THE Otago Daily Times. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1872.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3246, 2 July 1872, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1872.

Comparisons between the expenditureand taxation of different countries can-; not always be satisfactorily made. ISFotj only are the circumstances of each! country peculiar to itself, but the ob-j jects upon -which, public moneys are? spent are not everywhere identical.^ There are, nevertheless, some pointsi useful for comparison in the financial^ statistics of various States, and thej general totals of national balance' sheets are not bad indices of thef political and economical condition! of the communities to whom they; belong. Tn connection with a dis-J cussion of the financial condition and prospects of New Zealand, a few com-; parisons of her affairs with those of; other countries will be found interest ing, and are certainly not uninsiructive. The whole revenue of Great Britain three years ago was equal to £2 12s per head of the population of the three; Kingdoms. X<eaving out of consideration the special revenues of the Provin-' cial Governments in New Zealand— that is, the amounts these Governments! raise by local taxation, and receive; from the Territorial Kevenue—the revenue of this Colony was last year nearly £4 per head. The purposes for; which these revenues were raised in the; two countries are sufficiently similar to render the comparison important. Out: of the revenue raised by the Colonial Government, no more in proportion was expended on public works than in; England. The balance sheets of other; Colonies cannot properly be compared! with that of the mother country, becauHo their expenditure on roads! and other public works requiredin new countries, is included in< the former. This hindrance to a fair; comparison does not .exist in our own; case. By going into a little further; detail we may; however, bring the; neighbouring Colonies into the com-? parison, so as to ascertain the relative,; incidence of drdinary taxation there,; at home, and amongst ourselves. For; instance, the following figures are,; wortib considering. The last Estimates j laid before thje Imperial Parliament! give us the following computations of; expected Revenue from the more important items of taxa^on,: —pustoma, i £20$80,0()6!; Excise, " £23,31C>,000 ;; Stamps, ,£9,700,000 ,' Assessed Taxes, ■ £2,300,00^ In Victoria tne Customs Revenue,) which includes such ■'>■ Excise' duties as; are there ,lev^e^,.. was f for, the past; financial year,j£l, 'B 'T6,sd<6. For the; same period J in r< New ; Zealand the; Colonial Treasurer's last ,es|imato was—Customs (including Excise duties),? £750,000 ; Stamps, £80,000, For the; periods to w|iich these .figures be-; long, we may take the population of the three- countries tdvb«^Great Britain! 30,000,000, Victpria73O,9OO, ifew Zea-' land 260,000. the various; items we obtain in round numbers the; following results per head of popula-j tion : —Great Britain, Customs and] Excise, £1 Hb 3d; Stamps, 6s 5d ;j; Direct Taxes, .6s 2d; making together a taxation under these heads of £2 Is; lOd per h'uktd j 'Victoria; Custbtos andj Excise, 0n1y,,#2: 4s, per head; : New \ Zealand, Customs and Excise,. £2 10s, j Stamps, 68^' or '""'togetHer/--5%2 16s j per head.: tTakiisg same periods i we have the following figures in connection with another :very important subject of r!i comparison—7-the annual burden caused by tlie public debt. Under this head we have:—Great Britian, £26,830,000 ; Victoria,£7os,24o; and New Zealand, £540,988. These figures yield us the unpleasant-looking result that in New Zealand the annual disbursement in respect of the debt of the Colony was already, in 1871, nearly four times as great per head oJF population as it is in Great Britain. They show for Great Britain 10s 9d pet* annum per head of population, for Victoria 19s, and for New Zealand £2 la. We have run into debt to the tune of another million or two since the date for which we have taken this estimate. Let us take another point of comparison. For Army, Navy, Civil Service, and Collection of Revenue, Great Britain is this year to pay £38,458,000, or £1 5s per head of population. Last year it was arranged tlitat this little Colony should pay .£362,000, or £1 7s per head of population, for the following items (which correspond pretty nearly with those just quoted for Great Britain), viz.:— Army, Public Departments, Law and Justice, and the Customs, Native, Militia and Volunteer Departments. This is exclusive of all Provincial expenditure on objects of a similar nature, as, for instance, the administration of Justice on the Goldfields, and so forth.

A few comparisons equally instructive may be made between New Zealand Financial Statistics and those of European nations other than Great Britain. The total taxations of the more important States of Europe, estimated at per head of population, are as follows for the years stated :—■ Austria, 1870, £1 10s 6d; Spain, 1869, £1 15s Id ; Russia, 1869, XI 3s 6d; Belgium, 1870, £1 6s 3d; France, 1861 (we have not a later year available), £2; Proaria, 1865 (before the formation.of the North German. Confederation), 15b 3d. Or again, take the following extremely interesting figures,

VxepTesec^'^xe annual burdens, for. ro&BJrest in; the same; States, v estiiiia|ed at pefc head jaf;U population :—|Spain7'?lß6^, % J^Bpsia, li&pdiM^i JB^lgiuml^ ■J865,-"'lb 7-id>>"Lefc these figures lie "cotrtpiircid with the similai* statistics for j JNc,vk .Zealand.,. Tho comparison cannot' fail to awaken reflections whick ought to be very 'useful^ ;if those -who inake 1 them will but act in accordance, with the TOrivictions which.,, they are calculated to insjiirk' '. ,". v*.

