THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1868. OUR POSITION.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 136, 19 September 1868, Page 2

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1868. OUR POSITION.

“ Givk me tne liberty to know, to utter. an<l topisud freel> according* to conscience, above all other liberties.

THE INJTSTICE TO MARLBOKOCGH, We have felt it our duty on several previous occasions to discuss and animadvert upon the shameful injustice done to this Province under the operation of the Surplus Revenues Act 1858, and again perpetuated by the Public Revenues Act ISG7, in the matter of Customs Duties, and now for the first time, we find the Ministry acknowledging the fact in the Financial Statement recently delivered. The Hon. Mr. Hall says—- “ The sum per head paid for duties of customs, which constitutes four-fifthsof thepublic revenue, amounts to £3 11s. ; of this sum no less than £2 Is. Bd. is paid on spirits, wine, beer, and tobacco, which are generally considered fair subjects for the operations of the tax-gatherer. It may be interesting to note the different proportions in which the tax on these articles is paid in different parts of the Colony, Leaving out of consideration the case of the Westland goldfields, which, of course, occupy in the matter a somewhat exceptional position, 1 find that the most generous contributor to this portion of the Colonial Revenue is the Province of Hawke’s Bay ; while the most apparently economical is that of Marlborough. In the latter case, however, I fear the character is rather assumed than real, and that a considerable proportion of its expenditure on these luxuries appears in the accounts of its Wellington neighbour The practical result of the [present] arrangement is that the Province of Otago receives a large share of the revenue really paid by the inhabitants of Southland and of •Canterbury; in the same manner, Westland lives to some extent upon Nelson, which Province again despoils Marlhorourjh. ; EiiiU thio Ei-jvlnce Is 111 tile unfortunate position of supplying revenue both to Nelson and Wellington. The extent to which this injustice operates may be estimated by the fact that, whereas the Customs duties collected in Wellington average during the past financial year £> 19s. 7d per head of the population, in Marlborough the amount so collected averages oidy £1 7s. Bd., although there is no reason to suppose that its population consumes a less amount of duty-paid goods than that of Wellington. Various proposals have been made for remedying or alleviating the unfairness of the present made of distributing the Customs Revenue, which has practically beggared Marlborough ; but no solution of the difficulty has been found which would not interfere, to an almost unbearable extent, with the ordinary commercial operations of the country.” —After this candid and truthful exposition of the case, we are naturally led to look for the remedy provided, but there is none. The “ unfair” treatment to which we have been subjected for years is not considered worthy of compensation in any form ; nor is the evil to cease, if the Ministerial proposals be accepted—and for the past there is to be no remedy, or consideration. THE MINISTERIAL PROPOSAL. At present, as is well-known to our readers, one-half of the Consolidated Revenue, (inclusive of Customs,) is paid to the Provinces. Marlborough’s share for the present year, is estimated at £4,710, but against this are charges for interest on loans—according to Mr. Hall’s statement —£1,322, and salaries of General Government officials, &c., £3,723, in all £5,045, or £335 in excess of her Income ! In other words, while the General Government gives us £4,710 with one hand, she takes from us £5,045 with the other. Thus we receive no Customs revenue at all. Until last year, this excess of expenditure thus created was charged against us as a debt, and thus the £12,000 arose, which was “ sponged off” last session, and mulcted’ from • Wellington aud ' Nelson., Under the present system;* the ’Government seize our r Land Fund;'and deduct the deficiency from it, giving us the balance when it suits their convenience. Consequently it will be seen that not only do we" receive no revenue from our Customs, etc., but our Land Fund—which should furnish the means of making our roads, and keeping them in repair—is detained to. make up the salaries of a number of General Government officials.

