THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1868.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 124, 4 July 1868, Page 3

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1868.

“Gitr mo tli* liberty to Unorr, to utter, and to ergno ftealy according to conscience, aboro all other liberties.’ —UILTOS.

We find that the Canterbury Times nowadvocates taking from the Provinces their share of the Customs Revenue, but as a consideration for this, the Colony is to be required not only to pay its own Departments Provincially charged, but permanently to assume the whole of the Provincial Debts. As we have before urged, this would be manifestly unjust to some parts of the Colony, for the debts of Canterbury, Otago, Auckland, and Southland, are out of all proportion with those of the other Provinces. If an Income and Property tax should be imposed by the Assembly—and it really seems to be unavoidable—why not settle it, with the Stamp, Legacy, and Succession duties, on the Provinces in exchange for the one-half Customs 1 These are strictly local taxes, not collected at the Ports alone, as are the Customs. The Times argues that without a share of the Customs, the heavily-indebted Provinces cannot meet the charges on their Loans, but this is not correct, for Taxation is Taxation, whether levied by the Provinces or the Colony. It is quite practicable for each Province to levy Direct Taxation within itself. The mortgagees of property in the Canterbury Province, to whose interest, the Times is willing to sacrifice that of every other class in the Colony, would then be compelled to contribute to the Revenue. In reviewing the Victorian Land Act, the Times objects to the system of Leasing the Waste Lands, as in Victoria. It would not do for Canterbury, as it would lower the price of grain, and would not lower that of labour, while it would decrease the value of mortgages. The theory of the Times is Government by “ my uncle the pawnbroker,” who, after all, is a very sel fish and a very silly old gentleman. The

price of grain in New Zealand depends on that in Australia; the Panama Service, about which “ my uncle ” was crazy about two years ago, by giving quick communication with California and Chili, has a direct tendency to depress the price of cereals in the Colonies. If the Times would look over its own Melbourne reports, it would find such items as 10,000 bushels of Tasmanian oats sold at 55., and immediately afterwards 15,000 bushels Californian placed at 4s. This is the way to keep the market down ; paying a heavy subsidy for the benefit of the trade of your rivals, — thus lowering the price of produce in Australia, and consequently in New Zealand ; and then importing labour at the public expense for the convenience of “ my uncle’s ” bondsmen—the mortgagees ! Mr. Tancred very truly told the parties in the Canterbury Provincial Council who were clamouring for more Immigration, that it was not the price of labour, but the interest on their mortgages which distressed them. It is high time that “ my uncle ” should be made to contribute to the Revenue of the Province of Canterbury, as it appears that he pretends to the right to govern it just as he pleases. While other parts of the Colony are complaining of the New Zealand Game Act, “ my uncle” of Canterbury wishes to have rangers appointed at the public expense to enforce it. “ My Uncle” would introduce all the worst parts of the English Laud System into the Colonies; farmers crushed by heavy rents in the shape of mortgages at enormous interest, pauper labourers, and the land shut up. His organ (the Times ) says that what may suit a large colony like Victoria, with an acreage equal to England, would not suit the Province of Canterbury, with its comparatively small extent of country. It quite forgets that such Province is part of the Colony of New Zealand, If Canterbury imports labour which it cannot employ, it will either pass to other Provinces or the other Colonies. Califor nia which never spent a dollar of public money on immigration 'Cali undersell the Colonies in their own corn markets, after paying freight, insurance, &c. How is this 1 The American Land System is totally different from : the Colonial; free selection before survey ; but any one not residing on his claim forfeits it. It. is the same as on the diggings, as these clains can be sold. It is only after a considerable population has settled that the survey is made, and the owner of a claim, by paying 1-]- dollars per acre to the Federal Government, receives a grant under the hand of the President. There is no such thing in A merica as one person buying up from the Government a large extent of country. The Wakefield system in the Colonies will fjnally create a landed aristocracy, and impoverished labouring classes, as in England. The, American System creates al large number of landed proprietors with good-sized farms. No artificial immigration is required to the States, or yet to British America; yet California is as difficult to reach from Europe or the Eastern States as Australia or New Zealand. Yankees know better than to send their public funds in importing immigrants, who will come from Europe at their own expense, so long as there is an inducement for them to do so; neither do they waste their Revenues on Mail Subsidies, for the benefit of their rivals in trade. Mr. J. Cracroft Wilson last Session stated that it could be proved from returns that the landed property in the Province of Canterbury was mortgaged to the extent of £2,600,000. If to this we add the Provincial Debt of £830,000, we find that this Province has to provide interest on over three-and-a-quarter millions sterling annually, and this frightful debt is nearly all owing by East Canterbury, as of course Westland recently' separated, has none of the mortgages. This is the cause of their cry for Immigration. It is in vain that the people of Timaru remonstrate, — a drowning man will catch at straws. How can .people, whose estates are heavily encumbered, make improvements! Mr. Wilson proceeded to argue that if Direct Taxation were added to the heavy interest on the mortgages, the owners of the encumo o y # bered estates would be- driven out of the Province ! But he quite forgot that the mortgagor would be entitled to set-off the interest against his profits. The tax would be levied only on net income. It is true that it is very unpleasant to have to divulge such things, even to a Commissioner bound to secresy, but there is no avoiding it; and if ever any people in this world deserved Direct Taxation, those of Canterbury ■ do. Not only has this Province undertaken the most extravagant works, such as the Lyttelton tunnel, but it has

paid a scale of Provincial salaries higher than any other Province. Its Superintendent has until lately t'eceived £1,500 -per annum—even the Colonial Secretary has only £I,OOO. But the fact is that one of the principal objects of an Income Tax is roach the mortgagees, and parties who derive large incomes from the Colony with little or no risk. There cannot be a more legitimate tax. Property has its duties as well as its .rights. Hitherto, in New Zealand, its only duty has been to take care of itself; while the numerous class who have no anded property have no rights whatever.