TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17317, 1 December 1921, Page 10

TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT.

* <' TO'.THX ZDIXOK Of* "THJi PBESB.'' ''■ 6ir,-—Thisfair Dominion is- groaning ' v under 'heavy load of taxation. .Wo . ' differ xin regard- .to many subjects, - theological. -political, and economic. There is singular unanimity in regard " to the jnatter of the burden' of taxation. • tThe: l)dminiob suffers' from excessive > -<- government,, and' this entails much un* nebesaiy' expenditure.' Twenty mem- " bers for the Lower House,' and ten far v the -Upper, with salaries not exceed- , ing £&0 per annum, would suffice for ♦ ' the effective government of New Zea- " 1 land. c Candidates fora s6at in Parliament 'should not be permitted to * ) rftV-k votes by, promises to obtain some , material and ccatly advantage for the. t particular constituency! which they de- ■: J aire-to represent. > • Tnis is a form of • mrrnptibn and bribery. 1 have read ; that Philip, King of Mace- ■ : d6ny was wont to boiet that he could tifkeany city into which he could drive afyasTladen with gold. -In-this country tbpre are a few.- asses laden with t * A gold. Here will .be always—so an : ■■ i adute observer remarks —lichmen ready v io corrupt, and -other men, rich as well m poor, ready to be corrupted, for "the' love of money is the root of all , evil;". 80 speaks, a wise ancient writer "whose letters might still be read and studied with profit by. all intelligent people, and whose writings have been ■ written for. our learning, and may be ' ' 1 advantageously redd, .marked, and in- ] wsirdly "digested, democracy his no i more insidious foe than the m6ney- £ power, to . which it may say as Dante 4 said when be reached in nis journey 2, through Hell are dwelling of the god <Vo£ riches: "Quivi trovammo Pluto EI * Grin. Nemioo." Here'we found wealth 5 {he "great enemy.—Yours, etc., J. M.A. (Oxon.) . v St. Albans, November 29th.