, 1872-03-16
TH[E EfAVTS."
Strisliapslt6, 81, graiz,
SATURDAY 10TH MARCH 1872.
THE BUDGET.

Financial matters are always of great import
ance both to individuals and to communities, and
it is quite natural that the Budget for the next
financial year should be of much interest to the
public in general as the management of the pub
lie nervus rerum cannot fail to influence the pri-
vato one to q certain degree. Although the Bud
got for next year shows an apparent deficit of
$l3,633, which probably will be somewhat in
creased on account of the necessary improvements
in schools, hospitals and jails, yet there is no roa-
son at all for the melancholy feelings which some
members of the Colonial Council seem to be so in
clined to maintain.
We must take into consideration, that the crop is
likely to fall short of an average one, hence the
export duty will be very small that $4,000 are
set apart for buildings that not all retrenchments
on tho military expenses can be effected at pre-
sent, and that last year has left q large surplus of
over $32, 900, which of course must be partly ON
ployed to cover this years deficit.
An averagea amount Of $3.50, 900 per annum for the
public expenditure ofthis Island cannotbe said to be
too much, if properly employed and if the natural
resources of this country are sufficiently devel-
oped.
A yearly public expense of only 81 per head rs
certainly not too much and as u community in
general, the Island cannot be said to be in an I'M
satisfactory state, considering its having no debt
but on the contrary its being a property-holder i'll
lands, buildings, arms, equipment, landed proper
ty, and even cash money.
If misery prevails in the two towns, as it certain
ly does to q shameful degree, it must chiefly be-
attributed to the idleness, lack of energy, and
spendthrift inclinati0ns of q great part of the
population.
Idleness cannot be banished by laws nor pre-
vented by regulations neither can the fatal con-
sequences of it be mended by retronohing public
expenses.
1t can be eradicated only by education and
moral Improvement Of the population.
An educated man generally has too much pride
to allow himself to live in misery and poverty as
long as he can prevent it by working.
In comparison to the produce Of the Island the
public expenses are not to be considered too heavy;
and q man that will and can work, and having u
sufficient capital to commence business at large,
will always make a good living here, for the con-
tribution of the citizens in the shape of taxation to
the public expenditure is certainly not more, as
figures show, than i'll any of the most l~eniently
taxed countries.
Whence then como these cries for retrench-
ments that are heard so often bothiprivately in So
cial circles, and publicly in the Colonial Council?
Who complains, and why
Of course, q man who buys an encountered es-
tate, without having a cent of his own, conse-
q~uontly without investing a comparatively large
capital in the undertaking, as is required every
where else, such u man will complain and demand
to be entirely exempted from paying any taxes at all,
in order to enable him to carry through his specula-
tons, and, perhaps, make O fortune in a few good
years.
At ali events he does not risk any thing, as he
has nothing to loose and with the reckless selfish
ness that is peculiar to all adventurers, he consid-
es the whole world merely as made for his sake.
Of course, a planter who prefers to spend the
revenues of his estates in a foreign country, and
year after year to draw large cash amounts away
from the island, where they ought to be employed
for the improvement of agriculture, such a planter
will complain of too heavy a taxation, and cry for
retrenchments in order to have so much the more
to spend in his ''princely STYLE of living in Eu-
rope or elsewhere.
Of course, an idler who lives in his own house,
without working one hour a day, and who merely
considers himself as put into the world for the
purpose of talking nonsense with his neighbours,
and to take his dram occasionally; such an idler