OUR FINANCES.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 121, 13 June 1868, Page 4

OUR FINANCES.

To the Editor of the Marlborough Express. Sir, —Although I dm far from being an ultraProvinciaiiat, I am fully convinced that in the days of our colonial infancy the Provincial Governments were the bulwarks of our political freedom, and the safeguards of the public revenue ; “but this richly embossed medal has its reverse.” Provincial legislators are men "of like passions to ourselves local prejudices, the desire of gain, and the dictates of ambition will occasionally lead them into error, and cause them to forget their duty to the colony at large in their desire to serve an especial end. These reflections have been awakened in my mind b3>the doctrines promulgated by the Canterbury Times —the reputed organ of Mr. Moorhouse’s Government—and I may add Mr. Stafford’s speech at Nelson, for that gentleman appears to be running in the same track. Tho almost reckless extravagance of Canterbury has plunged her into difficulties—difficulties which I do not consider the extent of her public work* can sufficiently excuse. In ray humble opinion a Provincial Government has been for some four or five years past, rather a curse than a blessing to that province. Dazzled by a large land revenue, her Provincial Legislators voted supplies with ungrudging hands ; thousands of pounds have been lavished on Government buildings, so that each department might be—“ Right royally lodged, ” while the number of office - holders, exclusive of “pluralities,” are I believe fifty, if not more, absorbing as much in the shape of pay as ought to be sufficient for the whole Government of the Colony, under a wise economy. The Southern Provinces Almanac in 1864 published a list of the General Government officers in the Customs Department, with the salary of each attached, but the costliness of the Provincial machinery is carefully concealed. In' 1864, tho cost of collecting the Customs Revenue of Canterbury was (exclusive of extra assistance) £4,570 —a sum sufficiently large for a Colony just in its “teens.’ Some time previous to that date, I heard Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald expatiate on the costliness of Colonial Government, and the heavy taxation to which the people of New Zealand were subjected, compared with the mothercountry. According to Sir David Monro’s statistics, the colonists of New Zealand pay £3 10a. a-head per annum more than the people of Great Britain ; but he does not tell us that this excessive taxation is kept up for the purpose of paying salaries like his own—£6oo a-year - besides the honarium, £1 per day, during the session, for three months work ! And now, forsooth, we must have a Comptroller of the Revenue to help us spend it, I presume. How much is he to have as his share for turning the key of tho Colonial cash-box ?—Enough to pay half-a-dozen Schoolmasters, who arc infinitely more needed, not only by the rising generation, but by “children of a larger growth, ” or Mr. Stafford would not have had chance of telling the people that scarcely an officer was removed or dismissed, but a petition for his retention was immediately got up. We want a little more distress, a little more taxation ; and when the shoe pinches properly, we shall set about “ reforming our Government Bills.”—I am, yours, &c., Blenheim, June 11th, 1868. Ceksoritjs.