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FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 1888,
SOMl'l I N T E B B S T I N &
STATISTICS.
/^ONSIDEIUNG that at tbo present
\j timo tho financial oonclition o£
all tho Australasian Oolonios — with
tho solo exception of Viotoria— is in a
very u 11 satis factory condition, surely
it is higU time for the oolonisfcs to
seriously oousidoi1 tho position of
affairs. ' Australia Polix ' rejoices in
an unpvecedontedly largo surplus of
revenue over oxpuntlitviro— but in the
othor provinces tho soveral Govern
ments have to meet tho difficulty of
devising means for raising sufficient
toveniio to meet nil tho demands made
upon it, In deciding this question,
the point at issue is— Whether ib

would be better to restore tho financial
equilibrium by reducing tho expendi
ture, or by inpi^uing tho revenue?
Between theae Wo alternatives pooplo
generally tbirik; . that .tho former
course would be the inoro judicious
one to adopt ; but then tho great
majority of Australian politicians are
of tho opposite opiniou. In the first
place, these gentlemen havo to retain
the r favour of their constituencies ;
and, as wo Have frequently pointed out
before now, Australian constituencies
but too generally regard their legisla
tive representatives, moi'oly as so
many milkers of the State cow ; and
that member of Parliament is the
most popular with the oleotors who
succeeds in best ' looking after' the
interests of his distriot, i,e. in wring
ing the groatest amount of money for
local expenditure from the reluctant
Ministry of! the day. Honoo Austral
iau politicians (as a body) aro, in
times of finanoial trouble, but too
nvuoh inolined to advooato the adop.
tib'n of moans lo increase the revenue
in order to mako both ends of the
State accounts moot; and, iu support
of such a view, they oontond that tho
expenditure is not unduly large whon
compared with tho territorial extent of
eaohi.oolony. This babble ot mere
plausible assertion has, howevor, but
to be pricked with tho noodlo of faot
to prove its unsubstantiality. ^Yo
maintain, on the other hand, that in
order to arrive at the relative burden
each colony has to boar, it is mauifest
ly unfair and mialeading in the ex.
tremo to compare the auuual expeudi
turo of a colony with the squaro mile
age of its territory ; for the only cor.
root tost is to shew the actual taxation
per- head of the population of eaoh
colouy. ' Suoh a list we give for 1885,
that boiug the latest year for whioh
We have been able to obtain coin
pleto returns. Hove it is :—South
Australians 7s. lid.; New South
Wales, £2 8s. 5d. ; Yiotoria, £2 14s
3d, ; Tasmania, £'2 15s. Id. ; Now
Zealand, £8 10a. Od. ; (Queensland,
£8 17s. 9d. ; aud Western Australia,
£4 5s, yd. As nguiust that list we
place the rate of taxation per head in
Great Britain of ouly £2 0s. 7d. ; and
thus that not only is the taxation per
head in all the Australasiau Colonies
higher than it is iu the Mother Coun
try, but also that tho ratoin Western
Australia (the most baokward and
poorest of the whole group) is aotu
ally more than double as much ! But
siuce the date of that list taxation hus
increased, generally throughout tho
Colonies, and last year it rose in Now
South, Wales to. ^82 10s. per head.
That- bowerer, ia far from being tho
actual state of affairs. For (as a colon
ial contemporary points out), oxclucl
iug railway aud telegraphic expenses,
as WQ.U as interest on loan funds, re
ceipts for land and the balance from
postal aud other miscellaneous revenue,
the total is raised to £5 10s. per head !
So muoh for tho computation on tho
basis of population. Now as to tliu
comparison by extent of territory, It
must be admitted that both the Unit
ed. States and tho Dominion of Canada
hax'e,.jftrger territories than New South
Wales, and also much greater respbn
sibilities. Yet the cost of Government
in the United States and tho Canad
ian Dominion does not exceed £1 5s.
per! heaft in New South Wales. Hence
it is seen that, owing to the plan
adopted by Australian politicians of
always1 ''preferring to increase the
revenue, when both ends will not meet,
the colonists are loaded with a stead
ily increasing burden of taxation
which1 (if persisted in) will soon be
too Heavy to' bear. For those reasons
we maintain that retrenchment is the
wiqer of tho two courses to adopt;
and we affirm without fear of contra
diction, that the financial condition of
the Australasiau Colonies will never
be placed on a sound basis uutil poli
ticians are honest aud courageous
enough to boldly insist upon the ab
solute necessity of Gutting down the
expenditure, instead of pursuing the
ruiuQus, policy of constantly inoreas
ing the expenditure, Wo shall dis
cuss this question of retrenchment
from ' another point, of view upon a
future occasion, and meanwhile it
would be as well if both elected mem
bers of our Legislature and the elect
ors of this Colony carefully considered
the lesson to be derived from the con
sideration of tin so curious statistics.

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