THE Evening Star. TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1866.

Evening Star, Volume III, Issue 853, 30 January 1866, Page 2

THE Evening Star. TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, 1866.

The much-abused Town Board has long since been numbered amongst the things that were,.and in its place we have a. Mayor and Corporation to look after the highways and byways of the City of Dunedin. By virtue of the powers vested in them as a body corporate, we observe they have been carrying with a high hand the collection of rates for the year 1866, Now,..it occurs to us, that while the filling of the City Treasury is a very laudable object, yet a little more consideration should be given to the , circumstances of those upon whom rates are levied. It should be remembered that many of the citizens, while perfectly # willing to pay their rates, may find it exceedingly inconvenient to pay the whole sum at once ; and us the expenditure of the *money so raised is to be spread over a whole year, it seems oppressive, to demand that the entire money should bp paid in the first month of the year. There may be special circura'stances which have induced the Mayorand Council to adopt the extreme course of collecting the rates nearly twelve months in advance, but if this is the case, we think it was due to the ratepayers, many of whom will have ; great difficulty in making up the amount for which they are rated, that they should be told what these special circumstances are. The rate now levied. Is. 4d. in the £, is a very heavy one, and in these dull times .presses hardly up m ah already overtaxed community. The collection of the rates should, therefore, be prudently conducted, and with some regard to the position and circumstances of those rated. We thmk that, under any circumstances, it ■would have been wiser to have collected the rates for the first six Months of the twelve, and when that period had expired to collect the balance. This would have given the ratepayers a little breath-ing-time, and would not, in our opinion, have retarded the progress of works already in the course of formation. In other ways the collecting of the rates by half yearly instalments would be an advantage. Thus, for instance, a person: may have had a lease for, say two or three years,.-and expiring in the month of February of the present year., It is not his intention to renew the lease, and yet he has to pay ten months’ rates in advance, he is politely told he can re*

cover from his landlord, or arrange, if he can, with the incoming tenant. By this means a great hardship is inflicted upon the individual ratepayer, and the Corporation, although not benefiting by it, yet, by the mode in which it collects .its rates, lends its powerful influence ...to the perpetration of a manifest injustice. We imagined that when the ,'city of Dunedin- had the power of - selfgovernment given to it, the-body elected to carry on that government would have had higher objects in view, than that of becoming mere tax-collecting machines. This does not, however, appear to be the case, and the ingenuity which the Mayor or Council have displayed in finding out the means of making the citizens pay the rates, is .sufficient to qualify them, if not for councillors, at least for excellent' bailiffs. Not content with the ordinary process of law by summons, hearing, and judgment, by tbe proper authority, the Council acting on the somewhat obscure wording of the 30th Clause of the Otago Municipal Corporation Empowering Act, 1865, have absolutely placed themselves above the law, and put bailiffs in possession of various premises in order to obtain payment of the rates due thereon. This, we understand, has already been done in one or two instances, under the very doubtful authority contained in the following words of the 30ih ( lause :—“ The collector of rates by “ virtue of the warrant of his ap- ‘ pointrnent to office may satisfy such “ rates by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the person so lia do together with such charges ‘‘ as are specified in Schedule C. “ hereto.” Now the words *• by virtue of the warrant of his appointment, : ’ can mean no more than that the person holding the office may act as a bailiff and unite with it the office of collector, in order that the monies recovered may be paid direct into the Treasury of the Corporation. What we would like to know is the meaning of the word “ distress” as interpreted by the Council. 'Who would sign and issue the warrant of “ distress,” and upon what showing would it be executed It could not, be, in a case tried in a legally-con-stituted court, seeing that, that formality has been dispensed with by the .Corporation of Dunedin. The case not having been tried, and no legal warrant issued, we think that it would be no great stretch of authority if on the attempt of any person to take possession he was treated as a person having no right on the premises, and ejected sat.s cerenumie. Both the 28th and 23rd clauses clearly show that it was never intended to dispense with the usual legal forms attending the recovery of a debt. The Corporation of the City of Dunedin stands in no higher position than that of being a public creditor instead of a private one ; an t must pursue the same course for the recovery of a debt as that which devolves upon fhe latter. It must prove that tbe rate was legally imposed,, and that the defendant is the person entitled to pay before it can recover. All this it proposes to dispense with, and under the cover of the words w*e have cited, set at. defiance the common law of the colony. This can never be done by the use of incidental expressions such as “ by virtue of the warrant of his appointment.” The whole Act. coupled with the ordinance passed by the Provincial Council, must be read sui and we say, if this is done, it will be seen that the rates can orly be recovered by means of a summons, and judgment obtained in the proper Court. We hope, that if any attempt is made by the Corporation to recover rates in the manner we have mentioned, that it w r ill be resisted, and if necessary, carried into a Jiigej aurt. It is a mpn-

