The New Zealand Herald AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1868.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1307, 24 January 1868, Page 2

The New Zealand Herald

AUCKLAND, FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 1868.

SEECTEWUK AGENDO. " Give every man thine ear, tut few thy voice; Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. This above all,—To thine own self be true i> ud it must follow, as the night the day, _ Thou canst not then be false to any man.

As we expected, the resolutions of Mr. Davy have caused considerable discussion. There can be little question as to the first resolutioD. The electoral districts of the Province are far too large, and ought to be divided, at least so far as the country constituencies are concerned. The second resolution, -which states that steps should be- taken to localise the Government, giving greater powers to various local boards and authorities, is one on which there ought to be little difference of opinion. one great cause of that apathy in political matters which is so very noticeable, is doubtless due to the fact that the people have had little real political power. They have been so long taught to look to the Government for aid in all their difficulties, that they have had no idea at all of helping themselves. The first and great reform in this direction, is to give fuller powers to localities, and to withdraw from them the power to draw any funds from any other place than their own pockets. And herein is the greatest shortcoming of Mr. Davy's resolutions. He proposes to give Local Boards a pro rata share of any Provincial revenue that may be applicable for local purposes. This means that a common purse is still to be kept, that the present baneful system of log-rolling, and of each district scrambling and scheming to get more than its fair share of that revenue is to be perpetuated. It means, further, that waste and extravagance are to be perpetuated, that the people are to be still taught to fix their gaze intently on the Government, that they are still to lean on governmental crutches, that their own political limbs are to remain paralysed, and the worst features of the present system retained. We have before demonstrated that this common purse system is really at the root of our evils. The districts in the Provinces are demoralised by it; the Provinces, as a whole, are demoralised by it.

And he who would effect a vast good to this country, and leave his mark firmly imprinted upon it, is that man who will sever the financial connection between the Central and the Provincial G-overnments, and again, to a great extent, between the Provincial Governments and the Local Boards. Let the general taxation be so reduced as to provide only for strictly colonial purposes, and the interest on the consolidated debts. By this means a vast reduction in indirect taxation can be made. The people then having nothing to expect from Government will look after their own business, they will bo able then to bear direct taxation imposed by themselves for their own purposes, and they will see that the money they thus pay will be spent in a profitable and proper manner. It is simply a matter of universal — L .,_i vl—l i-u~ ' — niit.oinp.d from extraneous sources is not so eeonomioniiy spent, as that obtained directly from the individuals who spend it. There are instances in every district, to which settlers can point, of money wastefully and extravagantly spent ou public works; instances where not onefourth of the real value has been obtained by that expenditure, while if the money spent had been raised by the settlers themselves, no such waste and extravagance would have been allowed.

Let the people never forget this simple fact, that all the taxes are paid by themselves, that the cost of collection and distribution by the present system is something enormous, and the sum returned to them is a very small portion indeed of that which they originally paid. It has to pass through a great number of hands, every hand through ■which it passes retains a portion of it. Let it be raised in each district, and all this is saved. If the people rely on Government giving them any large sums of money, and fancy that an advantage is gained thereby, thev err most cgrcgiously. The money must first be got from the people, plus, a vast number of charges, and yet some persons swallow the gilded bait, and fancy, . how vainly and foolishly, that it is one of pure solid gold. TVe have advocated this system over and over again. It is the only economical system that will reduce the swarm of officials which sip the honey from every flower, it is the only system which will make the peoplo take an interest in their own affairs, and educate them to take their part in the more extended sphere of governing the country. As Mr. Eowo stated in his speech on "Wednesday night, " Let the Government reduce expenditure to the lowest point, and then ask the people to tax themselves." The whole question is involved in that short sentence. And those who are sincere in desiring a real and not a sham reform, an improved local, and not a greatly inferior and more costly eentTalised government will unite their efforts to secure this object. But Provincial Councillors and others will do very little good by merely denouncing the extravagance of Government in occasional speeches. Let the Council, as such, pass a resolution calling upon the General Government to reduce the general taxation to tlie lowest possible point, and to raise only so much as is rcqiiired for purely colonial purposes, leaving each province to raise its own taxation in its own way. "We may then expect real reform, a real and not a sham economy. We had intended to have spoken of the unblushing hypocrisy of some of the members of the opposition iu the Council. Their memory must be of the shortest, and their idea of consistency of the most vague and indefinite character. They bawl out now for economy, they point in solemn tones, and in accents "of derision to the present financial position of the Province, and they are the very persons who moved heaven and earth to keep up the expenditure at the highest possible; rate, and opposed in every possible way all efforts at reduction. One of these was a member of the Executive, and brought down and carried the estimates through the Council, aided by the member for Newton, Mr. Creighton. And yet these very men, with an inconsistency and a forgetfuluess of past events and their past acts utterly

astounding, parade themselves before thepublic, idressed in the garb of economists, and'bawl outsat the top of their voice against extravagance, when their own past extravagance has made extravagance as impossible as it is for them to see their own utter inconsistency and shortsightedness. Away with, this organised hypocrisy. Let men remove the film of prejudice and malice from their minde, and set to work, not to cast as much dirt as possible on other people, but to cleanse themselves and do all they can for the good of the country, and so atone as far as in them lies for their past errors.