Correspondence.

New Zealand Herald, Volume V, Issue 1343, 6 March 1868, Page 3

Correspondence.

Our correspondence columns being open to all,"we do not hold ourselves responsible for any opinions expressed therein. Correspondents are requested to write onty on one jt'tfe of the paper, and, to prevent mistakes, they should write as legible as possible.

NUTS TO CRACK FOR FINANCIAL REFORMERS. To the Editor of the Hhraxd.

Sib, —Having attained to the dignity of an M.A. P.R.I. by virtue of paying my subscription to the Interim Secretary, I felt desirous of rendering- myself at once an expert in the financial reformation science, and I commenced my allotted task by overhauling the last quarterly returns of the revenue of the colony. In that labour of love I was greatlj rewarded by the discovery of a rich harvest of nuts that are now waiting for the financial reformers to crack. These nuts may be deemed to be full-sized Cocker nuts, from thoir vast proportions. They may also be viewed a* the natural representation of the mote that is to be found in our own eyeß, and they say, in most eloquent terms, " Man reform thyself." These nuts, or facts, are thus described in the last quarterly returns Of the revenue of the colony. Beceived for duties on imported ale, beer, &c., £8,889; spirits, £87,104; wine, £9,999: and tobacco, cigars, &c., £23,838, making for the quarter, £129,830, which, multiplied by four, gives a total of Customs imposts for the year 1867, upon those articles, of £519,320. It will thus be seen that the above quoted articles contribute about five-eighthß of the total of the whole revenue of the colony. In addition to the duties, the cost price of these commodities will havo to bo added, as follows: —Ale, beer, &c., £128,84-4 ; spirits, £205,631 ; wine, £10,665, and tobanco, cigars, 4c., £68,150. By adding the value of these articles to the amount of the duties paid on them, and adding 25 per cent, for the vendor's profits, a grand total of £1,165,800 is thuß found to be expended yearly in New Zealand for articles of pure luxury. There are two other charges to be added to make the return complete— the "cost of colonial aleß and the value of the smuggled spirits, &o. But the total of the-e items must be left entirely to our imagination. In looking at these figures, may it not be most emphatically said—man reform thyself! If such a reformation were effected, would not the minor evils of colonial and provincial taxation be considered less irksome ? Although the removal of the former would be no palliation for the latter encumbering the progress of the colony. Reformation in finance is certainly required, but in order to make our political antagonists believe that we are ic. earnest, let us begin with ourselves. —I am, &c., M. A. F. B. L. March 5. _