THE MUZZLED OX.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 148, 23 June 1906, Page 9

THE MUZZLED OX.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — The ' lion is dead, and the dogs are quarrelling over his prey, but his fangs are' still on the thrwit of the panting ox. — (Chinese proverb.) The land tax valuers for the year have almost done their work. Another turn has been given to the screw of taxation, for the farmers, who are the real producers of this country, and it is an anxious question with the ValuerGeneral and his minions as to whether or not the farmer, like the goaded ox, may not .use the offensive weapona which he undoubtedly possesses. Advantage, aud cruel advantage, has been taken of the natural love that every jfar^mer bears*for the plot he cultivates, and' the homestead he has been accustomed' ,.fb. iCsspciation counts fot nothing!- Land values^ which are often above the b'uyer'skprice for the land, even on.- easY termsj lu.ve been put on farm department depending "on^ this^love^; of home.-ligd the' fear ot loss by moyjngxtc^ prevent the farmer / 'ob'jecting'.t^"3p» There, is.no appeal \.to law — a verdict ofj. "Valuation^ sustained," and a bill of law**costs, is ciU"'thjr'farmer gets. The only appeal left to the long-suffering, patient tiller of the 6oil is by beating his ploughshare info a sword, "to take up arms against a sea 'of troubles, and by opposing end them." Why should the farmer be compelled to pay taxes on too high a valuation, or else sell his business at what he considers a fair value for taxation? Why should the onus of proof of the value _rest on the farmer, instead of the Valuer-General? Why should an unjust burden of taxation be laid on the men who ' by the sweat 'of their brows' produce the food we eat, the meat and wool we export, and whose pluck, energy, and endurance in battling with stern nature in the trackless backblocks made New Zealand what she is to-day? When the farmer realises these things —when his. almost inexhaustible stock of patience is exhausted, and in his anger he takes up arms against those who think he will go to the slaughterhouse like his meek-eyed oxen — there will be some effectual work 'on the "other side, and perhabs the -cabbage-trees in front of the big building may bear fruit. — I am, etc., AGRICOLA.