The New Zealand Herald. AUCKLAND, MONDAY, DEC. 10, 1865.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 649, 11 December 1865, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald.

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, DEC. 10, 1865.

SI'KC'I'KJIUK AOKN'DO. " Give evrrv man thine ear, but few thy voire : Take cnrli mnn's ci-nsnre. tint reserve iliv judumont. Tliis al'ove all,-To thlee ownsilf be true ; And it must follow, as the ntelit the ilav, Thiiu canst not then lie latse to any man."

A rrtrNTKit's error, and tlio omission of a few words from our article on roads on Saturday threw considerable obscurity on an important part of that article. After the statement that tho present rate of a shilling an acre levied in some districts is too great, there should have followed :—" Let us take the rate at sixpence an acre." This would produce £32,500 a year, not as printed, £42,C00. Having made this necessary correction, we proceed to consider other interesting and cognate topics which could not be entered upon in our last article. First, as to the policy of levying the rate on all who have selected their land. This is a novel doctrine, and may at first sight seem harsh, but it is not so in reality. Take the two last blocks of land that were sold, the Waikiekie and the Mareretu. The bulk of land in those blocks has been "selected" by holders of land orders or scrip. Very little money was paid to the "Waste Lands Commissionncr by purchasers. Some of those selectors would be glad to go at once upon their land, were there communication with it from the adjoining settlements and the sea coast. Some will go upon it, although the road communication is so defective Others will stay away until roads are made, or sell their land as soon as it has Dufliciently improved in value, but so long as they have no rate or tax, no expense oi any kind to pay for that land, they are not desirous ot selling it, but will perhaps keep it in a state of nature for years. Now, could a small rate bo at once collected from every person who selected land on those two blocks, and could that sum bo met by a like amount contributed out of the gener.il revenue, roads would be at once made, the number of persons who would go and settle upon those blocks would be very largely increased, the town would be relieved of superabundant labour, the produce of the country would be largely increased, the imports of breadstuff's and cattle decreased, our circulating medium would be increased by tho amount which otherwise would be sent out of the country to pay for these imports ; our merchants, tradesmen, shopkeepers, and shipowners would have increased business, and increased geneial prosperity would in fact ensue.

A 8 it is, (lie impediments to settling upon land deter hundreds from doing so. T hey flock to the towns, or remain in them when they arrive in the country, instead of proceeding to settle on the laud as they had intended.

i Again, it must be remembered that he who puts his name on a at the land ' ofliee as having selected a. lot of land, is tn ' all intents and purposes the owner o) that land. Ko matter how good it may be, i may be, no matterhow anxious any other man ■ may bo to obtain that lot, and at onco proceed to settle upon and cultivato ii he cannot do so, it is already selected—sold This then should be looked upon as a bonajidi • ownership just as much for tho purpose ol ' levying a rate upon it for road making as it 1 is for preventing anyone else than the selector using Hie land. Let. tho knife cut both , ways. The forty-acre selector pays nothing for his land, let him pay his fair share toward making roads to and through it, and when all are compelled to pay,tho burden will be light upon all. And this brings us to another point. 'J lie acreage now owned would yield £32,500 a-year at sixpence an aero. In the act we propose this rate should not exceed sixpence an acre. But we do not think that if this general act w r as passed a rate equivalent to sixpence an acre would be required. Wo should like to seo it reduced as low as possible, giving powers to any county or riding to increase their own rate of taxation, and to spend it as they choose. But there is this great advantage iu having a definite sum fixed, even though it be small, that we can always calculate upon a minimum income, and that minimum income is secured upon the very best security —the land of the Province. With a rate of threepence an acre uniformly levied, we should have a steadily increasing income from this source, beginning at £16,250 a year. In 18G3, there were 13G,000 acres of land sold or selected in this Province. And the average quantity so taken up from 1855 to ISO 3, was G'i,2so acres per an-ium. Let us take the annual increase for the future ten years, including of course the Waikato, and in fact the entire Province, at the very low estimate of 70,000 acres. The annual revenue from this at 3d. an aero would be yearly increased by £875 a year, and at the end of the ten years the total proceeds of a 3d. rate would be £25,000 a year, in reality it would doubtless be nearly £40,000 a year. Such an income then, wholly independent of customs and all other securities, already mortgaged, would bo an excellent security for a loan. The English capitalist is so accustomed to lend money on security ol' dock, water, sewering and other rates, that he would be perfectly satisfied with our road rate security, we would follow the English custom of levying such a rate, and then raising money upon it, for a term, of years, so as to have at command at present a much larger amount to spend than the rate wold produce, and le* its re-

payment be spread over a term of years. Neither the present year, nor the next, nor the one after that, can provide the necessary capital for these public permanent works. It is sheer folly to expect it, and it is madness to creep slowly along and suffer every possible kind of injury and inconvenience in attempting it. The benefits will last for scores of years ; let tho expense at least be spread over the first score. Hence, then, with such a system of real, genuine self-reliance as this road rate would indicate, wo could go into tho English money market and borrow one or two hundred thousand pounds upon its security. Suppose the annual income from tlie rato to be as we have assumed only £16,250 a year, this would undoubtedly be good security for £100,000, but the 'security as we have shown would eachyear be increased. "We have no doubt but that such an amount could be readily obtained at say six per cent, for twenty years ; or debentures could be issued in, various Bum's from £500 upwards, borrowed for say five or Beven years at the above rate of interest and renewed at the end of the time. Public Boards in England we know borrow in this manner on the same kind of security at 4 and 4i per cent.; and it simply requires good management to give as perfiect confidence in the honaJ!de value of our security as of that afforded by a similar rate in England to borrow money upon it at a low rate of interest. But we have no doubt but that the Inglish Government would take us by the hand and assist us by its aid, in guaranteeing the loan under proper conditions, when it saw our self-reliance. It in fact frequently lends money for the special purpose of improving land. During the cotton famine the Parliament passed a special Act—the Health of Towns' Act—and gave special assistance to the cotton districts to enable them to prosecute such public works as streets, &c. formation, sewer making, and so forth, by means of borrowed money. Hence we can go with a good grace and ask, not for any pecuniary assistance, but simply that after having the case plainly laid before them, the British Government would vouch for our respectability before the British public, and lend us its name. There need not be the the slightest possible risk attending this And now as to the expenditure of this loan. Let it all be spent within three years of obtaining it. Let each county have its pro rata share according to the amount of road rate levied within it. Erom rates, borrowed money, and Provincial revenue, we Bhould be able to spend say £70,000 a year on roads, tramways, bridges, and so forth, for three years ; and the balance of the rate in future years after paying sinking fund and interest.

We need not add a single syllable aa to the vast change that would be made in this Province by accomplishing the object we propose. We need not point out the miles of road, tho hundreds of serviceable bridges that could thus be made, nor tho large amount of work that would be provided for country settlers, nor the enormous additional value that would bo stamped upon the land, nor the vast increase to our agricultural produce. The stigma that we cannot feed ourselves would then be speedily removed, the woodman's axe would disturb the solitude in many parts of " the howling wilderness," sheep and cattle would be grazing on thousands of acres of land now unproductive, a happy and industrious population would be placed on spots now occupied by the ti-tree, the kauri, tho riniu, or the fern, and.the earth around us would be rapidly subdued and replenished, and the designs of Providence in respect thereof carried out.