THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1880.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, Issue II, 22 March 1880, Page 2

THE Inangahua Times. PUBLISHED TRI-WEEKLY MOND AY, MARCH 22, 1880.

Is report be true the present Ministry, like the proverbial young bear, has all its troubles before ifc. The revenue is sinking fco an extent that was never dreamt of, and unless some extraordinary change in tbe condition of tbe Colony takes place at once, a thing there seems no hope whatever of, the Treasurer will have to face the next Parliament with a most doleful budget. The traffic returns on all, or nearly all, tbe chief railway lines are shrinking month by month ; the revenue from all sources is wasting away at a rate which speaks eloquently and forebodingly of decay. Ifr is believed that the revenue up to the end of tbe financial year will fall fully £300,000 short of Major Atkinson's estimate at tbe beginning of the year. Already this backward movement of tbe Colony has driven the Treasurer to resort to the expedient of Deficiency Bills, which have already been issued to the tune of a million sterling during tbe current financial year, and authority has just been granted by Order in Council for the raising by the same means of yet another £50,000 to carry the Government on to the end of the fiscal year, which terminates on the 31st instant, That the Colony is now going down hill at an alarming pace, is but too apparent, and what the end of it all is to be is a rather nice prob» lem to solve. Although tho harvest season is not yet fairly over, all the principal towns in the Colony are stocked with unemployed clamoring for work; property is depreciating in value, iv fact is becoming almost valueless. With this prospect to face for the winter, added to the absolute certainty of largely increased taxation, the condition cannot be regarded as at all a cheerful one. The Ministry then are not likely to bave a bed of roses for some time to come, but if the cessation of public works, tbe blocking up of the avenues of labor, the withdrawal of all aid from the mining in* dttstry, and the imposition of large extra taxation be the true panacea, tbere is no doubt the Government will bring the Colony round in time.