"THE ASSEMBLY: WHAT IT WILL DO."

Otago Witness, Issue 1488, 22 May 1880, Page 13

"THE ASSEMBLY: WHAT IT WILL DO."

Auckland, May 17tb.

Mr E. J. Moss, M.H.B. fjr Farnell, haa published a woll-written paper under the heading, "The Assembly: What it will do." He says: "No one will dispute the financial difficulty, whatever differences there may be respecting the causes to which it is due. A chronic deficit had harassed overy Ministry since 1869, but after the Public Works policy of 1870, by the transfer of charges and use of the land fund it waa heard of do more ; bufc it exists still, and it now reappear.! before us in > all the increased proportions it has acquired by neglect during an era of extravagance and wftHto. The cause of its reappearance is the sudden falling-nff of the land revenue. They who attribute it to tbia or to that particular Ministry, among the Ministries which inherited the ppHcnlaUve and wasteful policy of 1879, indulge in mare psrty talk unworthy o£ serious consideration. Whon Major Atkinnon, then Treasurer, made his last Financial Statement three ntw member*, myself among them, regarded it with mistrust from its evident party tone, and objected strongly to the action he proposed to take. We disputed the alleged necessity for heavy additional taxation. We held that the expected deficit must b9

exaggerated, b.-cause we could nutconcaive xta anticipation ou so largo ft scale without ccmo m«teri?! reduction "f exu'wduurj beta* }>*■'•" po?cd to nieff i ,. Of ttiia" e> duotion thero w 0 vo ki i. Royal Oomtt>»a-i'nflrJ have giuci lie-:- ;; u ;iO <iu"<?'l t.i co-Hru OU flm O'VJI StTvi-,* . I pir-nfii*' fit .!. tl'ia i'» d >j*o wiUi a ' ie<i r to r»-U-'Hohn.ou!., and thar. the Ass^m'n^ wilt b^ ftsln'-i '/»!■;■ a! L'T'iriei.rirK. It is 'O bo hoped $,!u j Awii'lly i ,i!l '/so 1 ; a^rje in stnoh >< vr. p j-ai, if if; aHu'At i.o niMle. An irrevoraol'-.. uotumifsiou,, chi'f!',;i druoifc exalas.'wOy ?/ r a« pr^nonncofl paHis<M:s of the G-ivernmo'ifc, i-k->(.'Ll not huva lio>i'i entruste.i with theje or any other rii the duties whic'i a Miaiefcry li;\a r.lway < been rB?»nlod rw only c.mpotont ana >)ayimf r atuvol authority to perform. Meantime it is liestrabio tha-, t.!ie paopla of the Colony i hould bo enabled to see clearly for thewpelvesjiow antl for wbat purposes the expenditure is incurred, and what available revenue ttiere ia to meeh it. Fiiat there is the interest and ainkirg fund on tho public debt. By the time the next Estimates are before the House the debt will have been increased to a little less th&n L 29,000,000, subject to a reduction of a million anl three-quarters for sinking fund, and the debt may therefore be taken at L 27,250,000. The annual charge for tho pubic dobfc is L 1.400,000 for iutevest, aud_Lll6,l76 for sinking fund, open to h reductiou as the stock bocoines inscribed . Meantime we have lo pro vid i for a sum of L 1.516,170, less probably LIOO,OOO for interest on the unexpended portion ot the la^t L 5 000 000 lofm. TMs snakes as the first charge L 1.416,170. Tne Civil list absorb* L 29 750; under BpecialActs,L4o,s74;-total, L 1.486 494 These permwK-nt charg a cannot he impartially reduced to any appreciable extr-nfc.

AVAILABLE REVENUE.

