The Press. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1867.

Press, Volume XI, Issue 1338, 20 February 1867, Page 2

The Press. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1867.

The General Government aro to be j congratulated on the extraordinary success of the stamp duties. The value j of stamps issued during the month of January is said to have reached £30,000, which, supposing it to continue at the same rate, would actually give a revenue for the year of £360,000. We can imagine with what enthusiastic delight a Colonial Treasurer, accustomed to frightful deficits and to painful searches after expedients for stretching the revenue to meet a burden which seemed only to grow larger under the process, must hail the unwonted appearance on the credit side of his balance sheet of so substantial and so little looked for an item. The discovery of a new and productive tax must impart something of that ecstatic enjoyment the poet attributes to an astronomer " when a new planet swims into his ken." He must feel for the moment as though the halcyon days were returning when, be the expenditure what it might, the Treasurer could look smilingly on in happy consciousness that for that year at least the Three Million Loan would make his budget secure. Of course the rate of revenue for the first month may not last through the year, as merchants, lawyers, and others who have most to do with stamps may have laid in large stocks; on the other hand we hear that the issue has not as yet begun to fall off; but making every allowance, it is plain that the Government have made a lucky hit and that their modest estimate of £50,000 for the half-year will be exceeded by at least 150 per cent. It is worth recalling, as evidence of the amount of business transacted in New Zealand, that when stamp duties were first proposed by the Weld Ministry the amount to be derived from them was estimated at £75,000 a year, on the ground that in New South Wales the yearly receipts from the same source were found to be £150,000. The Sydney Stamp Act was certainly a blundering affair, but the difference between the receipts in the two colonies is not a little remarkable.

After such a brilliant success it is not likely that the Stamp Act will ever disappear from the New Zealand statute-book. Mr. "Whitaker informed the House of Representatives that there was not an instance on record of a country which had once adopted this mode of raising revenue ever laying it aside, and New Zealand will have small reason for setting the example. Nor indeed would it be desirable to do

so. Stamps by universal consent provide a mode of taxation at once equitable, profitable, and not too burdensome on any one class. Theoretically an income tax is the best; but practically it has been found so impossible j to adjust it with precision to each' particular case, it offers such temptation to fraud, and is so expensive to: collect, that political economists have declared against it; and Mr Gladstone, in one of his great financial speeches, maintains that it should be reserved for those occasions when the resources of the country havo to be called upon, without much regard for nice adjustmenfcof details or attention to individual hardship, to meet some pressing emergency. Purther experience in the working of the Stamp Act may probably suggest some alterations in the schedules with the view of making them either less heavy or less easy to be evaded. Mr. Travers assured us the other day that the Act was defective in both these respects; that itfavored the rich at the expense of the poor, and presented too many openings for the lawyer's proverbial coach-and-six. If so, these flaws must be amended next session, and any charges which fall heavily upon a particular class, or affect injuriously any interest which it is desirable to encourage (we are glad to see that insurance policies have been declared exempt) should be lowered. But that the duties should be abandoned ia an idea which neither the Government nor the House, nor, we think, the colony at large will for a moment entertain.

As to the purpose to which the surplus funds should bft applied there can be little room for doubt. The Government always declared that they intended to use the new tax as a means of reducing the Customs, and we hope they will carry out their intentions to the fullest possible extent. Xew Zealand has hitherto depended almost entirely upon its Customs to meet its immense expenditure beyond that chargeable on the Three Million Loan, which is now exhausted, and though they have been raised to such a pitch as to be a direct incentive to smuggling, they are found

insufficient. The present tariff is a disgrace to the country, and its steady reduction, as the exchequer will permit, should he an object constantly kept in view by the Government. No doubt a diminution of the Customs revenue, with the consequent diminution of the three-eighths,' will be unwelcome to the provinces, especially to those iv the North which depend upon their share of the three-eighths for much of even their ordinary expenditure; but the welfare of the colony as a whole must be considered before the convenience of its several parts. Or may it not be asked whether a province that cannot meet its ordinary expenditure, or carry on the work of developing its own internal resources, unless largely assisted from the common purse of the colony, can be considered any longer capable of fuiailing the special objects for which alone provincial institutions j were granted ?

Electobal. — Mr Reeves will meet the electors of the Avon district this evening at Meddings's hotel, Papanui.

The Band.—The Regimental Band will play this evening in Latimer square, at halfpast six p.m.

Sequkstbatobinßankeuptcy.—Yesterday, in chambers, his Honor Mr Justice Gresson appointed Mr Frederic H. Melville Walker as sequestrator, in the room of Mr H. F. Seager, resigned. Pube_TOLOGY. —Mr. Hamilton will give his second lecture on phrenology this evening in the Town Hall. We hear that several celebrities have consented to hare their bumps fe't on this occasion. West Coast Tbaevic—The following is the return of cattle and sheep driven past the Rangiriri station on their way to Hokitika during the week ended tho 13th February, 1867 :- Cattle, 79 ; sheep, 920. Proceedings of the Pbovincial CorivcrL. —We have received from the Provincial Government a copy of the journal of proceedings of the Provincial Council during its twentyfourth and twenty-fifth sessions in the year 1865. Feeeuold Land Society.—A meeting of this society was held last evening at the Foresters' Hall. The meeting was called for the revision of the rules and other business of a routine character. Mv Cutler occupied the chair. Some radical alterations were made in the rules, and the meeting then adjourned until the usual day.

