WELLINGTON NOTES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXIX, Issue 225, 23 September 1895, Page 3

WELLINGTON NOTES.

From our Own Correspondent. Getting liiesome. Readers of these notes are probably get-" ting tired of the Tariff. The ouly: eicuso, is that if people outside the seat of Government are fatigued of the well-worn subject, Ministers, member.*, importers, journalists, and the geueral public are heartily sick of the wretched incapacity of its engineer, Tw.o or three times lately the vulgar but expressive refrain of one of Kudyard Kipling's ballads has been raised in derision of the Treasurer's") ignorance of his own proposals and their effect upon the reven'ue!"-!E don't know where 'c are" is the irreverent comment on the fifth, and .latest edition of Tariff. It was hop&l that the pitful', painful, and ludicrous exhibition the Premier and Treasurer made of themselves over the fruit and cocoanut tax and the exposure of tho advantages granted to the match factory would have^induced them, to take the advice of Ihe Customs officials, and to have brought down a reasonable set of proposals, twhich the House and the colony would have been reconciled to. Tho temper., sho>vu by their most übject followers ougbt' to have proved to them that experts had a better knowledge oi ■how to eliminate anomalies and to'adjust the duties for revenue purposes, Minister - ial supporters kicked their leaders. The Opposition were content to look-on at the two chiefs getting liniper and more discouraged as their last batch of proposals were torn from limb to limb by their followers. History ever repeats itself. When George Canning, the poet Prime Minister, found himself deserted by his supporters he pended the Hues : —

Give me the avow'd, the erect, the manly foe

Bold I oan meet,— perhaps may turn his blow ; But of all plagues, good Heaven, thy wrath can, send Save, save, oh I Save me from the Candid Friend. • • - ». .)' Captain Resell,' the leader of tie Opposition exactly his 'the first hue; his.namesake from Kiccartoh supplies '.the;' type described iv the' last two. .There have been such vagaries..' pjayed .wiih our public aflairs'.by theSeddQU gang that it is desirable'^ idok; up -AvhatrpoiVjers are vested in thsGove'rrimeh£ and Parliament by the Consflfojloh,;; .Me' first; .. Privilege vfPUiyanietit

is to tax the people, anditis a beautiful fiction of the English laws that 'no man pays taxes without his own c iiset-f, meaning tbat the taxes are levied by the victim himself, through the member for the district whom he is presumed to have sent to make laws for lnui. Should any subject of fler Majesty feel aggrieved he has the time honoured right ot approaching Parliament by peiiion. This birthrignt of an Englishman is extensively need in the "colony* Trndj'-actiifg on'tbe principle that " Tbey who don't ask don't want ; but those who do ask sha'nt have" hundreds of grievances rind their way to the Petitions Committee every year, and the beggars now invariably get a replycurtly stating " The Committee has no recommendation to make." It is as well for people to be awaie^ of the fact that Government is so distressfully hard up that toe best, claim ,'for relief in the colony could not receive_anytpther answer from the Petitions Committee, for the simple reason that therejs npthing in the Treasury to recompense anybpdywi'th in these days. The Bank;-,,,the ;Midland. Railway, Ministers travelling expenses, and Mr Ward's' Atagnificent Gap,;ab'abrb a good deal more i than this unfortunate colony can pay'under present adverse cir- • cumstances. It is useless . to cry over spilt milk ; we wanted 'a 'Liberal Government, and we ,the majority) thought we were lucky in getting h Se'ddou, a Ward, a MciCeuzie, ,and lesser- luminal ies to shed light un ways' which were previously dark to us. The Light has come ; not quite as we expected or hoped, but we have bought a good deal of experience at a very high rate. Theie is another

Plank in our Constitution which alleges that every subject of Her Gracious Majesty is legally entitled lo keep what he has got ( when .the Govern;, ment of the day Has 'helped itself, through' the medium of taxation, to all that it requires. These are the bulwarks of our liberty as British subjects, and the application of them depends, for weal or woe, on the ability and honesty of the representatives in Parliament. Now, Parliament is a word derived from the French parlerr, to talk ; mentir, to lie— and in this respect the' dominant" side "of our Parliament proves abundantly, worthy of its o.igin. This i other long introduction leads up to _,'-"■•■. Ihe Mfth lariff of 1895. Sir Robert Stout was away down South when it was introduced, sp.it dhl.no t get, a distinctive nickname frgm '■ the 'jgod father of the previous three massacred innocents. However, it may as well go down to posterity as tho " Patent Medicine" tariff, inasmuch as 4(1 .per cent is levied on aU~._iyiß,s-,;poti6ii|f, plasters, 1 and proprietary oi'i anyi" sort whatever. The' only other 40 per cent robbery in the taritt is on clothes made outside the colony. The Treasurer gave reasons, such as they were, for, hisuew proposals. Regarding patent medicines, ho told the House that such things were bad for people's insides, and the policy of Ministers was to check the importation of such pestilent merchandise. A supporter of the Government remarked that Mr Ward appeared to be acting as family doctor lor the colony, when Captain Russell unkindly interjeoted " Oh, no! he is only the quack." Then, with a view oi not having a deficiency through a diminution iv the consumption of HoUoway's pills and worm tablets, or of encouraging colonial chemists to grow wealthy by embarking in the manufacture of piUs from locally made soap and gamboge, Mr Ward intends catching such enterprising people on the hop by clapping tbe stamp duty on : their, pill,, bosesj.;he also seems to have, an Jidea ; th|t ftome^unseuh powers may try-to oiroumvehtlßirn.whefher Mahatmus, witches, or Satan himself, dues not appear, but be has safeguarded any contingency of that sort by tbe following speoial proviso:— The duty on all "Proprietary medioiues or medicaments prepared by any occult science or art" shall be 40. per cent, li Mr Ward were a literary man, which he is not, one might imagine he had been reading Ingoldsby's lay of St, Gengulpblls just before he constructed this part of the tariff, whera it is 'related of tbat uncanny individual Muoh virtue was found to reside in his thumbs; When applied to tbe chest they cured scautness of breathing, Sea sickness, and colic; or, rubbed on the gums, Were a blessing to mothers for infants when tetthing. '• " ' His fifth tariff does not leave a stone unturned to raise revenue; tombstones tire taxed 25 per cent. Mr Duthie chaffed him over tbis and other items unmercifully. He pointed out that Mr Ward himself would require such a large area otmaible on which to inscribe his manifold deeds and virtues when he departed from tbis insignificant globe for a higher universo where he would have scope for his genius, that the duty on his tombstone would probably

