NEW CUSTOMS TARIFF.—INGREASED TAXATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume II, Issue 355, 31 December 1864, Page 5

NEW CUSTOMS TARIFF.—INGREASED TAXATION.

The Wold Ministry arc determined, it would seem, to make themselves i'elt and appreciated by the colonists ofTCew Zealand. The war has caused a large current expenditure, and it is determined by the jS'ew Government not to take the cost of the war from the justly forfeited lands of the rebels, whose contumacious conduct has occasioned it, but to wring it from the sweat and labour of the already over-taxed European colonist, who in many cases lias been driven from his home by these same Maories - . "VVc certainly must say that with the very just and obvious source of meeting the current expenditure before them, in the sale of a portion of the confiscated lauds of the Natives, the resort of the W r cld Ministry to an indiscriminate taxation of the European population presents to the Maori a most remarkable and notable instance of our being " soft as pumpkins," a softness which will be no doubt worked upon by them from one end of the island to the other. It was not enough to take the seat of Government, away from Auckland, but Auckland citizens must also bear additional taxation to enable the South to carry out a Panama contract, which Auckland by opening up direct com-

irmnication with Melbourne cares nothing ■for J .ft will be seen tliat what are called, luxuries are by no moans so in reality. Tobacco has become as much a necessary as anything else to most ineii. We publish below the tables of the old and new rates of duties side by side, from which it will be seen that the taxes of the colony hare, at one stroke of the pen, been raised one-third. A piece of financial legislation worthy of a Ministry that has abandoned from sheer imbecility, the manly straightforward policy which it advocated just twelve months ago ! OLD. Mr.w. I. Alo. l?ecr, Cider, and l*errv, iu wood, the gnllou ' 0 0 S 0 0 9 Alt'. Ileer, Cider, and Perry, in bottle, the gallon 0 10 0 I fi '2. HuarsandSiiuiV, the 1b... 0 3 0 0 t C Con'cc, Cliici tv, Cocoa, and Chocolate, , tlw lb 0 a •J. Cutlery, Hardware, PJntedware, llolloware, a>id Ironmongery of al) sorts, and Candles and Soap of all _ sorts, the ewt 0 3 0 0 4 0 /». V ire Arms, of every dej-eription, each . 0 r» o (k (.«mipo\vder, the lb 0 0 0 *. Manufactures (if Silk, Cotton, Fjinen. and "Woollen, and all articles manufactured therefrom, Drapery, Haberdashery, Hosiery, Millinery.Furw, Hals, J loots, Shoe*. Coijleetionery, Ilottled i'ruils, Oried Fruits, Mu.i* tard, Olive Oil, Pickles, Preserves, Sauces, .Spices, and Oiirnair.s Store* ot all kinds, (measuring outside the packaucs), the cubii? foot .. .. 0 4 o 0 o 0 8. Spirits anil Strong "NVateis of every kind, sweetened or otherwise, of any htreimth not exceeding the fetrvngth of proof by Syke\s Hydrometer, and >.o on in pro]>ortion for any greater •-trencth than the strength of proof, the gallon 0 0 0 0 12 0 0. Snuar, :raw and refined, of all kinds, and Treacle and AloWsca, the 1b... 0 0 1 10. Tea, tins lb. 0 o 4 0 0 6 11. Tobacco, the lb 0 16 0 'J 0 IU. "Wine, in wood containing le*s than I'fi per cent of alcohol of a S]n.*ehic gravity of '82/ i at the temperature «»f r>o decrees Fahrenheit's themio* ineter, the gallon 0 3 0 0 4 0 13. "Wine, in bottle, containing lesa than •J. r > per cent of alcohol of a specific gravity of \SIV> at the temperatuieof CO degrees Fahrcuhcit'* themuuncter, the gallon .0 3 0 0 50 U. Anchors and Chain*, and Kod, Bolt, l>ar, Sheet, lloop, and l'ig Iron ami Nails, Sailcloth, Cordage, Twine. Cottonyarn, Hags, Sacks, and Woulpacks. .Spirits of Tar and Turpentine, Tobacco for Sheepwofc.li, Nuts of all kinds, l'mvdcr lit only for blasting and alt unenuuieiaied tioods, "Wares, and IWoreliandi.-e .. .. .. .. Free. The following explanatory statement was laid upon the table of the House by the Colonial Treasurer. " The proposed increase will yield an additional sum to the revenue of £198,216 at least. £l;3t,000 is raised upon aitiel en ol' luxury, viz., spirits, cigars, ijmili" iiiifl tobacco, wine and beer. The measurement duties are levied indiscriminately on articles of necessity and luxury. Of course the calculations are bused on the assumption that the increased duties will m-ither diminish consumption nor incrcnso smuggling. A very considerable increase of the revenue, even from the existing duties, might be expected trom the appointment of a competent Inspector of Customs. Supposing the £ 108,216 to be realized, the provinces three-fourths would he increased by .C7'l,;iol. The inteiest on the £1,000,000 already raised (viz., on .L' 818,000) will, at 6 per cent., amount to I' ll),080 —the sinking fund on tlio million to £10,000 a-ycar. 'J lie interest, on £ 1,000,000 of Exchequer bills, bearing per cent., interest, will come to £80,000 a-vcur, making a total of £IS'J,OOO a-ycar. '.lo this 'must be added the amount of the Panama snbfidv."

