THE GOLD DUTY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1432, 3 May 1879, Page 9

THE GOLD DUTY.

TO THE EDITOR. Sib— Mr Vindent Pyke, in his address to his •constituents at Clyde, has made various remarks in regard to the gold duty, which •deserve some , notice. Mr Pyke seems to think miners and their property are free from taxation ■oi any kind, whioh would not be the case if the

gold duty was to be abolished. As Mr Pyke * ould infer that, if the gold duty was to be abolished, then all mining property would be taxed to an extent more injurious to the gold miner than what he suffers by the gold duty impost. It ia surprising to me that any gold mining constituency could listen to such logic without expressions of dissent, as Mr Pyke ond all his constituents must be well aware that a gold miner pays a poll tax of one pound per year for the privilege of earning a living, and any privilege he holds in connection with gold mining. He has still to pay a lesser or greater amount as a tax to the Government, and unless the Dunstan district is an exception to any other part of New Zealand, the miners' places of abode are taxed as well as any other rateable property. In the face of well-known facts, it; requires any person to be possessed of a large amount of gullibility for him to cram down the throats of the inhabitants of a gold mining district, that if the gold duty was abolished the gold miners would be free from taxation, and, as it were, paupers on other section* of the community. That the electors of the Dunstan should applaud Mr Pyke's ideas on the gold duty, is to me quite a subject of surprise. Either the gold mining portion of the electors are under some sort of glamour, or they are enjoying a privilege that no other gold mining community in New Zealand is fortunate to possess, viz : being allowed to mine for cold on Crown Lands without paying any sum of money to the Government for the privilege. Mr Pyko deserves credit f oi' expressing his readiness to vote for the gold duty being abolished, but his attempt to show that if the gold duty was struck off, the gold miner would suffer a loss by the taxation that would be levied on Him in place of the gold duty, is logic that gold miners should find it a very hard matter to accept as a solution of the question. I would very much like to hear from any of the correspondent? of your valuable paper, some convincing proof that the gold duty is the only taxation that gold miners are subjected to. I—l1 — I am, &c.i Andrew J. Nicol. Dunedin, April 28th, 1879.