THE ELECTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIII, Issue 142, 18 July 1887, Page 3

THE ELECTION.

— _,»,...- ' ' . ■ ; '■:?. ;TO,THE EDITOR. ;..,T:^ f ! 'SiS?,— The 'tivhl Parliamentary ' candidates — Messrs Dodeoa and Henderson — 1] are.nb^ on the eve of aaclressingSiisi.electors. Bat let ns not be cajoled nor ham- ; bugged by hollow platitude 9or generalisa,tions of going infor economy, .eto.'wefcc. Let us have clew specialities../ And .for men who ask us to send them to make our laws and rule us, they should each be ,jJre- ; pared with, and proaouuee a definite pro : : gramme, fop aa (the eleotors) to tafce^into consideration and vote for what is p^ferable. ..,-•■ .-V-:-' The colony is m a mosb snrioua and critical -.state. A frightful deficiency m revenue, theateaing to become, worse, To 1 avert ruinous disaster, thoroughly resolute retrenchment must be resorted to. And what increased revenue has to be raised, must be raised on the most equitable, prinoiples. The two candidates Bhould give no equivocal or uncertain sound on, among others, the following points of retrenchment :— 1. Their own pay and emoluments. This Bmall province of Marlborougb, has to pay every year LIOOO to the men it sends to Parliament for two or three months. This year the amount will be doubled to quite L2OOO. Each member pays himself (for the members vote their own pay) L2lO, with free railway passes, free passages and pleasnre excursions, that together quite average L 250. Wei 1 , Rlarlborough has four ot these expensive gentlemen — two m the Hov e of Representatives and two m the Council. Now, could they not do very well with the half of this pay when the colony is so depressed ? Again, could not far fewer members than 95 be . sufficient ? With larger electorates) Pictou and Havelock could, come naturally and kindly ia with Wai- ; ran, instead of being yoked to a strange > district with which they have nothing m j common m either sympathy or, iufcwesl*^ 2. There are tba.G-overnor'a salary- and< allowances. Two or three thousand pounds could be taken off, and still leave them vet y handsome . Of oourse this reduction could hofc be taken off during the present Governor's present term of office, but it would apply to the next. : 3. Amalgamation of offices and abolishment of useless ones. There are far too many paid officers connected with oar Volunteer, Militia, and defence forces; and there is also a lot of drones still m the Civil Service. Scab being extirpated, does the Colony need the host of Sheep Inspectors longer ? 4. Also, should not the L60.0C0 o* L 70.000 concession made to the Canterbury ring, be brought back to the railway revenue of the Colony ? The foregoing are only some of the points the candidates should declare upon. The electors will doubtless call for others. As respects inceasing the revenue : — 1. A Land Tax— and that a graduated one, should m fairness be imposed. A )enny or two pence an acre would be very little and almost nnfelfc by those who have grabbed up enormous estates for mere nominal money. But those large monopolists will resist all they can ; and cry out to raise revenue on sugar and tea and other necessaries of life. A penny, Bay they, on the pound weight of sugar which is so cheap, and sixpence on tea, would not make either dear, and would yield much revenue. But sugar and tea are especially the working man's necessaries of life, and oomfort to all our population ; and the tax would be infamous for severity. A penny on the pound of sugar would be a tax of 35 per cent ; and as most laboring men's families get through a pound of sugar a day, that would.be 7d a week or 30s a year. Now, as a working man's family sugar would come to about L 4 10a a year, whioh Bum would be leas than the landholders would sell two acres of their land for, tlie rate of taxation paid by the working man on his sugar would be at the rate of fifteen shillings an acre, instead of. the twopence or even threepence an acre which a land tax would impose on the estateholder, 2. Another equitable source of revenue should be raised by a duty of sixpence per gallon on the ale and porter brewed m the colony. It is fudge to hold forth, as the brewera would do, that this would be taxing the working man's Leverage. Nothing of the sort. The working man had his Bmall glftsß of beer for threepence and pint at sixpence, when barley was at double, and hops at more than double the present prices, and yet the consumer payß his threepence and sixpence still. The fact ia that the hogshead of beer iB retailed out at about £15 to the drinkers ; and it does not coßt the brewer more than one-Bixth part of that sum. So he can very well afford to pay the sixpence a gallon of duty and let the publican have it at a low price still. I There are several proper sources of revenue, which will doubtless occur to the electors, and which the candidates shoald be outspoken and distinct upon. But 1 must not lengthen this letter too muoh by referring to them jast now. As the contest proceeds I may ask the favor of space for further remarks.— I am, etc, An Electob. Note,— There is a third candidate now m the field, but this letter applies to all.