89A
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be expected.
The evidence before us would not justify us
in saying that this assumption was unfounded, but we cannot
help feeling that,in present circumstances, it is certainly
on the optimistic side. If there is a doubt as to the
revenue assumptions on which the Treasurer's proposals
are based, there is obviously an equal degree of doubt as
to the desirability, at the present time, of embarking upon
a programme of heavy expenditure on capital account.
Certainly, if we were dealing with a grant-aided and con-
trolled Colony, we should require, in the circumstances
of the present time, to be very fully satisfied on these
points before we approved the capital expenditure on the
scale indicated.
As regards the technique of the borrowing programme
put forward by the Treasurer, we do not like, as a matter of general principle, the practice of financing permanent
works, on a large scale and for considerable periods, from
temporary money. The Treasurer says that the proposal to
finance his programme on the basis of overdrafts, until
the