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embarras his execntors. The same jjtaotical member pointed out among other anomalies a line which affected his own bußineßS — bolts, 5 inohes in length, free ; bolts 5^ inches in length, 20 per cent ; and this is what . the Treasurer calls removing anomalies. Another item Mr Duthie put his critical and destructive finger on was drugs. "Here is an invoice," said he, "-where the English cost of the tinctures is £6 15s. Under the old tariff the duty would be 21s; nnder this rag it would be £8 15s, Why the whole thing waß constructed in a haphazard fashion, and is nothing but a tinkering tariff." On the Golohial Beer Question

both the Premier and the Treasurer found it difficult to face the position. None of their stock arguments, about "sound finance" and "protecting the revenue " could be used regarding beer. Mr Ward dodged it by pleading that his revenue was already a diminishing one, that beer now carried a fair excise duty and ihat he had consulted moderate men (brewers ?) both in and outside the House, and they deplored the idea of an increase in the beer duty. He used an expression three times in ten minutes about this matter — " After all said and done "—but his rapid speech made it sound " After all Seddon done," and this, when fitted in with the general understanding that the Ministry is a brewers' organisation if it haa any consistency at all about it, sounded very like special pleading for a trade which has stood so loyally behind the party with sympathy and beer in many an election fight. Finally the Treasurer was cornered when asked what would be the gain or. loss to the revenue by his new proposals. He fumbled among his papers— he thought he had had it somewhere ; he could not tell just how — he would see and get a return made up, and let the House know later on. These were humiliating excuses for a TreaBurer to have to make in regard to taxation proposals, and they fully disoloßed the magnificence of • his ignorance and incapacity to understand k the measures he desired to cram down the throat ot Parliament, and the taxes he desired to levy on the people of the colony ; and then " with bated breath, and whispered humbleness" he said what (he had done had been done with the best intentions. Captain Russell, with killing politeness, said, " the road to hell is paved with good .intentions," and pointing his forefinger in a downward direotion he indicated that the Treasurer's path lay that '■way. ' He showed that the anomalies of the old Tariff might have easily been remedied for there were 115 articles on the dutiable list which only gave a revenue of 6700 and ttoir removal would have simplified the tariff without lobs. Photographs were now to be taxed, and if some friend at Home, in writing to a relative in this colony should send a photograph of h6r grandmother, the Customs expert would open the letter to assess the value of thephoto and the duty would have to be paid before the letter waii given up. The matoh factory recently established was to be protected. It employed one man at £8 per week, another at £2 Bs, and a lot of girls at from. 6s to 9s, the total annual wages being £1,500. There is a smaller faotory at Uuuedin which could supply the colony with all the matches . required, and the colony would lose £16,0U0 in dutieß, and the difference of over £12,000. A year would all go as dear prone iuto one man's pocket, and similar encouragement was to be giveu to a cigarette factory in Auckland, lhe Premier follownd Captain Buasell, but in no way replied to his arguments. For some time he taunted hia opponent t unul he got himselffull of fury, and then he shouted " Where* are ■ the amendments ?" this referred to a threat Capt. hussell made so fallback as July 30th when the first tariff resolutions were brought down, that he would move an amendment. Ihose resolutions have been withdrawn by the Government, and the necessity for the amendment disappeared with them. The Tea duty which was reduced to 8d last week is now 6d till December 81st and after that date 4d. But during the week all the tea in bond has been cleared at the cheap duty and the importers will clear about £8000 among them, The revenue loses this sum and the consumer cannot gain tb.6 least benefit by it. This may be considered statesmanship by the Liberals, but it is the worst bungling k add blundering ever committed by any publio man in this colony. The fruit tariff may be disposed of &b follows : — The revenue was falling and the Treasury • was low, Depression had quite firmly taken root, And the only way to raise some cash, to ' ' keep thiuga on the go, Ward aaid was put a ha'penny on the fruit, So ' this project waa devised by which dollars might be raised, And the surplus of next year should be plethoric, But Olutha's chosen Tom and John Duchie stood amazed, And emphatically affirmed it in broad Dorio, E'en the small boys in the street, when the. Premier they met, Howled" that's him;" showing want of manners. And the usual Liberal surplus will become an awful debt, Now that Ward can't fill that gap witb taxed Bananas.