strons doctrine to carry into effect, that any citizen should be compelled to pay money without first obtaining a hearing of his ease, and. if necessary, appealing against what he may consider an.unjust verdict. This is practically what the Corporation of Dunedin have done There has been no trial, ho chance of appeal, excepting a brief oiie, notified in such a manner as to.Jead to only one conclusion', that the Cdrperatlonidid ndl wish the ratepayers to become aware of it. In the meantime the unfortunate property-holder, who -had rates to { ay, has been ordered to do so on pain of having his property sold over his head. We hope to see so unsatisfactory a state of things remedied at once ; and trust that we shall not have again to refer to the continuance of what is neither more nor less than positive tyranny.

Lady Don’s debut before a Dunedin audience was in every sense of the word a success, and the. Princess Theatre last evening was completely filled. “The Child of the Regiment ” has been so often played here before that any description of the plot, which closely follows the opera upon which the Comedy is founded, is quite unnecessary. Throughout the piece her enthusiasm-.-and energy were never allowed to flag, and she upheld the interest of the - piece from first to last, her admirable bye-play being particulary noticeable, whilst nothing was overdone, a fault very likely in such a part to happen. Lady Don sang the incidental music with grace, delicacy and finish, her most perfect performance being that of the air, ‘ ‘ Ask me not why, ” which together with the introduced song of “ Ever of thee',” was rapturously re-demanded. In the latter the artiste exhibited all that intensity of feeling which the music demands, and called forth quite a shower of applause. In appearance Lady Don is tall, and every movement she makes is exceedingly graceful ; indeed, if any fault could be found, it would refer to an absence of that boisterous self-will which would be looked for as an appropriate characteristic of a young girl whose life had been spent in the society of soldiers of the First Empire. We must add that the first piece last night was not, we think, one which will be considered by visitors to the theatre as affording Lady Don the fullest scope for her acknowledged talent as an actress. Burlesque will be found to possess in her a true disciple, and we lode to the production of “Orpheus and Eurydice” on Wednesday night for a thorough confirmation of our opinion. Indeed her performance of Milly, in the after-pisce of “The Maid with the Milking Pail,” gave the fullest evidence we could require that it will be in those characters requiring eccentricities in dialect or acting that Lady Don will be mosb snccessf til here. She sang the ballad named after the comedy with great archness, and the song of “My Johnny was a shoemaker,” was encored by the admirers of that extraordinary description of song. To-night the same programme will be repeated, and to-morrow the Burlesque we have mentioned will be produced. All the other characters in both pieces played well, and more than ordinary attention seemed to be paid to costume and stage appointments. It would be unfair to omit mention of the two babies, one in the dress circle, and one in the stalls. The little cherubs maintained comparative quietude, until Lady Don commenced a song, when of course, they “joined inf much to the delight of many who hold the absurd opinion that a squalling baby, which would be much better at home asleep in its cradle, should not be permitted to jammy a thousand people who visit a theatre for amusement, and not worry. We hope that the manager will see it to his advantage to follow the example of the Garrick Club in Melbourne, and in future charge “one guinea for children to any part of the house.” Very few would then patronise the drama. Mr and Mrs George Case present a

most attractive programme this evening, and we anticipate that St George’s Hall will be well filled. Miss Grace Egerton (Mrs George Case) will perform several fresh characters, and when we mention the scene between Sairey Gamp and Mrs Prig, great amusement may be relied upon. We have heard that Mrs Case imitates the “ great English tenor,” Sims Reeves, to the life, and that her mimicry

of his fantastical peculiarities—and he lias many —is great. The instrumental portion of the entertainment comprises the Carnival de Venise (violin), and several 'solos and fantasias upon the concertina by Mr George Case. This gentleman is a skilful executant upon both instruments, and plays the violin solo with a degree of brilliancy and finish which is : descrying of the unanimous encore which is always accorded it. A comic sketch, entitled “Married and Single or Double Dummy,” concludes a varied evening’s entertainment, and we have only to say in its favor that Edmund Yates is the author. We observe that the share list of the Skippers Quartz Mining Company, Scandinavian Reef, closes on the Ist proximo. The number of new accounts opened last night at the Savings Dank was 7. The deposits and withdrawals amounted .respectively to L 232 13s andLlSI Is lOd. We learn by a message from our shipping reporter, that the Warrior Queen, which sailed from London on the 2nd of November, is at the heads. She has, we believe, a number of assisted emigrants on board.