The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-02
RAPID PACE IN DEBT MAKING.
Great Obligations Piled Up by the
British Colonies within Recent
From the London Mail.


From the London Mail.
The temptation to new countries. whose
development is mainly dependent on the
amount of money they can expend on the
construction Of railways, canals, tele-
graphs and other public works, to run into
national debt is very great And. where
the credit is good and the borrowing easy,
as 1t Is in most British colonies the temp
tation is practically Irresistible. What the
colonies have borrowed they have UNI
doubtedly used for excellent purposes, for
the most part potentially, II not actually,
reproductive. Still, considering that Il
has always been a time of peace with
them, they have gone ahead at q great
pace. Our own debt is little more than
growth of two centuries. but their Is lit
tie more than a quarter of a century old.
Australasia, for instance, owed only 1885,,
OOO. 900 In 1870, but In 1895 her debt was the
enormous sum of f2ls,O00O00 Canada In
1870 owed fl7O00. 900. and in '9o her liabilities
were over f65, 900 900. Newfoundland scarce
ly knew what II was to borrow In 1870
being then indebted only TO the amount OF
f250 900; but In IS ii owed f2,75O.OO0. Cape
Colony easily beats these, for Il jumped
from slightly over II 100000 In 1870 to f27,-
10000 In 50. And Natal Is not behindhand
having increased its liabilities from some
what over f2J0,000 in 1870 10 100000 In '95.
Ceylon, too, has gone from 100000 to e, $780,
900 In the same period. And the West In
dies from nearly 100000 to nearly 1900
900. Thus. while our own debt Is one
sixth less In 1856 than II was In 20, the
debt of canada is four times as large;
that of theWest Indies has multiplied four
times Of Ceylon, five times; OF Newfound-
land, eleven times; of Cape Colony, TWEEN
ty-hve times. and Of Natal, thirty times,
OF course. the perfect solvency OF the in
debted countries Is above suspicion. and
there Is no doubt too, that the money has
been well spent In Canada more than
half of 1t was sunk in railways and ca
nails, and the Dominion has an increase 10
show In railways from 4. 800 miles I'm 70
to 1000 miles IN '95. In Cape Colony al
most the whole OF the money borrowed
has been spent on railways and other pub
lie works.
But, bouyant as new countries stocked
with Anglo-Saxon blood have shown them
selves 10 be, the weight OF debt Is really
very great in the African, American and
Australian colonies. and, excellent as their
credit IL, they have not left themselves q
very wide margin, in the contingency OF
war, for instance. Remembering that
these are all young countries, which have
none Of those terrible burdens of past wars
that Cypress European states. and have
scarcely any military or naval expenditure
TO meet, a comparison OF the debt and am
nual interest per head In the colonies with
the same In the United Kingdom gives he
markable results. Taking anything over
10 shilling as a pound, and negsecting any
amount under 10 shlllings, the liability OF
each English citizen Is fi6. In Ceylon Il
Is only H. In Cape Colony II is apparent
ly more than In the United Kingdom. for
the whole debt divided by the whole popu-
lation gives els per man. But II the native
colored people be excluded, the debt per
white man amounts to f73 In Natal we
majority OF the people being Indians and
Kaffirs. The debt. II Il be spread over
AL the inhabitants. amounts TO us each;
but II II be confined 10 the white race only.
II reaches the large figure Of fl7ll Cana
da's debt - somewhat under ia per in
habltant And Newfoundland. with It's
little population OF less than a quarter OF
a million, owes f3 per individual While. Ia
the West Indians. they owe somewhat less
than "a each. But Australasia Is the re-
gion OF vast liabilities. New South Wales
owes 60 per inhabtant New Zealand
owes go per head; Queenland, $50; South
Australia. 1853; Tasmania, f5i: Victoria, Gao.
and Western Australia, $50.
As to the annual cost OF the debt. while
IL stand US here az home the reasonable
sum OF a few pence undo 13s. q costs the
Canadian not quite ~. the Western Aus
trallan n i4s. the Victorian a lis. the Tas-
manian just %. the Queenslander e i6s.
the New zealander q 3s and the lnhab-
liant Of New South Wales practically q
even.