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The whole interest in tha debate upon |
the budget must, as a matter of course, . i
turn upon the proposed new loan of j
£-f.000,00Q, which would be an addi- I
tion to the permanent indebtedness of
the colonr of about £i 12s. per head to
everr man, woman and child, besides the
load' of £22,500,000, or £25 Ms.
per head, which at the present time they
are called upon to bear. In the presence
of a question so important, and of
several items ih the proposed expendi
ture to which it wiil be our duty to call
attention, we trust that noattempts will_
be made — or if made that they will not '
be allowed — to divert the attention of
the Assembly to mattersof detail — to the
mere pedantry of book-keeping. Haif
a-million sterling was borrowed last year
for the service of the State upon the
security of Treasury bills, and this large
sum of money will have to be repaid.
Whether Sir Bryan O'Logblen was right
in taking this amount into consideration
in his statement of accounts for the past
financial year is a matter about which
there might be much difference of
opinion. But it is of co practical
interest whatever, and we trust that the
ex-Treasurers who have seats in the
House, as well cs the gentlemen who
aspire to fill th3t honorable and elevated
position, will abstain from wasting the
time of the Assembly upon the discus
sion of a most irrelevant topic. If
they want it ventilated, let them, at their
own expense, write pamphlets about it,
or if that does not suit them they can
write letters to the Qocservative press.
But it is their duty to invite the atten
tion of their brother members toquestions
of greater practical importance.
It is of course quite right for the
Treasurer to make provision some time
during tho present year for the
£8,000,000 loan which commences to
fall due in 1SS-3, acd there is no doubt
that fresh legislation will be required, if
the conversion is to be mode on sound
economic principles, and if the country,
like a modem Sinbad, is to emancipate
itself from those Cld Men of the Sea, in
the shape of the associated banks, who
Lave been administering its financial'
business for the last quurter of aoeptury.
But. there are many grave doubts about '
the advisableness of increasing the public
indebtedness in the manner that Sir
Bryan OT-oghlen proposes. Politicians
;of the mental calibre of the present Ad
ministration are always likely to be ex
travagant, and they borrow with a light
heart, because they know that they will
not be called upon to make any provision
for the repayment of the principal, or
even for the payment of the interest.
" All that," as Louis XV. remarked,
when some one remonstrated against
an act more foolish and more extra
vagant than ordinary, "will be an affair
" for my successors. " Sir Bryan O'Logb
len and Mr. Bent are in the position of
the waiters who bring in the dinner ;
they know very well that they are not
likely to remain long enough in power
to become tha waiters who bring in the
bilL Nothing is more delightful than to
spend, except perhaps promising to
spend ; and the experience which the
member for Brighton has had in fooling
shire councillors to the top of their bent
will no doubt make the present Ministry
very anxious to have the respectable
sum of £2,500,000 with which to pur
chase political support. But tha legis
lature will be railing in its duty
if it allows this or any other Govern
ment to borrow ncney to construct
railways, unless suScient evidence
53 adduced that these railways are likely
to prove remunerative. Mr. MacBaia
made a great point a few nights ago at
Numurkah of the satisfactory return
which the railways produced, and the
large sums of money which they earn,
and he expressed a hope that the profits
per cent, would be even larger when the
system was extended, and the light and
cheap lines which are now in course of
construction were all completed. But
he is too good a man of business not to
know that a merchant who desires to ,
prosper takes into consideration, not
only the result of all his operations, but
also the profit and loss upon each indivi
dual item. If the public accounts were
investigated in this manner it will be
found that, although the railways 33 a
whole pay fairly well, and certain sec
tions like tha North-eastern line yield
large profits, there are others which
are worked at a very considerable
loss, if interest upon the cost of construc
tion, and depreciation upon the value of
the permanent way and rolling stock, be
added to the working expenses. In this
category may be placed such lines as
those between Vfaugaraite and Beech-
worth, Maryborough and Avoca, and
Ararat and Portland. There is reason to
fear that some of the extensions
sanctioned by the previous Assembly
during the Patterson regime may prove
the reverse of profitable, and we may
especially instance the railway from
Branxhoime to Casterton, and the lines
in the immediate vicinity of the metro
polis. In the present condition or" the
colony, and with the slowly increasing
population, wisdom would point to
extreme caution in further raUway de
velopment It must not be forgotten that
our export of wheat has so far yielded
very small profits either to the grower,
the dealer or the shipper, and thai it is
not yet beyond the bounds of possibility
that tho settlers in the northern, north
eastern and north-western districts may
yet sell their holdings to the neighbor
ing grader? and seek other employments.
Should such a calamity occur, many of
the lines already constructed and in
course of .construction would be worked
at a loss instead of at a profit, since the
grain which is the principal article
of transit would altogether cease to
be grown. Ve would therefore coun-
sel entire aDstinence from furtner
railway construction until the lines
already authorised were constructed and
were in full working order, and until
an estimate could be formed of their
probable earnings.
It is to be hoped the House will not
listen to the proposals to borrow money
to improve the harbor at WarrnambooL
If there is any probability of that port
being ever rendered safe and com
modious, the proper plan is for the in
habitants of the town, and the proprie
tors of the land in the neighborhood' to
form themselves into a harbor trust, to
raise the money by debentures, and to
recoup themselves by harbor duties
and wharfage rates. Warrnambool
is, no doubt, an important place,
but there is no reason whatever
why public money should be expended,
merely to make tho lucky people who
own land in its vicinity richer than even
they ere at present 1 f there ever were
a time when it was the duty of the State
to spend large sum3 in improving the
outports, that necessity no longer exists.
The country around Warrnambool be
longs to private holders ; money is cheap
and plentiful. Let the persons interested
put their own shoulders to the wheel)
and recollect thai Jupiter helps those
who help themselves. , The improvement
of the Gippsland Lakes may perhaps be
placed in another category than throw
ing money into the sea at Lady Bay; but
if £60,000 is to.be devoted to the Lakes
entrance, it should be clearly understood
that any extension of the railway sys
tem eastward of Sale must he abandoned.
It is scarcely wise for the State to spend
money for the improvement of both land
carriage and water carriage. We trust
that the financial proposals of the Trea
surer will be discussed from a national
and not from a political standpoint ;
that there will be no battle between the
ins and the outs ; that there will be no
wholesale quotations from Hansard, but
that members on both sides of the House
will Bo'ely regard the effect which tha
proposed new loan would have upon the
interests of the country.
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