The inward English mail,' ma Suez,- is due at Melbourne to-day. The telegraphic intelligence, at least, brought by it is likely to reach New Zealand by tiio .Albion, which is due at the Bluff in three or four days. The dates from London by thie 'mail will be as follows :—By post, to May 17th ;by telegraph to Oalle, to June 7th or 14 days later than the latest date rUt, San Francisco.

A deputation, consisting of Messrs F. Smith, J. .Hartley, and.De Lacey, waited upon the Superintendent yesterday, with the view of getting West Harbour proclaimed a subdivision of the North 3£aat Valley district, altogether independent of Signal Hill, with which, according to the new Roads Ordinance, it is incorporated. His Honour promised to lay the matter before the Executive.

Two memorials to the General Government —the one from ladies and the other from gentlemen, resident in, Dunedin—are now, in course of signature, their purport being to "recommend Mrs Caroline Howard as a com-1, potent, person to aiaist in the selection of female emigrants in England." The memorialists go on to say that Mrs Howard " has been for many years engaged in Duncdin in conducting a Labour Office, and wo believe that her experience and abilities as a.public 'lecturer would be found most useful in England,, not only towards inducing emigration, but also in supplying to female emigrants useful information upon the subjects on which they need to be informed." .

A meeting-of tho, Dunedin Water Works' Company was held yesterday, and, after discussion, a motion, adjourning the consideration of the question of Colonel Kitchener's mortgage, sine, die, was carried. We understand that a trial of Messrs Boltonand Elder's " Itock-render" will be, made at Manuka -Creek on Friday next, when a blast of 3001bs will bo fired in Mr Coombea's clahn.

A gentleman who recently visited the Zoological Gardens in London, states that there is but one kakapo in the Gardens, which' is much rnore'prized than the kiwis, of which there arc four, viz. ;—Tw|> Apteryx (hoenii, and two A. Mantelli. Onti tui, a few wekas, and a kaka wore the only other representatives of New Zealand he noticed in tho collectiou.

We motiee that the Committee which has been appointed in Melbourne for the purpose: of inviting to the Colonies an Eleven composed of the most celebrated 'English' gentle-? incn cricketers, in addressing circulars to the" various cricket clubs, in Victoria and the neighbouring Colonies upon the subject of the proposed matches with the English team, have omitted to send a circular to any of the Clubs in New Zealand. It in now eight years and a half since the English Eleven, captained by George Parr, visited this Colony, and siiace that time the Chriatchurch and Dunedin grounds have beenconsiderably im-; proved. At Christchtircb, moreover, the game is very popular, and each year the^ Interprovincjal team has to be selected from a long list of practising cricketers. We are| sorry to say, however, that nothing like as; good a, team could be formed to represent this Province, at the present time, as played; for Otago in the beginning of 1864, and if the e&nso inattention to •' practice coriti-j nues to be displayed by oar Dunedin cricketers, we think they had better try some other game. There are many lovers o£ the game here, however, who would be Bincerely sorry to, ace qricket(gq*tq the wall,; and they no doubt will make an effort in the coming summer to. get, the players to prac-; tise. The"' projected'visit of the English; team fco the Colonies presents an opportunity: of stimulating the game, which should not; be lost! eight of.■ j sTho Canterbary and Ofcago, cricketers should join in asking the Mel-; bourne Committee .whether an arrangement; can be made by which Ihe English Eleven, ■ in the event of their.visiting the Colonies, should come over to New Zealand, after having fulfilled all their Australian engagements. It was understood in 1864, that Mr S Joni* was no loser by his speculation in bringing Parr's team to New Zealand. Ai visit from the English players, however, next season, might be arranged for, we are inclined to think, at very much less expense than that which Mr Jones incurred eight or; nine yearn ago. Should the Californian boats continue toJ ruiijv j it 'might' be arrifriged, for instance, that the English cricketers should return home b/ way of America, and matches j might be played at Dunedin and Christchurch while' they were e/i route from Melbourne to San Francisco. In the interest of cricket, we recommend our players to take an early opportunity of'communicating with the Committee of the Melbourne Cricket Clubs, with the view of ascertaining whether there, ;ts any chance of .the English -team being able to visit New' Zealand. It' lias been made a condition by the Committee thatMirW.,6. Grace should be rinefof theplayers. To see thiß " wonder" playing the balls would,bo a (right wejU worth seeing, and we do not suppose that if Mr Grace and' his friends had a chance of wielding the wiJlow on the Dunedin ground our local players would complain of waut of practice in the field. !