The groat public meeting of yesterday was as successful as we had anticipated it would be. Some two thousand persons were gathered before the old Court House, in Queen-street, and the several resolutions which will be found in our report were put to the meeting, and carried unanimously. Owing to the fall of rain which took place at noon, the time for which the meet ing was originally called, it was postponed until two o'clock, when the weather cleared up and continued line throughout. The several speakers occupied the time of the meeting until six o'clock in the evening, when the meeting separated with three cheers.

That the object for which every man in Auckland, and not a lew in the other provinces of this island are anxiously looking, namely, a. political severance of the two islands—will be ultimately obtained we have little doubt. Justice to the South, as well to the North, demands this. It is always competent for a iVlinistry, as in the ease of the present one, to hamper ii it cannot set itself in open hostility with the Imperial interests. The Ministry has decided 011 removing the Executive from the place where the requirements of the colony most imperatively call for its presence, in despite of the knowledge of the fact that to do so they will be throwing an obstacle in the way of the Governor in the performance of the duties of the odiee entrusted to him by tlie Crown. For its own sake, and for the due carrying out of whatever native poli '.y may be determined upon, it will be made a part of the Imperial policy to exclude all extraneous interference from the affairs of that portion of Now Zealand inhabited conjointly by the people of both races. There is, too, a largo portion of the Middle Island people which is quite as eager for separation as we are in the North. There is a strong separation party in Canterbury, headed by some of the leading men of Hint province—the late Superintendent, Mr. Moorhousc, and Mr. Olivier. In Otago the movement has a still stronger hold, the members for the several Otago constituencies in the Houjo ?»/,v-repre-senting the wish of the electors generally 011 this point. We may therefore expect that 0110 among the first-fruits of the great public meeting of yesterday will be the resuscitated vitality of the separation movement in the middle island-—but to meet them we must go in for separation of the two islands, not of Auckland from the rest of New Zealand. It is not to be expected that the middle island will consent to separate, retaining a bleeding wen, such as AVellington, at one end of it. With petitions coming from North and South together, we cannot but believe that the appeal of the colonists will receive the earnest consideration of the Imperial Government. There were many pleasurable features in the meeting of yesterday which particularly struck us—the orderly, respectable, and withal good tempered bearing of a crowd of between 2<XK) and :30<)0 persons collected to listen to speeches on a subject of exciting and anger-stirring importance to themselves. There was also another remarkable feature, and that was the presence 011 the platform and around it of a large body ot loyal Natives, who took as much interest in the business as ourselves, some of whom addressed the meeting in turn, and showed that they could not only speak well, and to the point, but that they felt and appreciated the injustice which the late conduct of Southern members had inflicted as well on them as upon us. Between the Northern settlers and the Maoris there lias ever been a good feeling underlying this temporary rupture—and they look with suspicion upon a Southern policy, which they plainly see offers in the event of the Imperial Government taking Mr. Weld at his word and withdrawing the troops—no other alternative for the suppression of the rebellion than making it a settler s war, and that they know means extermination. It is intended to form a Northern Association. This is a step in the right direction. It is by combination that our wrongs have been partially wrought, and in combination is our defence. One of the lirst acts of this Association, we understand, will be the preparation of a petition to the Crown, asking ior the separation of the two islands. This petition should beheaded with the names of the members of the Legislative Council, and of the House ot Representatives lor this portion of the Northern Island, and also those ol the members oi the Provincial Council and City Hoard —and when lillcd up by the bulk of the people, presented with a public demonstration to the Provincial Council assembled, who, in their legislative capacity, should receive and adopt the same, and forward it through his Excellency to the Crown. . That this will indeed be entitled the distinction, of being called a monster

