The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1884.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 4415, 8 July 1884, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

TUESDAY, JULY 8, 1884.

For tho oanse that tacta assistance, For the wrong that naeda reslstano*. For tho future In the dißtanoe, And the Rood that we can do.

Mk Peacock was elected to Parliament at the last election, after a hardlyfought contest, because it was the fe«ling of a majority of the electors that a city of the importance of Auckland should have to represent it practical, intelligent, and capable men of liberal views. We do not think any of his opponents will say that his career in the House of Representatives has disappointed these expectations. The speech made before the electors of Newton last night was characteristic of the man and his habits of thought. It was clear, carefully thought out, and pervaded by a strong common sense. The introductory narrative of the events preceding the carrying of the vote of want-of-coufidenco traversed the ground which has been followed by previous speakers of both political parties. There seems, indeed, to be now a general agreement with regard to the condition of parties, and the working of the forces that brought about the defoat of the Government. Mr Peacock did not fail\to recognise last night that very considerable party changes must result from the appeal to the country and while explaining frankly his own convictions upon v the questions that are engrossing the attention of the people, and upon the rival political leaders," he wisely reserved to himself freedom of action in view of the chaotic condition to which the old parties have been reduced through the advent of Sir Julius Vogel. We have expressed very strong opinions on this subject before. Auckland constituencies have been too prone to run riot over abstract political theories wrangling over the shell whilst the South swallowed the oyster. The city, its industries and people, have suffered severely through this in the past, and may yet suffer more severely in the future: unless the people—and particularly the working masses, with whom the decision lies— apply to politics the sound rules which they find necessary in the hard struggle for Hfe. The colony wants land monopoly stopped—put down, if need be, by arbitrary and despotic measures. There is no mistake at all. about the public sentiment on that question, and the surest way to attain the desired end is not only by exacting : strong pledges on the subject from every candidate for a popular suffrage, but by putting landsharks and jobbers and their agents, however plausible their pretences, out of Parliament. But there are otherquestionsbesidestheland which the colony, and especially city constituencies, are deeply concerned in. In a country that is drained by imports amounting to upwards of eight millions sterling every year, and where the industries are few and struggling, we want men who can advise and be advised by those who are engaged in developing the industrial power and resources of the country, and who can give intelligent aid to the moulding of legislation calculated to assist the practical efforts of workers by whom the prosperity and wealth of the country are built up. These are qualifications which the electors must consider and apply in making their choice, and among the election cries hitherto there has been too little prominence given to matters so deeply affecting the industrial and commercial population, and their children, I for whom they are now seeking avenues of employment.

On the subject of the North Island Trunk Railway, which is the question par excellence, and which will affect for the next twenty years the prosperity of

Auckland, Mr Peacock mado-ian announcement that will meet with universal approval. He said that when rumours were circulated in Wellington that tho Government would recommend the central route, he informed them plainly that if they did so ho should vote against them. Party divisions haw before now caused Auckland members to enter opposite lobbies on questions of momentous local import. In this, Auckland has differed from Otago, among whose members tho noisy wrangling softens into the sweetest harmony when anything for the material advantage of the district is before the House. If our members had always been so imbued with a sense of responsibility for the protection of tho interests of their constituents as to sink personal differences whenever a question arose i fTecting tho welfare of those they represent, the relative positions of North and South in population and progress would be reversed. We admit that such combination is not justifiable for the furtherance of any scheme to get an unfair advantage in the administration of the country, or to enrich one district at the expense of another; but it is the only measure of self-protection against other combinations like that which has been formed in Wellington to double back on the sections of the trunk railway already constructed from Wellington to Taranaki, with theobject of isolating Auckland from the rest of the inhabited districts of the North Island, and giving Wellington a third trunk line. An intimation uf this kind, coming from a Government supporter, would have tenfold the effective power of the protests of any member whose enmity was already assured, and it is not improbable that tho receipt of several notices like the one given by Mr Peacock has had a salutary influence upon the Ministerial view of this subject. Mr Peacock's declaration in favour of the Government acting as the intermediary between the native owners and the general public for the disposal of native lands in the open market and in suitable blocks harmonises with the views that have been advocated for many years past in these columns. His approval of experimental legislation to t ist the working of the system of land nationalisation, by leasing agricultural lands, will also not meet with much dissent. The proposal for reform in the Legislative Council, though open to criticism in detail, is doubtless, in essence, a response to the voice of the country. The championship of the property tax over a land lax will pro yoke more difference of opinion. We confess we have never been able to see why the Working Men's Political Association should have made the repeal of the property lax a plank n their platform. In this clause they echo the voice of every monetary in stitution of tho country. As shown by the returns reviewed in our last night's issue, of the ,£270,190 derived from property tax last year, ,£51,312 was paid by loan and other companies; ;£ 11,355 by banks; and by insurance companies. 01 the -s'4''° payers of this tax, not one had less than J_,SOO capital clear of all encumbrances, and 10,306 —that is, mure than two-fifths—had capital exceeding free from all liabilities; while 2,552 taxpayers had an accumulated capital ranging from to upwards of This tax, in fact, touches very few working men directly. Some of it no doubt falls upon them indirectly, though competition and other disturbing causes make it impossible for the first payers to redistribute the burden. If the revenue derived from the tax is taken away, something must be substituted, and those who clamour for the repeal of the property tax must look to it that they arc not bamboozled into finding the: money necessary to carry oat their wishes by imposts on their tea and sugar. We doubt very much whether the amount required can be derived from a land tax alone (the property tax, of course, embraces land), and it is questionable if the well-to-do classes will submit to the inquisitorial returns required by an income tax. The evils of the property tax in uppressing capital invested in unreprodue tive industries like gold-mining, and upon peoplo living on small investments, besides its deterrent effect on the foreign capitalist, cannot be overlooked. Nevertheless, in view of a heavy deficit in the colonial revenue, we want to see a statesmanlike scheme for distributing the burdens of the country upon the people in proportion to their ability to bear them—making the wealth of the people and the benefit they derive from State protection the basis of their contributions to the State, and not their necessities and the number of mouths they have to fill—before we can join in the crusade against the property tax. It is the duty of those who advocate its repeal to show first in detail how they propose to fill the gaps in the revenue. If they succeed in doing that without laying it more heavily upon the masses, the property tax will find few friends.

The other questions raised in Mr Peacock's speech should receive the consideration of the electors in other districts than Newton. From the vote recorded at tho close a substantial majority of the electors of the district present manifested their satisfaction with the way in which lie had fulfilled his pledges during his first years of Parliamentary career, and concurred in the reasons which have actuated him in changing his constituency from City North to the electorate in which he resides.