Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1879. THE FINANCIAL PROPOSALS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5544, 22 November 1879, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1879. THE FINANCIAL PROPOSALS.

Continuing, our renifarits' upon the financial statement of Majdr Atkinson, we find tlmt the next^lJbsalis to abolish light dues ou coasting vessels. This, it may be expected, will put £16,000 a year into the pockets of the owners of these vessels. The proportion saved will fee So infinite'simally small when compared with the total freightage that it is all but impossible that tho merchant, shipper, or producer can reap any advautagc from the change. Where vessels arc chartered as a whole there may be some reduction, but this is all, English ships are to ipay the high light dii6s previously charged. Major Atkinson appeals 'to regard the English shipowner & s the enemy of the eolou/, whb should Tjo differently treated to the local shipowner. There will also bo this anomaly— -that the shares in olio of our largest shipping companies arenearly all held in- the colony, but their ships will be taxed because they; cross the, ocean, but if tko same shareholders had invested in a company trading from port to port in the colony they' would "pocket tho remitted duos. Jt would be Well if we could see our way clear to remitting all light dues, but it is very one-sided and unfair to remit them in one case and not in the other. Next it is proposed to increase the succession duties. In this we heartily go with the Colonial Treasurer. Our stamp-duties are • already •so bigh and so universal that any increase in the ordinary duties on business documents 'must result in checking business enterprise, but this argument does not apply in the case of succession duties. There is also this further advantage— that the tax is*orie which especially reaches unearned wealth as distinguished from earned, while as the accumulation of * wealth' proceeds the^ duties will enormously increase. Somebody must earn the money it is true, but a succession duty leaves the earner to enjoy the whole o£ his Wealth during his life-time. It is only* at his death, when somebody who has not earned the money inherits it, that the State steps in and claims a share. The putting of the Consolidated Stock Act in operation is another pf Major Atkinson's panaceas. As very few understand the real meaning of this, we may explain that when our first colonial loans Were floated itw&s proposed to pay them off by a fixed date by the annual settingapart o3E a certain proportion of the total as a sinking-fund. It was then thought that the loan would bring a better price on the English market with a sinking-fund attached. Subsequently loans without any provision for redemption were issued, and experience has shown that this second class of loans is more appreciated by the English capitalist than the first. A commercial man can easily understand why this should be. Anyone buying redeemable stock might any day have his number drawn, and he would then have to relinquish the bonds for £100 each. In buying ho would consider this chance, and would not give much above the £100. The colony can of course redeem any of its stock at any time, . but in the one case £100 per cent, neither; mdro nor less,would be paid, while in the second it would havo to bo purchased in the open market, at the current price. The provision of a sinking fund would prevent the stock ever falling to a 'very low level, unless the colony were literally bankrupt, but it would act in the other direction also, by preventing a very high premuini'being paid. Circumstances havo shown that our stock receives no added value from the provision of a sinking fund, but rather the reverse, and there cannot be any great objection to converting the "redeemable" into consolidated stock. If we could float new loans at £102 or £103 per cent, and redeem old loans at a higher rate of interest by paying £100 per cent., we should gain by the conversion, but on the other hand we should require to borrow more largely, andthismighthaveaveryprejudicial effect when floating future loans. There is something to be said on both sides, but as Parliament has by a special Act affirmed its desire that tho redeemable stock should bo converted, Major Atkinson's proposition must be considered the best. It is somewhat surprising that the Grey Government so long neglected to put the Act into operation. They may have possessed special information which made them believe that it would be unwise to do so, but we have no evidence of this. At all events the revenue would be relieved to the extent of £200,000 a year by the change, and if we do not suffer any counterbalancing disadvantages Major Atkinson's proposal is a wise one. It is noticeable, however, that the Colonial Treasurer does not apparently take this saving into account in making up his totals. He may have reckoned it and reduced the estimated expenditure by that amount, but there is no indication of such a course having been adopted. The consolidation can hardly be effected in a year, but this cannot be the reason of the omission, for Major Atkinson says that he will ask the House to make other provision until the transfer can be effected. There is a similar omission with regard to the subsidies [payable to local bodies. We are told that they must be abolished, but the saving yS the revenue does not appear to be reckoned in the totals. True, the subsidies are not to go this year, but Major Atkr-nson's calculations as to the necessity, for increased revenue do not apply altogether to the current year, as he proposes to meet the" deficiency by borrowing money. His calculations are naturally made for the time when all the changes he proposes are in full operation, but he gives no sign of having reckoned either the £200,000 saved by abolishing the sinking fund, nor the £275,000 now

paid to local bodies. Of course ttotiH sums may., have been reckoned in thjefj totals, btLtitfis,, strange ihat they sJKqultjf ftot ha vc^Beeii. mention^!- rtfith alt!;.thet otlicr items in the sumtifaly^if s^ymgil' and new .taxes appended to^f |sitate^|nt^