The Ministry propose in future to take the whole .of the Consolidated revenue of the Colony, but granting—• “ A capitation grant based upon the census and annual estimates of population to enable or assist them to maintain police and gaols ; that it should be a condition of such grants that they should be devoted to the specified services, and that accounts of the expenditure, like that of all other votes, should be furnished to the Government to be laid before the Legislature ; also that the police and gaols should be subject to inspection ami report by an officer to be approved by the Colonial Government, with a view of enabling it to satisfy this House that its votes have been usefully applied. I may state at once that the amount which the Government is enabled to propose for the current year is seven shillings per head in each case. There would remain to the Provinces the Land Fund collected within their borders, and the strictly local revenue raised under provincial enactments.”

The contribution to this Province of 7s. per head of population, will amount to £1,529, added to which will be the relief from the cost of maintaining Harbour services £266, and the loss of Land revenue, £335, making thus a gain of £2,132 on the present system to Marlborough. Nelson’s case is somewhat different; owin" partly to the receipt of a part ol Marlborough’s Customs, and partly to her own Goldfields —both somewhat temporary and adventitious sources —her share of the Consolidated revenue is £47,936, while her General Government charges are but £14,293, and Interest on loans £5,171, thus leaving her £21,471, besides retaining her Land fund intact, to maintain her Public Works. Under the new system of distribution of revenue therefore, she will be a heavy loser, because the capitation allowance will only be £8,334 —a loss to the detriment of Public Works account, of £20,453 ! Hence her opposition to the scheme. It is as compensation for this loss that the sura of £90,000 is proposed to be given to that Province as compensation. THE FOX POLICY. Now having considered the proposed scheme of the Stafford Ministry, let us turn to what we may term the policy of Mr. Fox, as presented to us in his speech introducing the motion of want of confidence in the Government, and see how it will apply to Marlborough. While concurring in the proposal that there shall be a dissolution of financial partnership between the General Government and the Provinces, Mr, Fox at once solves the difficulty which has been declared by the Ministry to be insurmountable, and proposes to give to each. Province, in lieu of its interest in the Consolidated revenue, an annual income calculated on the basis of population. This is what the several Superintendants of Marlborough, —more particularly Mr. Eyes—have again and again urged on the Ministry, bringing under its notice how this Province has suffered from the present distribution, but while admitting the fact, the answer has always been the impossibility of altering it 1 Mr. Fox’s scheme would place this ProV vince in its proper position. He proposes, as Mr. Stafford does, that the General Government shall take the whole of the Consolidated revenue, but unlike Mr. Stafford, heleavesthe Provinces individually to pay the interest and sinking-fund of their own debts ! Certainly this is more?** equitable —more statesmanlike. Then, in place of that portion of the Consolidated fund which the Provinces have hitherto received for their own Provincial expenditure, amounting last year to £292,506,' and estimated by Mr. Hall for the present year at £309,296, and of which sum Marlborough never receives one shilling—Mr. Fox proposes that each Province shall recive a capitation grant of 30s. per head. In other words, Marlborough would receive £6,556 per annum, where she now receives nothing !—and would reap the benefit of having a small debt, by being called upon to pay the interest and sinking-fund of that debt only. Placing the two proposals side by side, and remembering that in both the Land revenue is handed over to the Provinces—we find that by the Ministerial scheme, Marlborough will gain £2,132 of income, and be freed from about £1,150 ofintsrest annually, shewing a total gain of £3,282 ; while by Mr. Fox’s scheme she would, after paying her interest, and providing for her Harbour expenditure, receive an addition to her income of £5,000, which would of course increase with her population. Unless therefore Our Representatives ftan obtain a cash payment of £20,000, the scheme of Mr. Fox will suit this Province better than that of the Ministry, and indeed we prefer it, even if we could get that sum, which vve consider is doubtful The arrangement is altogether more satisfactory, more permanent, and in Mr. Fox’s words — - “ Does not tend to destroy the feeling of individual respbnsibiLy on ihe part of roviuces, or create a desire on tUe part of taose which have

borrowed little to go on borrowing wildly, merely to be on a footing of equality with the other ”

Let us trust that our Representatives will see this also, and by obtaining an annual income, almost equivalent to this year’s estimates, enable a large per-centage of the Land revenue to be guaranteed to the Road Boards of the districts in which it is raised, without interfering with the other necessary departmental expenditure.