MR VAILE'S RAILWAY REFORM.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 72, 26 March 1888, Page 2

MR VAILE'S RAILWAY REFORM.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—l have invariably given very careful consideration to Mr Vaile's letters and utterances anent railway reform, and it has always appeared to me that he hae somehow got hold of the wrong end of the stick when he assumes, as he continually does assume, that if his schemes were put into force an era of great and universal prosperity would forthwith be inaugurated. Mr Vaile is a man with one idea, granted a very excellent idea, and under certain social conditions, which at present do not exist, his proposals might b- 'i-~ht with very great benefit to the co i > ■ '' !i

In Mr Vaile's letter in your last issue, he draws marked attention to the very unequal distribution of wealth, and this, according to him,-is to be remedied by cheap railway fares. The panacfea for the cure of all our social ills, for the grinding poverty and misery oi the masses, is, according to him, railway "reform, and, more especially, cheap fares. Mr Vaile says—" What is. at the bottom of all our commercial! political and social troubles? Is it not the unequal distribution of wealth ?" Mr Vaile here mistakes the '' effect" for the '«cause." If he desires to go to the root of the.evil, or, as he terms it, "the bottom of all our commercial, political and social troubles," he must search out.how and by what means it has come to pass that a certain privileged few enjoy immense wealth without working, whilst the workers have to be content with at the best a bare living, and at the worst starvation.

But, although a bit mixed, Mr Vaile supplies the true solution of the problem, though he applies it curiously enough to the effect, and not to the cause, and thereby: renders it of none effect. He says " what, then, is the remedy ?' Distribution of population. Land is the source of all wealth. Land without population has no value. Therefore if we equalise the distribution of population, we must to a large.extent equalise the distribution of wealth ;" and all this, he says, can only be effected by " abolishing the mileage system of charges, and substituting a stag© Bystem wit*h uniform charges, irrespective of distance."

This statement represents a confusion of ideas only explicable on the ground that the writer is so preoccupied with his one idea that he is quite incapable for the time being of grasping tlie whole position in all its many bearings. It is perfectly true that land is the source of all wealth ; but if Mr Vaile'sposition is a sound one, he would have " railway transit " as the source of all wealth.

But if land be the source of all wealth, then the land laws, that is, the laws which govern everything appertaining to the acquisition and occupancy of land, also the laws which affect the privileges, and last, but not least, the responsibilities of land ownership, are clearly answerable for the proper national distribution of that wealth. If all land legislation is in favour of protecting and increasing the privileges of landowners ; if as in this country the national revenue is drawn from the pockets of the workers by the means of customs duties, and the land which is the source of all wealth remains untaxed ; if, as must under such circumstances necessarily happen, the land-owner becomes master of the position, and adds field tofield and land to land, then it follows, as the light the day that he must become richer and richer, as he is virtually exempt from taxation, although holding that from which all wealth is derived, whilst the unfortunate worker becomes poorer and poorer. Take New Zealand at the present moment: Our rulers are at their wit's ends how to raise the wind in order to pay our honest liabilities and carry on the general expenditure of the country. The ordinary revenue is insufficient, and the fiat has gone forth, no more borrowing; so the unpleasant fact remains that if we are to meet our liabilities fairly and squarely, and no hocuspocus with deficiency bilk, etc., then it stands to reason there must be extra taxation. Oh, yes ! that is plain enough, but ■where is it to came from ? The Chambers of Commerce throughout the colony took up the question, and unanimously decided that extra duties must be imposed on tea and sugar. Mr Ewington, writing to the newspapers the other day, said there was no help for it, we must make up the deficiency by taxing tea and sugar. That is, those who hold that which is the source of all wealth, the land, are again to escape, and the unfortunate worker struggling with hard times, reduced wages, and scarcity of employment is to be bled again in order that the others may escape. But to return to Mr Vaile, what effect would cbatap railway fares have upon the social position ? It would simply enrich the landowners, and the general community would be no better off than they are now.

Let the great fact be nationally acknowledged that land is the wurce of all wealth, and that consequently the land should bear the principal portion of the harden of taxation, then It would be found no longer desirable to hold land for speculative purposes, the occupier and producer would alone be in a position to meet the responsibilities attending land ownership, he would reap the full benefit of his labour, and then, and not before, would cheap railway transit be a national blessing, for all would benefit by it, and not.a privileged few.—l am, eta, LakdTax.