The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1868.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2212, 23 January 1868, Page 2

The Lyttelton Times. THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1868.

Tee advocates of direct taxation have not hitherto done much to recommend it to the public, or to shew how it might be applied to the relief of the burdens of the present oppressive Customs duties. The proposal to impose a direct tax upon the income and property, of the whole colony, in order that the proceeds might pass into the Colonial Treasury, has "■< met with determined opposition from every quarter. It has alarmed those whorecognise how much a' young country depends upon, its credit in the European money-market, and who know how sensitive capitalists, and above all absentee capitalists, are to any liabilities imposed upon the advances or the investments they have made. The proposal has equally alarmed those who are ! jealous of a strong Central power exercising a very stringent and allpervading control, all but unchecked, except during the few months when the General Assembly sits. "While acknowledging many of the advantages of direct taxation, in relieving, the .strain upon the Customs duties, and in calling forth a wholesome and watchful ' surveillance on the part of the general population over'the manner in which the proceeds are expended, we were constrained to express ourselves very decidedly against the proposals which were brought forward, and to urge both the grounds" of objection which we-havd named above. ; It' 46 quite possible, however/ 'that' direct taxation may be applied in a manner whjch will not be open jto the! same objections, and may yet admit of all the expected advantages. Sufficient i attention has not'been paid to'the sini-! gular manner'in which the functions of; Municipal and General Government' have been distributed in this Colony,! and to thesources whence the expenses! of the various departments have been! defrayed. SuoV'a', of these might possibly be elected. as would greatly contribute, to solve the difficulty Which is now iomewhdt'painfullyfelt. ( <' A proposal. was • made during lasti session of the General Assembly, j to take away certdin depirtinentsj from the control of the, cial Governments and place',,them! under that of the ..central authorities.! If it were decided that, the cost of all! these departments should continue to be charged out of tho Customsbr bther! general revenues, we certainly think no' proposition could be more just {'■ and it' might even prbve.tp be as seasonable': as it was. fair." But we... cannot' disguise ] the ■ fact that there , is! at- least a possibility that,* uuderi such'a scheme, great injustice miglibbe' .perpetrated. One province, district;,' or,county* might have a,much' greater! amount of, public money expended 1 upon it, and a much larger official staff maintained, than another'whose: claims and whose wants were of at ; least equal extent. ; Possibly, too, one province or district might succeed in having its police, its hospitals, and its gaols maintained entirely out of the revenues of the other provinces, and might gradually 'develop into a nest of officialism, The political necessities of a party in power might create, :

or at least perpetuate, such a state of things. We hold this matter to bo worthy of yery grajfe consideration, Por, so long bbi thji provinces of New Zealand are practically and physically disjoined, their union under one form of Government will fbe mors) nominal than '; real, and will leave the course open for ill tho varieties of log-rolling and of local influences, It is not long since Mr Stafford declared, with great and acknowledged truth, that the Provinces ot New Zealand had yet to be combined into one Colony. : |So much aro we persuaded of the truth of this state* ment, that we firmly believe the worst exhibitions of caballing for the sacrifice of the general interests of the Colony to purely local or even personal objects are yet to come j and, that the extinction of Provincial institutions, were that to be effected to-morrow, would not be the slightest check upon them. But we believe that there is a remedy, and that it is to be found in the right application of a system of direct taxes. A comparison of the rates of expenditure by the several Provinces will furnish some strong arguments in favour of the scheme we desire to see put in operation, iWe content ourselves at present with indicating the direction we hope to see it take.

; On looking over schedule Aof the Provincial expenditure of Canterbury, we find that most of the departments are such as ought to be maintained out 'of direct Provincial taxation. The exceptions are, in the first place, the political expenses, for which we should wish to see a fixed sum allowed from .the Customs duties by the General ; Government. The next great exception is Immigration, which is and still ought to be defrayed from the land fund in a certain fixed proportion. .The only other exception is, the small allowance made for volunteering puri; poses * under the head of defences. This too, we think, should be provided by the General Government. But as to ' aU r the. other departments, their eipenses ought to be met by direct taxation levied in each Province. These departments embrace -gaols, police,. charitable aid, hospitals, lunatic assylum, inspection of sheep, weights, and measures, and miscellaneous' (Provincial) expenses. iThe education department we purposely exclude from this list, because it is at present no burden on the general ; revenue, and will probably be provided for out of a special rate. The amount of relief that would thus be afforded to the General Government, or in other words secured for the reduction of the present tariff, may be fairly estimated at not less than one hundred and fifty thousand pounds.