The Nineteenth Century , No 182, Apr 1892 [‎61r] (126/244)

1892
THE CREDIT OF
611
—
Cost, 1889
Per cent, to
total
Per head
General Government • .
Local Government < .
£
30,792,046
3,770,000
89-10
10-90
s.
161 9
19 10
Total ....
—— —
34,562,046
10000
181 7
It is apparent, therefore, that while the general government in
the Australasian colonies discharges 89' 10 per cent, of the combined
functions, which so intimately affect its nominal public debt, the
general government of the United Kingdom only discharges 06 86
per cent, of corresponding functions. It is obvious, too, that, with the
most trivial exceptions, the latter country is in no way directly con
cerned with capital invested in railways, roads, bridges, harbours,
water-supply, and other public works, which directly enhance the
value of the public estate; and that its debt is almost wholly un
represented by works or undertakings which produce wealth in a com
mercial sense, and can only be regarded as the cost of past services
dissipated in foreign wars, either for the protection or advancement
of the general interests or prestige of the empire. So far as the
financier is concerned, it can neither be regarded as a commeicial
asset nor as the index of an asset which can be reduced to a coire
sponding value. It is merely a premium paid for protection and
nothing more.
In the colonies, on the other hand, the major part of the so-
called public debt is as much a commercial asset as the capital in
vested in railways and tramways in England, and with the exception
of about one or two per cent, the remainder is represented by public
works of a permanent character, whose value, as wealth-producing
auxiliaries, enormously exceeds the nominal debt standing against
them.
It is necessary at the outset to mark these important distinctions
before replying to the specific charges against the financial soundness
of the colonies brought forward by Mr. "Fortescue; for in his adverse
conclusions he has widely erred owing to rather
than to misstatement of certain facts and figures.
The financial stability of these colonies is questioned by him,
especially upon the following grounds :
1. The heaviness of the existing public debt.
2^ That the debt is increasing at a greatei ratio than eitner the
population or revenue.
3. (a)That the railways are unproductive or do not pay the
whole of the interest of the capital expended on their construction ;
(6) and, further, that as the urban populations are increasing at a
greater ratio than the rural populations, it is inferred the railways