TAXATION OF THE COLONY. (To the Editor of the North Otago Times.)

North Otago Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 792, 20 December 1872, Page 4

TAXATION OF THE COLONY. (To the Editor of the North Otago Times.)

Sir,— JA. correspondent of ,the *<Otago Daily Times," writing tinker the lignatare of Master , u Humphrey,:.£xWbits Jl 1 jn»A sarie* ofuarfcicle^, rather a gloomy picture of our ftftura. Having , i acceii to the public" documents from ■Which ho "quotes, I have tnken the. trouble cjf, tooting ■ his 'fignres; arid ed fir 'hare 'founfl them •«orrppt. , ; l I 1 If his Heductione are to "be v relie'd upon we may look for, heavy taxation whenever the 'ldahs hro A 'exhausted — already theinterest on 'tins public debt takes L66O;GOOpor annum .'Out tofi'fcha revenue — -wityiu' four years thaf, ■will have increased to Ii900,000, which will,/ "aTtWrb tlie' whole o? 'the ordinary revenue, if/ 'it rfoes-not increase abpyejfjhe present receipts — tlien oiir'di'b't will amount to 115,000,000. • ,And, assuming that we; will eease.to borrow, <from what source are we to derive sufficient' fun'ds to carry on all the functions of Government, and improvements of-the Colony? Our 1 'Customs Tarjff is ,already ! too high, Stamp' and Legacy duties have 'been imposed, the' onl^ new subjects for taxation that I can see 1 -tire : '1, Absentees ; 2, -Income ; 3,. Property. ■ Iri d uring! last session, the .question whs listed whether Government intended ito bring in n-Bill to tax Absentees ; in reply the' 'Chief Secretary said thiib'the subject, hnd not' escaped attention,. and 'hut during the recess •it would receive consideration, with the view , of bringing in a Bill next cession. 'The arguments in favor of the tax, were' that many wealthy proprietois liverl-out pf ' the C(fl6ny, r and 'spent large ' incomes derived frpm u| \vi(h|n ( , tlio , u Cpl,ony, thus gradually impoverishing it — instead ofspendjirtii. L30QO to LfjOOOi )u?r iinniim' in ordinary niiiiutt-nnncH and improvemt'nts, a proprietor 1 l 'Ie(iv6s 'an' oveVwoe r 'nv 'tii66 \lcJ nurilii'n and 1 a corresponding outhiy —^besides there is the loss '' ' or his oxperioncc and iiifli(en6e. ( > Then ther^ are the, JJWejgn Bunks, paying their dividends of 10 to 15 per cent., Loan' Companies, Insurance Companies, and Home capitalists, 'all doriving hirge sums from the t Oolony and-; giving nothing in return. Now, Mr Editor, I'thiuk you will ngree with me thab .parties deriving such large advantages - -shonld contribute aiittle'fo' the neceisities of the State. Here ! in New 'Zealand the evil of absenteeism are still more marked and deciuive ; all the institutions aboyc referred, to are at '"work taking 1 every shilling of profit made by' colonists in their ordinary pursuits, to be" spent where we can derive no advantage from' , It. More than/i moiety of the sheep, and 'stations in Ota^o and Southland are owned by| absentees] with junior partners or resident managers, lo conduct them; at this point I ri •'took up the jlnab aheap .return, picked out the items', and found that t*ip astounding number K)f 1,261,491 sheep in this Province arc owned , -by absentees, with the exception already referred to. This cprtainly exceeds all my former " 'calculations, and opens up many new questions for future comidemtion ; and I may mention, par parentJtese, that the figures I have given do not include stock owned m the •Colony, but mortgaged to absentees — to wffc, loan Companies, 'Banks, etc., etc. Were the stock so mortgaged included, the matter swould appear in an oven stronger light. ' Another cit'onmstanco' although trifling, in itself, will ' shew the justice of an absentee tax. In reading over' the disposition of the estate •of the late W. Lund, Cornhill, London, I found that all'his property, with the exceptioji of certain town lots' in the city of Dunedin, "was to b(v 'conyerterl into money, and distributed — tlie allotments were not to be sold-p as of all his lucky ventures these were b£s fyest. It appears, that .some lp years ago hp ' "pui'dnisefl 1 several allotments in Dunedin at I/L5 eachj' winch are now let at very high' rents, and bring in fi .splendid income. Now I never havelieard of Mr Lund contributing one shilling to the improvement of the town, •or the support of its charities and public institutions ; nut' he was not singular in that J respect, as absentees generally forget that they have any duties in "connection with our local institutions. There are "hosts -of otner thoughts in connection with this subject, but as this article is alrendy too long, 1 must defer them to some ffuturo time., . , ' ' The Income tax, and Land or Property tax mint share the same fate. ' .You may expect a few additional notes on these subjects shortly. . . . . , , . , .,, . Investigator.

Poor PttkiiE^'.—A " Sandhurst papor publiflhes the following advertisement? — '? I hereby •giTonoh'co that I xrjll nob bo responsible for any debts' that my husband, Thomas Green Pickles (brother of George Pickles, coach-builder), m»y contract from this date. Mrs W- M. Robion, late Mrs Picklei." Poor Pickles !

Wool Trade with Ameeioa. — The ." Hawke's Bay Herald " ssyfl :— In Messrs Balmo and Co.'s wool circular, mention is made of the fact that 2000 bales out of the recent arrivals in London of New Zealand were re-exported to America. The American buyers, who, as a rule, are willing to give good prices when they can find an , article which suits them, hare manifested a very general preference for some time past for NVw Zoaland wools over those from other colonies. The amount of our wool thus, which is shipped from London to New York in, the course of the year is, considerable ; and as fhe cost of transmission to America by way of London, including storago, brokers' cqjnmirtions, &c, there, represents' an excess of ' about 2d. per lb. on the cpst of shipment direct from New Zealand ports to New York, the loss which we sustain from not shipping direct i amounts to a sum which would malt© a ' very perceptible difference , to Jihe .woalth of the community. On the 2000 bales, for instance, above referred to, the Colony loso» about L7000. The , opening , of the San Francisco route has, no doubt, already done something to develop the trade 'with —America. The effects of that important irieasure, 'bovtever, will bo felt mpfd ..distinctly in the future than they have been in ttia past. A large American buyer, we learn, arrived iii New Zealand by the p.s. Nebraska pn her late trip. He intends to take up his quarters in Dunedin for the present, and expects, if prices ~ are reasonable, to be uble to pick up about! 4000 bales of clean greasy .vrppl, 4 with the view of transmitting them direct to Naw