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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 75
What the Present Government Have Had to Work Upon. Table No. 1
What the Present Government Have Had to Work Upon. Table No. 1.
| 1891. | 1897. | Increase. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population | 634,058 | 729,600 | 95,542 |
| Public Debt | 38,713,068 | 44,366,618 | 5,653,550 |
| Accumulated Surpluses 1891-1897 | 2,636,173 | ||
| Taxation | 2,179,739 | 2,521,910 | 342,171 |
| No. of Civil Servants | 8,626 | 9,079 | 453 |
| Contingent Liability on account of Bank of New Zealand | 5,234,000 |
This table shows that although the present Government has had, according to their own account, accumulated "surpluses" of over £2,600,000, they have found it necessary to increase the debt of the colony by over £5,600,000, and increase the taxation by £342,000, and this with an increased population of 95,000 to work upon.
As regards the "surpluses," their existence has been, and I think rightly, disputed; the Government, however, assert they are real, therefore it is for them to show what they have done with them.
The taxation of the population was increased last year by no less a sum than four shillings (4s.) per head for every man, woman, baby, gaol-bird, and lunatic in the colony. It is obvious that if a country is rightly governed, as population increases, taxation per head ought to decrease, but, during the last six years, it has averaged 2s. 6½d. per head per annum more than it did during the previous six years.
It will be seen that the present Government has increased the liability of the colony by no less a sum than £10,887,550. What they have given us in return, and whether it has increased the demand for labour, subsequent tables will show.
To create a permanent demand for the employment of labour, successful land settlement is a first necessity, for it is by the direct application of labour to the land that we obtain all our primary products, and without them we can do absolutely nothing.
Tables Nos. 2 and 3 will show that, as regards land settlement and mining, the policy of the Government has been an absolute and miserable failure.
As regards land settlement, I believe that the failure is not so much due to bad land laws as to the fact that the Government allow
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the railway officials to neutralise the effect of the liberal regulations for land purchase, by their ridiculous and unjust method of levying railway charges. Judging, however, by their past action, and the Hon. Mr. Cadman's recent utterances, they are determined that no real reform shall be made in railway administration, if by any possibility they can prevent it, and this notwithstanding the fact that they have all voted that the new system ought to be tried.