Evening Post. THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1879. WANTED—A POLITICAL CRY.

Evening Post, Volume XVII, Issue 505, 9 May 1879, Page 2

Evening Post. THURSDAY, MAY 8, 1879. WANTED— A POLITICAL CRY.

Evsry politician recognises the value of a good cryf wherewith to catch the ears of the multitude. The present premier of England very aptly? and in a most amusing manner, brings this in one of hia novels',' wMerein certain; jpolitical agentß, anxious for, a form of words #hich shall appeal to men's feelings, while being of a strictly non-committal character, adopt as a cry the phrase, ''Our young Queen and our old institutions." Yesterday we -pointed out the necessity tinier which the party at present in power If .bora to devise some form of profession on which it could appeaL from" the adverse voice of the Legislature to the people. The professions of faith on! which Sir Gbokchs Gkb7 attained power, and which he has repeated on all possible occasions since, have been so very general, and covered soinncli ground, that nothing new in the shape of a cry is likely to be evolved. Indeed, it will be wiser for the Government to endeavor to reduce some of these vague general professions to concrete and practical form, rather than to attempt a novelty.* Whatever the point chosen on which to appeal to the country may be, it must in the first place be subjected to discussion ia the present House. Something more than a mere skeleton form of words must therefore be prepared, and 'on details, as well as on general principles, Ministers must be ready to abide criticism and the judgment in appeal of the ultimate tribunal of thejalectpraties.' Unless we greatly misreaathe signs of the times, the particular point on -which all is to be staked has already been dstermined on, and it is the incidence of taxation. An immense amount of frothy declamation has already been devoted to tids subject, but the attempts to apply a practical remedy to the evils admittedly ia existence in regard to it have been of the feeblest. We had the half-hearted revision of the tariff last session, that miserable " free breakfast table" farce, ' and the equally half-hearted Land Tax. The latteV was, however, very generally accepted as merely an instalment of justice, an indication of better things to come — or, in popular parlance, the introduction of the thin end of the wedge. The Ministry, next session, probably ■will appeal to the people to enable them to drive this wedge farther home, so as to produce an appreciable rift in the log of land monopoly. The one great objection to the Land 'lax ha 9 been its want of thoroughness. It was not sufficiently productive to justify its introduction as a mere revenue producing tax, and it was not graduated in a manner calculated to equalise the incidence of taxation to any appreciable extent, or to interfere with the great evil of land monopoly. If we are right in our conjectures, however, the Government next session will propose to make the Land Tax a very different measure in its effects and, in its results from what it now is. They will probably propose to make it a tax which will be felt as a burthen by those who own large estates, and one which such owners will not be able to afford to pay, while the estates will be idle and unimproved. If the Government in good earnest bring down a proposal to amend the Land Tax in this direction they will command our heartiest sympathy, and however the House may deal with them- they may rely on the BUpport of the country. If they add to the Land Tax a tax which will .compel other forms of wealth to bear a due share of the burthens of the country so much the better. The present House of Representatives ia scarcely likely to accept such measure*, and : the present : Legislative Council would certainly bar the passing of them, if the

Lower House should prove peaceable. If the measures were however clear, definite, well considered, and thorough, the great body of the people would be willing to forget past disappointments, and Bupport them with fresh enthusiasm. The Ministry, no doubt, know that they may safely calculate on this, and we believe that they are calculating on" it.-' If they are united amongst themselves on such a policy and are thoroughly 'in earnest, they have nothing to fear, but they had- better beware of any insincerity of purpose, for on this subject any attempt at trifling would prove fatal. If the next elections are to be fought on this question of taxation, there mutt be no half-heartedness ; no looking back ; no time-serving compromises. It remains to be seen whether Ministers will prove that they possess the courage of their opinions.