petition wc have no doubt, and wc trust to see on the roll of that petition the names of a very large number of ihe Aboriginal Natives of the quiet districts. They have evinced a very interest in the nutter, and nothing we believe has occurred amongst them of late which has been calculated ,-o much to remove tliat uncertainty for the fu; ire, which has driven many a tribe into rebellion, than the knowledge that the northern c< lonists are anxious that the settlement of the war and the sole and entire future of the Natives shall be placed at the disposal of the Crown. Had such a hope inspired them some six months since, had they seen a deliverance from the vigorous prosecutionists of the Middle Island—there would have been a very general submission of those now in arms against the Queen's authority. The natives know to a man who in the Assembly are and have been their friends—who—like too many of tho men of the Middle Island—have desired extermination though they disguised the cry under that of vigorous prosecutiou.

esierday, was inaugurated in Auckland the first step in the bond of its future strength, combination for unity of purpose, and vigorous action. That which we have begun well we trust will be fully and faithfully carried out, and we shall then find the truth of the adage that " Heaven helps those who help themselves.' —-December 10.

We do not regret that the resolutions adopted by the public meeting of Friday last were presented too late in the day on * Saturday to allow of their being transmitted to Her Majesty by the supplementary mail, which left the Manukau on that day. The resolutions, unless adopted as the deliberate opinions and will of the representative body of the people of Auckland, the Provincial Council, would lose much of their weight, in the eyes of those for whom they are intended. "With the British Government the voice of our thirty-five representatives, the legislative bodj T of the Province, would carry more weight than would the same expression of opinion coming from a public meeting of as many thousands of persons. The voice of the Council, however, would be materially streHghtened by the fact that it was also the voice of the people. The latter may be the genuine metal, but it requires the Hall stamp, which its adoption by the former fixes upon it, before it will be received as such by those at a distance who cannot be expected to understand that an open air meeting in such a community as Auckland, represents not the mob, but the people. We do not agree in ail points with (lie resolutions proposed and then adopted. It is true that Auckland has suffered from the conjoint machinations of the whole ofthe rest ofNew Zealand—"but there is a qalification even to this statement. One of the two members for Napier voted for us, and we much doubt, whether indeed. Hawke's Bay would not gladly merge itself into one colony and under one local Government with Auckland. "Wanganui. too, has been foully and t roach erousl y[dealt with by "Wellington. As all know, tlie inhabitants of Wan gauu i, neglected and plundered by the parent government of Wellington, had prepared a petition to the Assembly signed by more than the required number of its electors, for separation. Owing to the sudden summoning of the Assembly, and its short session, the AN ellington party endeavoured to negative the working ofthe " Kew Provinces Act " before the people of "Wanganui could have time to present their petition for separation. Who will not say that "Wanganui and Eangatikei would not gladly accept any alternative rather than remain bound to the chariot wheel of "Wellington r 1 We do not think, then, that Auckland should have prayed for separation from the remainder of the Colony. The separation asked for should mtlier, we think, have been that of the two islands. We might have taken a nobler and more comprehensive ground for calling for the interference of the Imperial Government. We might have urged upon the C'row.n what really is the case, that the separation of IN'ew Zealand into two distinct colonies is a matter not only of expediency for its proper and simpler Government, but a question of justice towards the Maori race. We are placed between two extremes ; on one hand, the commingling of the two races in the joint occupation of the country in peace and joint prosperity—on the other hand, a state of suspicion and distrust leading to war, strife, and extermination, and the ultimate annihilation of the weakerrr.ee. The Middle Island element, just as it becomes stronger in the Government than the Northern element, drives us over towards the latter extreme. It was the members of the Middle Island who were continually and persistently calling for strong measures, for the vigorous prosecution of the war. The members of the Northern Island protested, but in vain. The Middle Island element was too strong in the Government, and the Colony drifted into the breakers in which she now is tossing. It is to free the North from this Middle Island interference that we should now aim. It is to prevent the repetition of such disasters in the future that we seek separation—to exclude from our legislature and our Government those men who arc altogether foreign to us, who have indeed no more to do with this island, no more have common interests with its people, than they have with those of Australia or Tasmania. If the civilisation of the Maori is to become accomplished —if we are to become one people living m and occupying the country conjointly, —not one people in one district, one people in another, —then only can the political separation of the two islands effect this. The separation of Auckland from the rest of IN'ew Zealand will not do so. The same laws which will suit the circumstances of one island, having no native population in it, will not suit that island in which the native population exists in nearly equal proportion with our own, and which possesses a far larger landed proprietorship. If special laws are to be made for the one island beyond those which apply to both, then those only whom they affect, and vitally so, too, should be allowed to make them. We must have something more than a return to the state previous lo when the colony accepted responsibility slnuii, one though it was in native affairs. We have seen how even then the Middle Island men could sit pleasantly and safely under their own fig-tree, while their agents were' busy iu the Northern Island sowing the dragons' teeth, which sprung up a crop of armed men to carry desolation and bitter ruin through one province, and to seriously injure another. What the people of this island require is an entire cessation from interference in their affairs by the people ofthe Middle Island, who have little in common with us, and who, to acquire a numerical strength in the Assembly, do not hesitate to buy, as they bought. "Wellington with the seat of Government, a portion of ourselves, even though the price ol that support be that which must necessarily become the ruin of one race and a deep injury to the other. The time is not distant, however, when "Wellington will carry back the thirty pieces of silver, and in despair and remorse cast them at the feet of those who tempted her. We think, too, that the meeting of Friday should not have been allowed to have passed over without the people pledging themselves that, in the event of their members in the House of Representatives resigning their seats, they, the electors, would return none but men who practically could not sit iu the Assembly. We believe that the Auckland members are prepared to resign seats which they Jean no longer hold but as'cypliers, and it would, we maintain, have been but right had the people themselves strengthened them in the resolution by assuring them that the step would not be taken in vain. The advisability of proposing a resolution to this effect was canvassed by the Preliminary Committee and carried by a majority of one, but

