Finance.

The Public Debt has increased 4,000,000 since 1891, and there is besides the contingent liability of 5,000,000 on account of the Bank of New Zealand. The expenditure is steadily increasing. The total trade per head when the Atkinson Government took office was £21 19s and when they went out of office it was £25 13s. In 1891 it was £25 10s. and under the present Government it has decreased to £21 11s. The latest result of Mr. Seddon's finance was the Loan Bill passed last session. The necessity for the loan was shown when it was stated that something like £460,000 had been practically pledged in advance by this non-borrowing, self-reliant Government. Now that Provincial Government has been abolished, we should institute some system of local Government that would regulate the expenditure of public moneys. We must also have the right of the Referendum before loans of this kind are embarked upon.