CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10650, 10 May 1895, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

Since we referred yestercheviot. day to the position and prospects of the settlers at Cheviot, wa have received from Mr R. Meredith, tho member for Ashley, two samples of wheat grown, on the esr,Bte.,by Messrs Stevenson Brothers. The first is a very excellent sample of White Tuscan, and the second a good, , but rather thinner, sample of Pearl. They are both fairly representative of a : considerable crop, about one hundred acres, grown after only one ploughing from the tussock, and ehould finally remove all doubts about the capabilities of tho soil at Cheviot. Experts who have seen the samples pronounce them to be quite equal to the great bulk of the grain threshed in Canterbury during the present season, and when it ia remembered that tho ground from,which they were taken wjs not fully prepared for the rccsotion o; the seed, this, must be regarded as an eminently satisfactory reault. The wheat, .which, jjveraged 89 bushels to. the icre,; la

the Government shed at Port Sohmeon, and will probably he shipped to Wellington, or some other northern market. The cost of harvesting and threshing has probably been a little more than would have been incurred for similar operations in older districts; but the coat of transit from Port Robinson to Wellington would be leas than the coat from Ashburton or Amberlay to Lyttelton. This is a vary important point to bear in mind when estimating the value of Cheviot as a wheatgrowing country. The estate is not so far lout of the world as some people seem to think. Produce can be carried from Port Robinson to Wellington or Lyttelton in a Jew hoars, and at a coat that doss not more than the railway charges paid by many of the farmers of Canterbury. Messrs Stevenson Brothers, whose enterprise deserves the richest reward, tava shown ns that Cheviot can grow igrain as well as sheep, and their success should encourage the Ministry in its efforts ‘to obtain more land for settlement ist thirpart of the colony.

At yesterday’s meeting of jxiiiAQKD .. the committee of the Agri'W’OOL. cultural and Pastoral Association, the following ’letter, addressed by the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce to the Chamber of Commerce, was leads—t Complaints having been made to the Chamber on several occasions by wool | merchants, wool combers and manuxacStnrers respecting the damage and loss caused by the presence of tar in Aus■tralftsian wools, I am desired to draw your special attention to the matter, with a view to steps being taken to remedy the evil complained of. The tar remains in the wool throughout the process Of combing, and therefore, reduces the .value of the wool considerably. The growers have, no doubt, good reasons for using tar, but from the fact that American, Spanish and South American wools are entirely free from the detect, it may reasonably be supposed that tar is not indispensable, and that a eubstitnta could be found which will answer the purpose equally well—whether it be marking the sheep or treatment of sores. Whatever, is used, however, should he a substance that can be entirely removed by washing. It is desirable that the attention of the growers be called to the serious- , aees of the matter, and that they be urged to avoid the use of tar altogether; or, if ithat he impracticable, to use it as sparingly las possible. lam also requested to mention that in some cases the staple of the .wool is found to have been clipped twice. .The short bits thus caused become knotty 'during combing, and besides causing extra waste, seriously detract from the value of the wool. Greater care in shearing appears to be all that is necessary to prevent this fault. I hope'that your Chamber will Ibring both these matters prominently the growers and impress .upon them the necessity—in their own interests as well as ours—of remedying the evils complained of. .During the discussion that followed upon the reading of the letter, it was pointed out that branding with tar had boon almost entirely discontinued in the public ialeyards.

So nraclx has been said tee and written of the alleged SPEETHSHXBE existence of plourc-pneu-ciTTiiß, monia. amongst the cattle on board the Perthshire ■Qrcemnulgnd station-fed bullocks consigned to the London market-—that the question naturally arises; What has all this to do with nsP The answer must bo that it affects New Zealand in many ways, both directly and indirectly. The evidence that some of the cattle Were affected by pleuro - pneumonia is, we-may taka it, incontrovertible; and this is one of the diseases named in Schedule Aof the Stock Act. Under the powers of this Act the Govemon-m-Cormcil has made regulations for the control of stock conveyed in Teasels, whether intended, or not intended, to foe introduced into the colony. Therefore, the moment any vessel conveying live stock enters New Zealand waters, her master and the stock on board come under the jurisdiction of the Chief Inspector of Stock for the colony. The Inspector has power to enter Ut any time on board any vessel, even by force; to declare the vessel an infected place; to kill one or more of the animals for the purpose of deciding whether the «tock are diseased or infected with disease, {and so on. And if the Minister is satisfied that the stock are diseased, he may nrder them to be destroyed, the presence of one. diseased animal being held to be sufficient proof that the whole herd is infected. The regulations for custody and treatment of otoek on foreign vessels while in New Zealand waters are most stringent, and heavy penalties are prescribed for any breach of their provisions.

Tie direct consequence-of possible the discovery of disease in CON3E- the Perthshire cattle is quences. that they have left without a clean bill of health from their port of final departure iu New Zealand, and will not be permitted to land alive in England. They must be slaughtered on board the ship, under veterinary supervision, and if disease should bo found to exist, the carcases, hides, &c., must be destroyed. The consequence to New Zealand may be that as the term “ New Zealand waters ” has, in this connection, the same meaning aa New Zealand land, the Privy Council may declare New Zealand to be art infected country by reason of these cattle having been in New Zealand porta, and may prohibit importations of New Zealand stock into the United Kingdom. Under the circumstances this ia scarcely likely to happen, but the President of tho Agricultural and Pastoral Association ia fully justified in taking the precaution mentioned in another part of this isauo. The strict enforcing of the regulations {■will almost certainly preclude stock being carried on foreign vessels calling at New Zealand ports, and as the big cargo steamers, such as the Perthshire, depend on this colony for much of their cargo, they will diapenso with tho livo cattle rather than with tho dead meat trade. This, together with tho inevitable declaration of Queensland, and probably the whole of Australia, to be an infected country, should hasten the stamping out of pleuropneumonia in Australia. Until this is accomplished the live cattle trade, of which so much was expected, must remain in abeyance.

The outcry Rgainst the the income new forma of income tax tax returns. returns which ha. 3 been echoed from one end of the colony to the other, can only arise from an entirely erroneous conception of the intentions of the Commissionor. In a large number of cases this officer haa been urged to furnish some guide as to the method of preparing a statement of income, and the form now condemned has bson :a use for that purpose for soma time. It ia simply Intended* to enable tradesmen and others to make up a statement of their gross income and.ezpenditure.without cali.ing.in_

the aid of an expert accountant. The information sought by the return is required by the Department to show that the income has been arrived at correctly. This information is of no interest to anyone in the Department, and is as secure there against publicity as it is in the taxpayer’s own office. The returns are dealt with by only about a dozen thoroughly trustworthy clerks who are bound by the most stringent oath of secrecy to respect the confidence they receive. There is practically not the slightest danger of any information entrusted to these officials being divulged. The experience of the Department is that a largo number of returns have, in the past, been incorrectly prepared. Some people have-not troubled to acquaint themselves with the provisions of the Act in regard to deductions, and have baen prepared to pay more than their fair share of taxation; but a larger number have interpreted every doubtful point in their own favour and brought down their taxable incomes to less than half the proper amounts. It is obvious that to allow tax-payers to continue this free and easy practice would be to place a premium upon dishonesty. It might, indeed, lead to a very serious decline in the revenue. There can be no reasonable objection to the new forms, and the suggestion that Ministers are employing the machinery of the department to harass their political opponents is simply ridiculous. Ministers have no more to do with the collection of the tax than they have with the settlement of the terms of peace between China and Japan.