The Star. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1880.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume I, Issue 55, 20 October 1880, Page 2

The Star. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1880.

sin *.. aQK2?Qi\ ANU NAXTYE TAXATION.

It certainly seems strange that Sir A. Gordon's advent should, have been preceded by rumors of his strong leaning towards the native races and antipathy to the white settlers under him. Fortunately for his reputation perhaps, about eighteen months ago, he was allowed a full opportunity of explaining before the Royal Colonial Institute the system of native taxation which he had introduced experimentally in Fiji. The remarkably able paper which Sir A. Gordon brought before that meeting, is the best proof that the author of the experiment in native taxation in Fiji has shown not only a singularly clear conception of what was required, but also a distinct desire to deal equitably and fairly with both the races under his control. We have prepared a careful summary of the main features of what he attempted to do in Fiji, and our readers will be able to judge for themselves whether the scheme propounded does not clearly indicate .the possession and exercise of a just and impartial spirit by our new Governor.

Great Britain assumed sovereignty over Fiji in October, 1874. There were at that time 1500 whites and about 150,000 natives. In June, 1875, Sir A. Gordon first reached the islands, of which there are about 80 inhabited. A terrible pestilence had recently swept .away a third of the native population ; the white people were impoverished ; the natives uneasy and distrustful, and the position still further complicated by the unlawful detention by the planters of a number of Polynesian immigrant laborers vzh.o had served their tiroo, \mi bail not been allowed an opportunity of returning to their homes. The revenue in 1875 from all sources was only £16,000; in 1878 it it had risen to £00,000 ; while the expenditure had by that time been reduced to a level with the income. "When Sir A. Gordon took charge he ascertained that the poll-tax of £1 per head on the adult males and 4s. per head on the women, which had been levied by Cakobou's Government had never produced moye than about JJBDDD in any one year. Bufc when the attempt was made by the British Government (represented at first by Sir 11. Robinson in New South Wales) to enforce the polltax, it was found that, owing to the absolute scarcity of cash in the hands of the natives, the practical result of its enforcement was to hand over the services of the entire male population of whole districts to the European planters. The tax on the women was at once remitted, and on the men only in its stead a tax of twenty days labor in the year was substituted, redeemable by certain periodical moneypayments, varying with the supposed wealth of the particular locality. There soon arose, however, a disposition on the part of the Fijians to claim the right of discharging the tax, by three weeks actual labor, instead of making the alternative money payments. This presented a new difficulty, as it was quite impossible to transport the whole adult male population to where public works were going on ; or even to find a sufficiency of needful public work for them to do. Th^ poll-tax and the labor-tax both proved unsuitable, chiefly because of the difficulty of obtaining a money payment of about £1 per head per annum from a population where the ordinary wages given by a planter to an able-bodied native were in 1875 only about Is. per week, or 525. per year. Having noticed bow difficult it was for even the most industrious native to obtain a fair return in hard cash for his produce from the traders, Sir A. Gordon determined to allow a tax to be collected, which was payable to the Government in kind. Suitable seeds and tools were first distributed, and the Royal sanction was obtained, to impose a tax of a fixed money value, payable in produce, and levied not on individual natives, but on particular districts, known as native provinces. The articles which might be tendered in payment of the tax were in the first place declared to be copra (cocoa-nut fibre), cotton, candle-nuts, tobacco, and maize ; coffee was afterwards added. Tenders are called for by the Government for the purchase of all the articles of produce sent in, and to the highest tenderer is handed over all the produce as soon as it is delivered to the Government ; the taxpayers being credited with the money value received from the tenderer. So successful has this system proved, that in 1878 over .£ % 2000 worth of produce more than was required was sent in by the native taxpayers, and sold for the benefit of those contributing it. The Government in Fi]i haye > pracia/*a)&y oSerecl ho supervise the sate of articles grown by the taxpayers, and sent in kind instead of in coin, to liquidate their liabilities to the State, and have not really agreed to accept as payment any definite quantity of produce. That the natives have greatly benefited by the innovation may be gathered from the fact that in 1877 the average price for copra offered to the Government by the European traders was .£lO 10b. 6d. per ton ; the average price during the .same period given by traders to the natives being only £5. Assuming, for instance, that a village was assessed at £20, and this tax was represented in produce as, say, 300 lbs. of coffee, the present system is so arranged that if the price of coffee were to rise between the date oi assessment and the date of payment, and th Government were able to sell by tender 200 lbs. of coffee for the full amount of the tax, then the cash received for the remaining 100 lbs. of coffee would be handed back to the cultivators, tinder the old system of taxation, in 1875, barely £3500 was paid into the Treasury ; whereas in 1878, under the above scheme, nearly .£20,000 was contributed by the natives.

It is worthy of remark that when the system was first iutroducod great care

was ta&en to make use of the existing native forms of government. A council was appointed, consisting of native chiefs of districts, styled Bulis, under the presidency of the native governors (Boko Tuis) of each of the twelve provinces. These councils apportioned the tax to be paid by each district. The further apportionment within each district devolved upon the district councils, which consist of the town or village chiefs, under the presi-<3.e:ne-y o£ t\i& UVuli, or cUsfcrzet claief 5 and lasiJy, &c iztLti-tacLiial share oi produce to he contributed by each £amßy in the town or village was settled by the town chief. There was practically no difficulty about this system, because the political unit of the country is the village, not the individual, as in most European communities. The local chief of the village is practically hereditary, but is nominally appointed by the district council, and is assisted by a council of elders, a magistrate often the chiefs brother, two or three constables, a town-ciier, and a garden overseer- The natives are industrious, and many of them can read, write, and cypher ; and they were in the habit of taxing themselves for local purposes, such as the payment of native school rates, Tillage police, &c, upon a system almost identical with that introduced and enforced by Sir A. Gordon for purposes of State. It is not surprising, therefore, that the tax has been cheerfully submitted to ; native cultivations have increased in extent, and the people have acquired a juster idea of the value of their produce.

In conclusion, we can only say that, although in New Zealand the relative proportion of natives and Europeans is the reverse of that in Fiji, yet we cannot refrain from wishing that some such careful attempt had been made in this colony to induce the native race to co-operate in tlie government of the country, and to conbAhnbe a direct ta's? towards the revenue of the colony. This would surely be far better than levying heavy and injurious indirect taxation in the form of an extreme Customs duty on poisonous spirits ; by the consumption of which not only is the health of the race sacrificed, but they are also induced to squander their landed estates. If Sir A. • Gordon could devise, and secure the introduction oi, a similar scheme of native taxation in New Zealand, by which to check the wasteful prodigality of the Maoris, enlist the active sympathies of the chiefs, and enable the natives of New Zealand to contribute their fair quota to the Treasury, in accordance with Maori usage and customs, he would do more to solve the native difficulty and to conciliate the two races, than any Royal Commissioners can hope to do.