Lei; us see how far the net available revenue of L 1,754,705 will meet thesw charts. The whole of our available revenue, including the land tax since repealed, is jn«t suffiviint to pay the permanent charges and leave a balance of only L 165.000 to meot other costsof government, amounting to L 1.085,000, and showing a deficit infigures of LS2o,ooo. lusathaterm <( infigureß" advisedly, becauHO the appropriation* havo always included considerable sums _tho,fc ought not to apytar. They are most likely to be opont. The exporitmce of past years wiil justify tho reduction of at least L 150,000 on thia account, making tho real deficit 1 .670,000, which the repeal of the land tax will bring uo lo L 768,000. What will the Assembly d ) in faca of this deficiency ? Will ift still imuat on imposing new burdens, or will it first iasisfc oa the Ministry exhausting every fair and prop-r meats ir> redact) tho c^st of government, so largely increased during the period through which we have jusfc parsed ?

HUMOURED NEW PROPOSALS.

I have taken tho probable land revmue at L 500.000 instead of L 380,000, which is tho return for the present year. It will be Beeu that even with this addition there will be in round numbers the large sum of three quarters of a million to provide. The property tax as modified in its passage through the House is not likely to yield towards this deficiency a forger cum than L 350.00 0; aud thero is good reason to believe that considerable pressure will be brought to bear on the Government to reduce it much below this amount. The additions made to the customs taxation have not been succes«ful in keeping up the returns even to the level of the previous year. A large sum remains under any circumstances to be provided. It is rumoured that a school fee equal to the old Otago rate of la per week will be imposed ; that an excise will be levied ou beer to produce LIOO.OOO j and that the sugar and tea duties will be increased. But these will be only expedients for adding iv different forms to the burdens which are already bard to bear. School fees in district schools are proved to decreaae the attendance, to produce m»Dy evils and injurious distinctions, and to fall most heavily on those least able to bear them ; but their worst effect would be to destroy tha national character of our schools, and to lower their status as well aB tho status of the teacbera. Additions to indirect taxation in any form of excise or customs would fall only on the_ consumer, diminish consumption, and cause, in all probability, a corresponding diminution of revenue from other sources. The loanß nra neatly expended, the purchasing power of the mass of the people is dopendent on tbeir wages, _ and must therefore be reduced, anda policy that would choose that occasion to impose upon thorn fresh burdens, is harsh and narrow, aud certaio. to defeat itsslf ■ If the Assembly does its duty t will set ita face firmly against a policy of this character. It shouW feel strengthened in thiH resolve by comparison with Victoria, which, with nearly twice our trade and population, finds a difficulty in raising through its Custom house a million and a-half, which our Treasurer calculated on raising in New Zoaland. It is proposed to withdraw the subsidies from local bodies. These subsidies are regarded on all sides with favour, but new taxation will certainly not be submitted to io. order to pay them. It is to be hoped that Ministers will find it possible so to reduce the cost of administration as to save these subsidies, reforming at the same time the very unequal and unfair mode in which they aro now distributed.

SBPABATION OF THE LAND FUND.

There remains the proposal of tho Treasurer to separate the land fund altogether from the Colonial revenue, a proposal which appears to mo to be full of injustice, pjid likely to bring back the evils of the detestable and unequal compact of 1856, under which the Northern part of Now Zealand ao long groaned. It is to be hoped that the Assembly will not suffer this to ba done, but will take care that the land revenue— an important part of the property of the Colony— is not again diverted from Colonial purposes.

HETBENOHMENT AND TAXATION.

When the property tax was first brought down to replace the land tax the Treasurer calculated on obtaining from it L 470.000. It js sweeping and heavy, and a bastard imitation of the American system. It preserves the worst features of that system. While setting aside local assessment and local appropriation, which save the tax from being as obnoxious in America as it has been made here, there is another material difference. Personal property of the kinds we are now taxing has n<wer boen operated on by the Federal Governmeut in the United States. It is only taxed by separate States to raise money for local government and for local purposes. Ministers in this matter are between Scvlla and Charybdis. On the one hand they will alienate powerful eupportera. to w.horn taxation may cause inconvenience and loes ; on Iha other hand they will unjustly place a heavy burden on those least able to beir it, and will be asßipting to sink lower those with whom tti9 struggle for existence is already sufficiently keen. Thero can be no doubt ai to which course any patriotic Ministry is bound to take, but it will need to be supported by a united and vigorous public opinion— the only power that cau force it, or force the Assembly to deal effectively and impartially with largo questions of retrenchment, reform, and taxation that the Colony is bound at its peril now to face. It is obviowly impossible to lighten taxation for the present : but it is hardly necessary to repeat that it will bs the duty of the House not to countenance new taxation of any kind