Human Remains.- — The remains lately found on a in the Rakaia river have been carefully preserved, and were brought to town last evening for identification. The inquest will probably be held on Friday next. With the remains were found a pair of patent leather gaiters and a clasp-knife, which can be seen at the Hospital.

Gazette. — A Provincial Government Gazette was issued yesterday. It contains a list of petitions of persons applying for relief under the Debtors and Creditors Acts in the West-land district; the monthly list of arrivals and departures in the port of Lyttelton from the Ist to the 31st of January, 18G7 ; and the returns of the Chief Inspector of Sheep for the month of January.

Heb Majesty's Customs. —We are pleased to hear that the General Government have granted a gratuity to Mr Robert LaNauze, chief clerk in her Majesty's Customs, Lyttelton, in acknowledgment of his valuable services during the temporary absence of the Collector, in consequence of the death of Mr Logic, late Collector at Dunedin. We feel sure that the opinion thus expressed by the Government will be most cordially endorsed by all transacting Customs business in Port.

Theatre Royal.—Tho performance last evening nfc the theatre was for the joint benefit of Missy Cussy Matthews and Miss Nye. The house was crowded from top to bottom, and the different performers consequently played with an iucreased interest. The " Tieket-of-Leave Man " was the first piece. Every one who is in the habit of going to the theatre knows the plot of this piece, and will have frequently seen it performed. The manner in which it was produced last evening was highly creditable to the management, and the piece met, as it deserved, with great success. The burlesque, " Ye Lady of Lyons," was the afterpiece, and was as enthusiastically received as on its first production. In the interval Miss Nye danced, and was encored. We regret that the very late hour at which the performance terminated precludes us from giving a longer notice. Tonight " Masks and Faces " and " Ye Lady of Lyons " will be played.

Db. Haast's Lkctttse at the Town Hall. —Dr. Haast having mentioned that in the present lecture he should merely go into the rudiments of the science of geology, proceeded to explain tho meaning of such terms as oxygen, nitrogen, &c, and at the same time informed his listeners that although such terms might seem to them useless, such was not the case, and that he hoped they would take care to understand that a thorough knowledge of the groundwork was necessary to attain to any proficiency in the science. Ho hoped that if not able to make scientific geologists of them, he should at all event make them lovers of the great book of nature, which was open to all although understood by so few. He then showed how nearly chemistry and geology were related to each other ; that without the help of chemistry igneous could not be distinguished from other rocks,or the bones of extinct from those of other animals. Dr Haast then proceeded to explain the theories of La Place, Hcrschel, and others, and by the assistance of very clever diagrams showed the form of tho earth, the supposed original form, and thickness of the crust, &c. He then explained how tho exact present shape of the earth had been ascertained by actual measurement, and that the chief credit was due to the French in undertaking various expeditions. After having given the various relative weights from cork to the densest metal, and explained the formation of the common rocks, such as granite, mica, and .late, he proceeded to the formation of sedimentary rocks and as to the way in which they were changed by heat, and informed his hearers that the characteristics of stratified rocks would form the subject of his next lecture, which would take place on Friday, tho 22nd instant, at half-past seven o'clock.

Driving of Cattle.—The following petition, praying that the bye-law relative to the driving of cattle through the streets may be modified, was presented to the chairman of the City Council on Monday evening by Messrs. Alport and Ollivier. About 130 signatures are attached to it:—" The undersigned ratepayers, farmers, owners of stock, and others in tiie vicinity of Christchurch, respectfully request the City Council to reconsider the bye-lawa recently passed relating to the driving of c-r.ttle within the city between the hours of nine am. and five p.m. We desire to icr-.esont to you that the hours therein named are for the public convenience both too early and too late. Wo believe that had the hours of eleven (11) a.m. been named instead of nine (9), aud three (?.) p.m. instead of five (5), the alteration would have given general satisfaction. The time no.v fixed by the bye-laws will practically result in the exclusion "of cattle from Christchurch, and has been productive of serious inconvenience to persons who de.ire to test the value of stock in the ci*y market. These esriv and late hours have already been the cause of intoxication amongst farm servants in charge of .lock which have not been sold, and will be also injurious to the purchaser, as both -arc phhgf-d to remain for eight hours at least in Chr'ri.'churcb, with no other place

of call but tho tavern. We sug aest that an alteration such as the above would soon accustom persons bringing stoifc. into the market to earlier hours of *>™ ne '*> and would be the forerunner to a furt-U change if found necessary."