The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 864, 15 August 1879, Page 2

The Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY, AUGUST 15, 1879.

It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance that every candidate, offering himself for Parliamentary honors, announces himself as an advocate of " liberal principles," or " liberal measures," or l( liberal views." But we are not very well informed what is meant by the words. Sir George Grey is the advocate of a liberal policy, but" he has been outvoted, and his Parliament dissolved m the face of his reiterated expressions. No man has yet been bold enough to say that the Customs duties of the Colony shall be abolished, as they have nearly been m New South Wales, and will shortly be m South Australia, which has made the former Colony the most prosperous of all the Colonies m the Southern Hemisphere. We have had opinions as respecting an income tax, a property tax, and a land- tax ; but we hear of no proposals by which the excessive burdens, and which the working and middle classes of New Zealand suffer so greatly, shall be lightened. Triennial Parliaments are very well ; cheap land, on deferred payments, is veiy well ; the granting of a liberal franchise, and the readjustment of the electorates, are very well. They are presumed to be liberal measures ; but there are some six hundred articles passing through the Custom Houses of both islands which are taxed, and we have not had a word from any one of the candidates to indicate that an effort will be made to reduce these imposts, either m number or amount. We do not object to add another five millions to the public debt wbich has already been incurred ; but we know that while the expenditure of so much money will benefit only certain classes, th'ei*e is nothing said that those so benefitted — the landed estate holders — shall pay for . the increased enrichment of their estates. All men must pay duty upon what they eat, drink, wear, or consume, and there is *no intimation given that relief from excessive taxation is at hand. The man earning thirty shillings a week, or cultivating an acre of land, consumes as much tea and sugar as the man m receipt of thirty thousand a year, is owner of half a county j consequently the former contributes as much to the revenue for two of the necessaries of life as the millionaire. There is great cr^in favor of relieving the working man ; but there is nothing promised him m the way of relief. The taxation imposed on the •people is unequal, but we hear nothing of any attemjjt to equalise it. The * electors appear much more interested as to what set of men shall form- a Ministry than • What concerns their own immediate interests. For instance, what has been done with the large trust moneys m the hands of the Government 1 What has, come of the sinking funds of the several loans'? In what securities have they been invested? Howitbout the moneys lodged m the Post Office Savings' Banks, and the premiums received from life insurance Are these all kept separately

under their several heads 1 "We are not told they are, but we do glean indirectly that they are not ; but are simply represented by Government debentures. We think the electors are being so blinded by the flag emblazened with the words " liberal measures" waved before them, they quite forget that every loan brings increased taxation, which goes into the revenue to meet the interest upon loans already contracted, and from which only a few sections of the people are benefitted. We think the time has come when the people should ask whether they have not borrowed quite as much as they will be able to pay the interest on, unless they are willing that the necessaries of life should be further taxect.