, 1876-04-01

will have TO make radical changes, only not at
this moment, as we are all waiting till Governor
Garde returns to see the effect of his mission;
until then 1t would be quite useless to think OF
or to expect any changes. Hence, as already
stated, he could not see the utility OF postponlng
the Budget now, the less 80 as the changes can
not any how be effected under the Budget.
The President: When there lie question Of
covering such large deficiencies as those we
have to deal with, small retrenchments or
outing off of q few hundred dollars here and
there, would not do much reductions, If to
be of any use, must be extensive, and they
would require radical changes. 1t has always
been his personal view that such changes
should be delayed as long as possible, since
they GOULD not be effected without weakening
the ediiee in some point or other. In locking
at future changes, there are, moreover, two
points at least where the changes will incur
increased outlay, the School and Pauper De-
pRrtments. If alterations have to be effected
under the Police, the Prison Department, be-
cause we can not possibly meet the requisite
expense as hitherto, we must give way we can
not expect the Mother country to be always
supporting US of course, there are some points
where the Mothercountry must assist US; but
In those others, where We cannot help ourselves,
radical changes must be made to meet the
altered circumstances. But as long as it Is not
shewn that we will not be having the means
to help ourselves, we should avoid weakening
the general structure by making changes.
2rd Member for Christiansted (HGns0a):
From the Ohairman's explanations it would APP
pear that his, the Speakers, suggestion could
not be carried. He might perhaps have been
wrong in shat suggestion, but it was based on
the same considerations as those made by His
Excellsncy. 10 his opinion We have now come
to tho point where it is necessary to make
changes in order to meet the requirements.
We cannot well pass a Budget when we have
no way or means Of meeting the expenditure
the revenue will, we may with certainty pre-
dict it, not be forthcoming. The time has come,
then, to discuss openly and freely what is to be
done. He had not intended TO propose or
any measure that could cause the
Government difficulty or be opposed to the
dignity of the Colonial Council. But as we
have our hopes set unto Governor Garde's
mission, he thought We ought rather to post
pone Budget-aud all other discussions until his
return. The Central Factory will bring i'm
provements in its way but that does not do
away with the necessity of openly examining
what can be done to keep expenses within
means, or to provide means for the expenses.
And if any one would 60 through the table Of
the Revenues of the Colonial Treasury for the
3 years on which the Draft Of Budget is 4 based,
it will be seen that in almost all of the items,
tho revenue has been in a constant and rapid
decline; will this be stopped ? win not the
deficiency in this Budget be much more above
what the Government states it? The crop
this year may from all what he has heard
from competent parties, not reach 5 900 hogs
heads, and he is pretty sure, the ultimate re-
sGlt will be a total deficit of between $40 and
$4,000 in the public accounts. In the face of
ell this, we can hardly look upon matters in too
bad a light if we are to do anything, the time
is now come. But Just now while Governor
Garde's mission is not concluded, we could not
we'll commence therefore he had recommended
tbe poStponement Of these discussions now.
LIST Member for Frederiksted (Sarauw):
His Exoellency had said we should go on with
the present expenses until We can no longer,
then we will have TO make reductions to this
he would say, he could not see how we could
60 on increasing our already immense debt;
if proper reduction had been made years ago,
we would not have had debts, and been better
able to meet the present difficulties.
The President had not said, nor had he in
tended to say, that We should go on increasing
our debt to meet expenses, but that we cannot
reduce our expenses at present without weak
sning the general structure. We are most
certainly liable to the effects of the laws o. nature;
oflate nature has, as it would appear, deserted usj
for it is contrary to all what We could expect,
when during the late years only 259 lines Of
"a