In Tokomairirb it' rained incessantly all Thursdlay night, Friday, and part of Saturday. The river was heavily flooded on 'Saturday night and Sunday, but no damage was o-jcai^uned. On Sunday night the j weather suddenly changed to a very severe j frost, amd the following morning the juve- | niles enjoyed the home luxury of a slide to 'school., ~. ~,- M ; Althongh wie lave happily no war in the North Island, it rappeara' that we have a Native Contingent, ■ who do.not come under ;the " payments by results" arrangement, of which we* heard a jfobd deal some time ■ago. A correspondent, - writing to the New Zealand Herald, from Te Papa jTauranga),, .describes somii of these warriois; who hare lately been stopping at the '.'native hospice" there, as foUoww:—'JThey were all jyoung, fine, insty/lad^ as plump as par. tridgett, and ipparentiiy f*a» '"" contented with the world aad their circumstances as it was possible?** \Htf-JOttf '» *»*°fyi*»}»?fSEl' dered 'tii, for their lives must be one continual holiday on good pay and rations, with »oe«Mrion;il wtcanion from their quwrters, and a flying thot at T« Kooti or his foUowers, to

' vary the 'monotony of their existence. As these excursions are usually safe, tliey cannot be considerrxl a drawback, bat rather other■iWiset'i Xi^j aien seem to enjoy tllieir drill, ;,andju?e quitejproficient. It is noticeable that n^Cfife:bithe«e, v even among one another, con. '.ver^ed'in English, of which accomplishment tliey^Bqefluaistuer proud. Te Kociti having given them the slip, and. found his way to. the Waikato, they will Have less to do than Tornierlyi \ except to perfect themselves in driil and target practice. Nevertheless, provision Has been made.for,their amusement by a supply of quoits sent" from here, which wilJ tend to improve their muscular development and harden its fibre." Captain 'SMoir is the leader of this band of holiday-makers. ■ Jn ,the International Exhibition in London, ■ New Zealand is represented ,by four water colour sketches ; two by Mi" Gaily, of Nelson, and two by. Mr Barrand, of Wellington. We are glad to learn fcliat. these pichires have been hung in good, jilaces,*.aud we hope that the deserving artists above mentioned will benefit by this exhibition of their works. ' There ,is also on .exhibition a large piece of quartz from the Caledonian mine. •. A London paper BJ*ye o£ this latter that "it is,a greenish grayish, stome, and appears to be impregnated with gold throughout.'^, - . '■ '■'■■,•" A Benevolent Association has been forncd, at Wanganui. At the-ordinary quarterly meeting.of tho! Presbytery of Southland, which was held at: Inveircargili on the 2Gth i«Bt., tho Rev. Mr Stobo gave notice of the following overtures for next meeting of Presbytery, viz. :— " Whereas there is reason to fear that the principles on which'-'the^Ordinance of Baptism ought to bo dispensed in this churoh; are not sufficiently understood, and that there is not sufficient uniformity of practice in regard to this ordinance, on 'the part of the various ministers, it is humbly overtured' by the Presbytery of Southland to the Synod: of Ofcago and Southland, to take l;his matter .into consideration, with a view to make, clear ,the principles and practical rules by which the rainiaters of thia Church shouldbe giiidcd in this matter." And also— " Whereas in the Directory for" I'ublic Worship, prayers and ■ religious services atfunerals, either made at tlie grave, or by or^ towards the dead body, are directed to*be; laid aside, are liable to be abused, to imper-i stitiiDUS ends, and whereas the practice of iisin,g such prayers is becoming common, it ib humbly overtured to the Synod of Otago and Southland to take this matter into con- j sideiratton, with a view to declare the practice on such occasions which this church •ought to adopt." 1 In an article on the County system as carried' out in. WesUaml, the Grey River Argris expresses the following opinion :— "It does not go far enough, and is, poli- ' ticallly, ' neither fish, fleuh, nor good salt herring.' It is a lumbering Term of Government, without power or prestige. It has failed, specially in Westland, and surely the general public will, to a man, seek its abrogation, and the be bstitniion of an administration of Coastal affaire more in. consonance "• with tho wants of its population, and at the same time of a far leas costly character." Mining . matters) at Rosa, Westland, are reported to be in a satisfactory state, not- j withstanding the aevcre weather. Tho black swaoti introduced to this Colony from Atistralia wem to have multiplied very rapidly. The Wairarapa correspondent of the Evening Post writes that no less than 260 of those birds were counted one day; about a fortnight ago upon the Wairarapa lake. ; : '\ .. .. | • The drama of " Edcndale " waa again duced at the Princess Theatre, last evening, Ito a moderate audience. " The Man about, ' Town," whicU formed the afterpiece, was, ! very humorous. Our monthly Summary for Europe will be ] published to-morrow. ; Several communications from correspondents arc unavoidably held over to our next issue. ... The 28th monthly meeting of the Third New Zealand Building and Mutual Investment Society will be held this evening, at 7. The quarterly summoned meeting of the .Court Pridaof .Dunedin,_No...37Bo,A.O.B 1., will be held this evening at 8.