A gi^tc>it6in;df 'ihtcn^^wMcK ' w|| are afraid is aSs'true-frs unwelcome, reaches"" us. It is that scab ha* made its nppearance in this province. Pending inquiry by oui\.energetic Inspec^i%.,wiio, w w.ill, ,we, wqY siu ; e,~ ( b'ts : pn yiisipomt* ; fat rest, we'foMbearJ to indicate* the:lofealifsy. but it may. M .stated thafctlie Gur3e. of the , shee]>fanners lia«j.Apiie&red where least expected. --.._... In the Legislative Council yesterday, Mr Whitakcr stated that Golonel Stiratchley; will visit this colony in January next to inspect .tile harbors and resdrt uptih the best pM;|dr'tfiLeii; >defen%3; ; ! The;Cpuncil' »lsat both' in f ;i tike 1 S,uerno6n~ and' evening, 1 . »u]fc the 6nly business actually done was 1:6 pass the second reading of the Qualification of Electors Bill, and to throw out the Miners' Eights Fees Eeducli'dii Bill. %Ie Taiaroa with the San Francisco ' mails arrived at Wellington.' at 4 o'clbdk yesterday morning.- It is to be hoped the lletter portion for flawke's Bay has been forwarded overland. TheJsous.e'm CrßsS is- advertised to l^ve Wellington for ' Napier td-d&y, and will at all events bring tile heavier porton of the mail, if not the , letters also. At the next sitting of the Divorce Court at Wellington a case will be heard which will affect two well-known Napier residents. , , A dreadful occurrence is reported lVy telegram from .AupfcLarid. Wb are told that '" A"fc tno Wesleyan district meeting Kaughey-/ and Wills, oaiidi dates for the Ministry,' expired." Nothing is said of , the cause of death, but a special message to hand later leads us to believe that they were murdered by, the. telegraph wires. The Wires seek to impHdatc tM insulator's, and the insulators Mye 1 " split " on the _ • posts, which in their turn allege that the duplex instruments were accessories after tho fa'cfi None of them are yet arrested. ! _ to oiir paragraph" about the illicit still in the Tarawera bush) a corrse'jpondent »who has tasted -tlitJ whisky informs us that it is of a very fiery nature, pi'obatily'bccause it is for obvious reasons disposed of wh en. very, new> and before the fusil oil has disappeared. We hear that Detective Grace has gone up to assist tlie local constabulary in the search for the still. It is certain that ,an extensive business is done, as whisky may be had everywhere in the neighborhood^ while it is liiunvn. that very little crosses the ferry; ■' ' ' * - We are requested to. state that -the time for receiving tenders for the erection of a ; grand stand at Hastings, for tho Hawke's . Bay AgriculturalandPastoral Society expires this day, instead. of on the 29th instant as previously advertised. Plans and specifications maybe, seen on application \o Mr Dugleby. The name of the telegraph station at Horndon Junction, Canterbury, has been * changed to Dai-field -Junction. ■ . A .private telegram- informs us that Hawltc's Bay was to the front at the sale's after the Canterbury Agricultural Show, and secured several prize animals and other most valuable stock-. Mr J. N, Williams paid £800 for the champion bull Biby Knight, which a previous telegram informed us he had purchased, and he privately . made ' an_ offer . for the prize Lincolns. Mr M. E. Miller purchased the best of the Merino rams and ewes, and yesterday Mr Williams bought Mr Wall's Bidcwell, the best Clydesdale -yearling by Pride of Scotland. Hans Thompsen, who was .tried on the charge of murdering his partner, Ollandt, at Woodvile, has returned io this district, fie was seen at the Spit yesterday; A band is being formed in connection with the Napier .Volunteer Engineers. Mr Charles Lounds, late of the Napier Artillery band, has, at the request of several of the members -who have joined, 1 promised to take the position of bandmaster. ■ : • There is on v,iew in Mr Harris's shop in Hastings-street' a handsome' presentation silver cup given by Mr H. S. Tiffen, to be competed for 'at the; annual prize firing meeting of the ' Hawke's Bay branch of the New .Zealand .Hifle Association to' be held on next Boxing Day at the Government range. - We understand, that His Worship the Mayor has also promised to give a cup to be competed for on the same day. "■'■■_ "/■-.' ". ;.. " Tenders ; for the supply during next „ year of castings to the railways at Auckland,- New Plymouth, • Wanganui, Napier, and Wellington must be forwarded to the Commissioner of Railways at Wellington by noon to-day. Persons also desirous of . tendering for the supply-of coke and^ coalto the Napier railway ;must forward their tenders to the Comniissioner of Railways,, North Island, to-iday. . ; ' . ; The Mantalini Wax-works Exhibition, which arrived from the North yesterday, will be shown in the. Protestant "Hall tomorrow. The exhibition comprises several historical personages, as well. as English and Colonial .celebrities. The show has been A T ery successful in other parts of New Zealand. The proprietors announce a distribution of gifts to every visitor. r A general meeting of the members of the Hawke's Bay Licensed Victuallers' Association will be held on Monday evening next at the Critei'ion Hotel, at half-past seven o'clock. The chief business to be brought before the meeting will be to discuss the new duties on wines and spirits. Writing on the moral and mental effects produced by food, Dr. Bock, of Leipsic, says — " Beer is brutalising, wine impassions, whisky infuriates, but eventually unmans. Alcoholic drinks, combined with a flesh and fat diet, totally subjugate the moral man, unless their influence be counteracted by violent exercise. But with sedentary habits they produce those unhappy flesh, sponges which may be studied in metropolitan bachelor halls, but better yet in wealthy convents. The soul that may still linger in a fat Austrian abbot is functional to his body only as salt is to pork — in preventing imminent putrefaction." ; An exciting scene occurred at the Birmingham Horse Show during the jumping competition. After a severe contest Erin, a remarkebly bold • fencer, who had cleverly cleared -the water jump, took the fencing at the end of the ground near the luncheon pavilion, clearing the spectators, who were standing five or six deep at this spot. No one was seriously injured by this somewhat astonishing leap. The rider, a young lad, was quite unable to control his horse, which subsequently felt an inclination to repeat the performance. - It is estimated that the animal must have cleared about 37ft.