New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1879. WEEKLY BULLETIN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 405, 15 November 1879, Page 14

New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1879. WEEKLY BULLETIN.

The week has been a quiet one from a political point of view, and the legislative work has progressed steadily. The Triennial Parliaments Bill has now passed its third reading and gone up to the Lords. It is not expected that there will be any difficulties thrown in its way in that chamber, as there can be no doubt that indirectly the Bill will tend to exclude those who “go in for” politics as a profession. Frequent elections with their attendant expenses, and the chance of being unsuccessful into the bargain, must render the career less attractive to needy politicians. The Legislative Council is not likely to object to any Bill which will

tend to limit the number of a dangerous class of politicians who have a voice in the imposing of taxes upon property, but are exempt from the operation of those taxes, because they have no property to tax. Politicians by profession are likely to become very scarce in New Zealand after the passing of the Triennial Parliaments Bill.

Both on Friday and on Tuesday last the greater part of the day was spent in the consideration of the Qualification of Electors’ Bill. In a long and somewhat uninteresting debate some very important amendments were introduced. What the form of the Bill may ultimately assume it is difficult to say. In its present shape the franchise has been extended to all women who possess a freehold estate of the value of £25 sterling, after they have held the property for six months ; and to all men not being aliens or criminals who have resided a year in the colony, and six months in one electoral district. Maoris who are ratepayers in respect of property held severally and not jointly will also be allowed to vote for the election of European members without thereby forfeiting their right to vote for their special representation. There is every probability of the Maori Representation Bill being allowed to drop. The clause which has been inserted in the Qualification of Electors Bill will probably satisfy the House and the country. If anything further is done, it is expected to take the form of an addition to the number of the Maori members under the Maori Representation Act, 1867. Among the new measures in charge of private members of some general importance, which have been passed through the Lower House, the Dramatic Works Copyright Bill and the Imprisonment for Debt Abolition Bill may be mentioned. On Monday next the Colonial Treasurer proposes to bring down the budget, supposing that the Liberal measures are by that time sufficiently far advanced. It is doubtful whether this condition has not been imposed with a view to gain time for the Government, and to induce members to avoid speechifying, and push through the work in the House as fast as possible. The resolve has been generally approved of, and the public are now only anxious that the Bribery and Corruption Bill and the Registration of Electors Bill shall be considered in committee and passed, so as to get them out of the way as soon as possible. The financial proposals will certainly absorb the whole attention of the House as soon as they are delivered ; any other work will be pushed aside, and the whole weight of the Opposition will be brought to bear upon the Government when their intentions have been declared. It is quite impossible to extract three quarters of a million of extra taxation out of the pockets of the New Zealand taxpayers, without raising an indignant storm of protests from those who have to “ stump up ” the money. The task is especially difficult at a time of commercial depression like the present. An all round increase will have to be attempted, and a general outcry will probably be the first result. No one envies Major Atkinson his task of trying to make things look pleasant, and even the oldest politicians declare that it is impossible to predict what would or what would not be acquiesced in by the House. In anticipation of an imposition of further Customs duties, almost all the tea and sugar and large quantities of spirits which were in bond have been taken out. An attempt will very likely be made to reduce or cutoff the subsidies to boroughs. An income and property tax is considered certain. For statistical purposes it would be interesting to know what the incomes of New Zealand settlers really are. Wo believe that the average incomes of sheep farmers at the present are very small indeed. Inasmuch as wool exports represent more than half the value of the whole export trade of New Zealand, the incomes of wool growers would form an important item in the return. The latest advices from England are somewhat more satisfactory so far as the value of wool is concerned ; but the account sales which came to hand during the past week were very disheartening- In very many cases the wool barely realised the value in London which was placed upon it some eight months ago in Wellington, and our readers will remember that values at that time were not by any means calculated at a satisfactory rate for growers. In considering New Zealand wool statistics a return of exports of wool closing with the September quarter is the most reliable for purposes of comparison, as it avoids any mingling of the two season’s clips of wool. The value of wool shows a falling off of £200,575. The weight, as given by the “Wellinglon Price Current,” however, exhibits a slight increase, being 62,643,497 lbs. as against 62,166,251 lbs. for the season 1877-78. The value for 1878-79 is calculated at £3,291,759. From this it appears that the estimated average value per pound of the wool shipped from New Zealand during the twelve months ended September 30th, was about as against about 13£d. during the preceding twelve months. The real value to. the exporter was probably not more than from lOd. to lid.