LAND TAX.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 8358, 17 December 1892, Page 5

LAND TAX.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sin, —Land-taxpayers by the thousand are, at the present moment hesitating between their instinct of " obedieuce to the law," and their natural aversion to the payment of an unjust, unnecessary, and oppressive tax. They would gladly unite in a determination to leave the tax unpaid if they were not, like your correspondent "A Colonial," afraid of losing their character of law-abiding Englishmen; and uncertain (until the Farmers' League takes the matter up) if this non-payment will lead to any good. s Permit mc to point out that" it has been the custom of Englishmen hitherto so strongly to refuse recognition of what is obviously evil legislation, that the bad law ha 3 been perforce repealed; and those who most strenuously opposed it at the time have been held up, both iv the histories of England and America, as models, not cf the law-breaker, but of the patriotic and law-abiding Englishman. Canterbury settlers need not fear to follow their example, provided they can see that good will come, and that their action w.ll not even temporarily interfere with the of the colony. And what is the money wanted for ? To carry out proposals which the thoughtful colonist believes will be injurious to the State; to buy lands and furnish them with roads and railways for General Booth's and othor he'er-do-weels to lease; to raise the salaries of our representatives to £20 per month; to curry favour with the thoughtless by grants and subsidies, in order to prolong an at present precarious rule. And if it ia not paid, these schemes must fail. Does anyone believe that even our high-handed rulers will dare to enforce the collection of this tax against the will of a united Canterbury? The settlers in the province have done much already for the welfare of New Zealand as a whole. Let them do one thing more— agree to leaye this tax unpaid. Its principle is unconstitutional; its objects sinful; its terms unjust; and its results will be farreaching in their harm. A firm Btand now wiil avoid much future trouble, and ensure much future good, and it will confirm the character of law-abiding Englishmen to the victorious settlers.—Yours, &c,

K. R. N.