somehow or other the wish of the committee was never carried, out. The committee, we . think, made a grave mistake in this omission. Nothing would have shewn the utterly hopeless state to which Southern intrigue had brought the chief province in the colony ths.n her stern, uncompromising refusal to accept the mere sham, the semblance of representation in the Colonial Parliament. Nothing would so much have carried the conviction with it that the people meant, thoroughly meant, to work doggedly till their object was attained than this step would have done. Our representatives, however, may, we think, rely upon such a step being upheld by the electors, nor fear that it would be rendered nugatory by the opportunity offered to the ambition of inferior and unscrupulous Jlien. The electors feel strongly on this subject, and. auy men who, at an election, would, at the lasfc moment, propose the name of an Auckland candidate, would be scouted as recreant to their province, and would ,find a host ready to propose and vote for, and return a dummy member in opposition. Among the resolutions of Friday, was one announcing the propriety of forming an active working body to be called the Northers. Association. \Ve do not know whether the members of this association are already filled up, but the introduction amongst them of a large proportion of our most intelligent public men, is a thing much to be desired. Hot-headed rashness must have no place there, or the movement will after all be a failure. There is much work to be done before the leaving of the next mail, at the end of the month—and though very great effort will ba necessary to complete it by that time, it wera better to lose even another month than to do what must be done, if we hope for success, effectively and well. There is time, however, to do all and to do itas it should be done, too, if set about in earnest. Public meetings should be held in every country district, north and south, to arouse public feeling in the- matter, and to appoint one or two residents in each locality to act in concert with the central committee ; meantime a petition to the Crown embodying the resolution should be prepared for signature, copies of which should be sent down to the country districts, and the petition should contain not only the signatures of the colonists generally, but of the thousands of natives who are anxious as we are to attain the important object in view. This petition should be headed by the names of our members in the House of Representatives, and of those among us who hold seats in the Legislative Council. When the signatures of the people have been obtained then let a day be set apart as a public holiday and a meeting of the people be convened to escort the committee to the doors of the Provincial Council Chamber, where the members should be specially convened by the Superintendent to receive it. J'y them the resolutions should be deliberately passed and adopted, and having received the signature of the Speaker be forsvaded to the (,i overnor, through the Superintendent, for transmission by his Kxcellency to the Queen. The matter is too important a one to the people of this Province and Island to allow it to be shorn of one iota of tluit due solemnity ami form which gives weight and character to any expression of the public will. Carefully and calmnly must we weigh our acts in this matter, and we tell the members of the Northern Association appointed for the carrying out of the wishes of the people, that they have taken upon themselves duties of 110 light weight, and that the people of Auckland will hereafter call upon them to given full account of their stewardship.—December 13.