Miscellaneous £40,000, and £261,000 from stamps duties to make up the total. All these items, the most important sources of our revenue, ate required to pay charges we cannot hope to alter. After doing this let us see what is left to promote settlement and carry on the Government of the country, P.ofits on working railways £402,000, Depasturing Rents £191,000, proceeds of debentures on sinking fund increases £288.000, balance of stamp duties £351,000: total, £1,232,000. Leaving out of consideration tho land revenue, and land department, which for years has not paid its way, of our yearlj- revenue we use £2.144,000 to discharge liabilities we can neither alter nor avoid, and we have less than one and a-quarter milliona left to aid the Land Fnnd in the promotion of settlement and to cary on the whole government of the colony where not provided for by statute. Perhaps the full significance of the position will be seen when I say that out of this £1,232.000 the Departments of “ Defence and Police,” ” Justice,” •'Post and Telegraph,” and “ Education,” demand more than £900,000, leaving little more than £300,000 for the remaining Departments of Government, for Legislation and its Departments, and for the aid of the Land Fund in the promotion of settlement. I think I hear some of my newspaper friends say, as they have said before, ”If this is Mr Bryce's view, why don’t he suggest a cure ?” Mr Bryce’s “ view ” indeed 4 Why, it is lite plain fact visible to everyone who likes to look, And as for ths “ sure,” I am no quack charlatan with nostrums warranted to cure all evils. We have had enough of those. Bather I would be regarded as the prudent physician careful only to remove obstructions to the free process of nature. In this case there is no royal road to recovery—nothing but tbe old beaten paths- prudence, economy, hard work. To the electors of New Zealand I would say, Gentlemen, you have the remedy in your own hands, do what is right, or do' what is wrong, and I venture to say you Will be represented accordingly by your members. Gentlemen Electors of Waikato, I place myself very completely in your hands. If you return me aa your member, I shall be f roud to represent you as well aa I am able, f you think it best to reject me, I shall of course regard the rejection with mixed feelings (none of them will beof blame to you), but the farewell bow which I shall then make, will be final, as regards my public life.

[To ths editor s.z. herald.]

Sib, —The remarkable production appearing in your columns this morning over the •ignature of “ John Bryce ” demands our most serious attention. Mr Bryee’s address contains nothing new. Qu the contrary the deterioration of Parliament has been the theme of every newspaper writer for months past, while the terrible position of our finances and the steady drain of the life-blood of the colony to pay our foreign creditors has been patent for some years Tbe part of the address which claims attention and challenges criticism is the open and hopeless confession of helplessness which it contains, Mr Bryce publicly asserts that he knows no cure. All that he advises is a policy of prudence, economy, and hard work. If the state of things be continued which Mr Bryce and his friends have brought about and no vital changes be made, all the prudence, economy, and hard work possible will not enable New Zealand to escape tbe min brought upon her by the reoklws misgovernment of the last twenty years. For our present position no one is more responsible than Mr John Bryoe. He has persistently supported Sir Julius Vogel and Major Atkinson. For a time he waa a Minister. During the squandering of forty milliona he was a consenting and directing party. Where was his prudence, economy, and hard, work then ? When sixteen years ago I pointed out the consequences which would follow the criminal extravagance of Vogel and Atkinson, and foretold the exact state—as now shown by Mr Bryce’s figures—of to day, Mr Bryce joined in the howl raised against me as a pessimist. He has been a party to the prostitution of political power for party purposes, which has caused the rapid deterioration of Parliament and the perilous condition of our finance. And now he coolly telle the people that he " is no quack charlatan with a cure for all evil,” He has no plans or proposals. But he threatens the Waikato people, that if they do not elect him he will retire from public life and the valuable services of John Bryce will be lost for ever.

What has Mr Bryce done in tbe past, or what does be propose to do in the future which should operate in the minds of the electors towards ips return ? The one thing more than others the Waikato people want is railway reform. This Mr Bryce baa distinctly refused to interfere about. You, Sir, have bitterly complained lately upon the subject of native titles and the necessity of reform in the direction of acquiring native lands, Mr Bryce has always opposed any attempt to simplify and amend the disgraceful laws which control all dealings between natives and Europeans in regard to native lands. Is Sir Harry Atkinson’s manifesto be as bare as Mr Bryce's then X Bay—• poor New Zealand I—l am, , W, L. Bess,