The Otago Witness.

Otago Witness, Issue 1461, 15 November 1879, Page 15

The Otago Witness.

WISH WHICH IS ISOOBPOItATED THB-'SOOTHBRS MBBOUBY,.' '/. I ;<-•'.•■ n , • 1 ;

DUNEDIS, SATURDAY, 16th NOVEMBER, 1879

The position of tha 'Ministry ' is one which is somewhat peculiar. They* "are riot a coalition Ministry, but f yet' they I owe their existence as a Government to the support of a small, squadron who have deserted froni the'- other' side. They' labour under the stigma that in the persons of Major Atkinson and Mr Whitaker the land-jobbers are protected and represented,' anti while they are engaged in l passing Liberal measures they are suspected of Conservative tendencies, and "of 'a desire to favour the moneyed interests. In all this there is no doubt a "good deal of party exaggeration, and we do not apprehend any serious jobbery while so strong an Opposition confronts the Ministerial benches. We also give credit to Messrs Hall, Oliver, and K'olleston for thorough , honesty of purpose ; while we cannot but deprecate the conduct of supporters like Mr Reader Wood and his Auckland followers. We have the' strongest assurances that these gentlemen have lent themselves to no compact of a corrupt or improper ' character, and that Auckland will receive no more than her proper due. The two important disclosures of policy which are to be declared this week, or early next — the Financial Statement and the Public Works Statement — will give a good indication of the degree in which we may bestow confidence on the Hall Government as one capable of good administration. They have, indeed,- a difficult task to fulfil. With' a< failing revenue and a heavy prospective deficiency, they have on the one J h'andl to impose additional taxation w Order

to make both ends meet, and on the other to meet demands on all hands from hungry representatives of districts eager for public works, and crying perpetually, "Give, give, give." They will have also to incur the odium of retracing the steps made by the late Government in the direction of a free breakfast table by reimposing — as it is expected they will do^— the duties on sugar and tea. They will, indeed, have an opportunity of counterbalancing these imposts by a property or income tax, to adjust the incidence of taxation with fairness ; but then they will have to deal with the land tax, which, to many minds, is the great test of true Liberalism. We do desire to see a fair share of the taxation shifted on to the shoulders of the •wealthier classes, but we cannot see in the present state of the public requirements that any well-established source of revenue can be done without. We want to increase our year's receipts by at least £500,000 to £600,000 beyond the sum that it is estimated our taxation will produce, and we cannot see that the LI 00,000 or so of tea and sugar duties will press hardly on any class if they be reimposed. Mr Ballance fell on bad times for making his financial experiments, and was never permitted to' develop his complete scheme. But at best it was unsafe to depend so largely on land sales, •which, properly speaking, are more fittingly to be regarded as capital than as revenue. Major, Atkinson has to strike out a policy which shall meet the needs of the moment with a minimum .of pressure upon the individual taxpayer, and has at the same time to deal with the legacy handed down to him by his predecessor. It is quite on the cards that the Government may yet be defeated on their financial policy, as it will be hard indeed to conciliate the many opposing elements which are sure to confront them. Then as regards public works l ) we should like to know how, with the limited means at his command, Mr Oliver is to meet all demands. There is no indication that the Government mean to move for the appointment of any select committee to adjust the conflicting claims of the various sections of" . the Colony; and unless some clearly-defined principle can be enunciated, such as the necessity for com-, pleting main lines of communication now in progress, we do not see how many of the demands are to be met without loss of votes. We should be glad indeed if Mr Oliver saw his way to the appointment of a commission or Board of Works, whose duty it should be, as an independent body, to apportion to each section of the Colony its proper share of public money on some well-defined principle — it being first laid down as an axiom that the Colony could undertake no works whatever which after a careful investigation did not give good promise of being directly reproductive. If these, great questions of Finance and Public Works are dealt with in a just and businesslike manner by the present Government, it will give them a title to office such as they do not possess; at present, and the leaders of the Liberal party will learn that all wis- . dom does not die with them. If, on the other hand, they are feebly dealt with, whatever majority the Government enjoy at present will soon dwindle until they are placed in a minority. Time alone will then plead for them for the present session, as the approach of shearing will take a good many members away, and three weeks must in all probability close the session.