uxstil H\e meanß of reduuuigtiie cost of govetnmont b;<,ve bein oxh>u?fcn.!. The House its hobledH to enter into details. It caa 'inly eff-y-, .-•k.cii'in 4 hr-u'ih the Muii^sT of Jb« >■ .«., wit: whom cil 'no this jivt.>at">e ?' L IX ' "^'-'S ''■;'.• o's whi-m 'hpi re?)> w io'l ty n\u>\ r s'r. i.'i &\of;lo rn^Mi' *\r fijui no b<;dy of ni iao^;i h ,i thvu a uuHon rmij"thy can attouips tho t*sk. Tiv 1": cuuiot bo sec' i a io»j 'tily u-jl-"h sir >u,qr pullio feoling ai'« opinion ni i «> sruu«ed tocie.ti/i )i. It thrf prt:.'eut MiiA-ieiß pcove tliOtn^elv s pr-pj-ftred to ftC. v'»i< r <>i«[/ j»urt to dn-il tearviestly with i'/t> doficit itt thit spirit, ! hav -'AM h >ye birV-ro them a hard f-.nd unthnnkful lank, bur. v,ill receivu support fr.sm all auks <f the .House and trom f.he country.

DECKN TRALISATION.

I way bo allowed to say that I am nob sanguine of success so long m the preset; Byatem of Centralisation ia in the ascendant. To effect real and adequate saving, local government in its true and most eff ootive sense, and with all its powers of voluntary local effort, must bo restored. A 1-gislaturo sitting at a cost of LSCO p^r day is an unsuitable machine to d<> Hie local work and local legislation now fenced upon it. Last seeeion a small amendment of tho Slaughterhouse Act was introduced to suit the circu>Tistances of certain portions of the Auckland province. Tna amendments were found to affect districis in Otago and in Canterbmy, where the original Acti was workiog satisfac.orily. The bill wn4 raf erred to a select committee »t member* f com those provii.cia. It vraa altered and realtereii, brought aevorai times before the Hou=(«, e&A finally dropped as impracticable. This lifctlo atieiapn at a bill muat; have loßt altogether a di»y'd sitting, equtl to LSOO, and if? a type of much of the wosk done by the Assembly,

WHAT WILL THK ASSEMBLY DO ? It beoocctip, then, of greater moment when we ask what will the Amenably do, [ have cidtiftvoured to point out tho nature of tho diffi culty before it, and the lines on which it may possibly work in dealing with the finance of the Colony and other matters rf equal importance, such m Native) xuanajpmen' antl Ne.tivo lands, redistribution of sea's, public works, charitable institutions, aud &Mve> all, the ea iablidbmonfc of a Honud pysfcem of loc il govern-m-nt. Theie will dwuand early attention. If the Asdemhly acquits itsolf in fouling with fcheae larije queutious, ao will it either command renewed coufiience or bo regarded wit,h in* ereaucd mistrust by the people of the C >L:>ny, whom its finance has plunged into difficulty, whom its legislation h-w left without local government, and whom it {-a* foroert to depend on its wisdom au;no. If ia tho earning struggle th<.y would nave themsalvos, and h.ivo thoir families from the crushing fffact which tho unfuvrifss in the incidence of taxation must have upoa them, and if they woull not ace public lights in Native and in public lauds made subordinate to the profit of private persona ; if they would have the Ojlony governed only iv the interests of the whole of its people, they will not dttpend on lha generosity or gracious consideration of any net or order of men. They will trust to themselves aloae. They will to a man place theuißelves on the electoral roll while there is yet time, aud so possess a potential vote in deciding their own destinies, the destinies of their children, and the destinies of the country iv the crisis through which it v about to p&ss. The above are merely the salient features of Mr Hobs' paper.