THE KAWAU ART COLLECTION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VII, Issue 1108, 30 August 1880, Page 2

THE KAWAU ART COLLECTION.

Sir Georgk Grey is said to possess the most valuable in New Zealand, and to have at hiß lovely home at Kawaw some rare and beautiful works of art. Tn fact visitors to Sir George's island agree in J stating that h'ishouse and grounds abound with the evidence of taste, ease, luxury, and wealth. Hitherto the shores of Kawaw have not been defiled by the feet of the tax-gatherer. Tho accumulated wealth of the arisbocratic possessor has not contributed a sixpence to the revenue of the country that he has adopted as his own. Through the loopholes of his island retreat he has peeped at the toilers of the colony ; he has seen the stir of the busy builders working for the prosperity of the country, but his hands have not been soiled, nor his ears deafened by the noise of the labor. His money out at interest silently supplies with all that tends to make his life in this world a paradise ; the elegance of his taste suggests his luxuries ; his lordly income enables him to gratify his pleasure," and^tp surround himself with comforts. A&d now it has come to pass that property must be taxed ; when everyone possessing more than £500 worth of property is called upon to assist the country in the hour of itsneed. Is Sir George Grey the first to come to the rescue 1 Is he the foremost amongst the advisers of the State to suggest the remedy, and offer his mite towards the means ? Not he. He shrieks at the idea of accumulated wealth being taxed, and writhes at the thought that his beautiful art treasures must be appraised by the taxcollector. "Put an export duty on wool ; increase the burdens of the industrious ; place a drag on the progress and prosperity of the country, if you please but leave my books and my works of art olone." Such was the tone of Sir George Grey's speech on the Property Tax Bill ; and who shall say he was not wise in his generation '? When it has come to the pinch, Sir George Grey's patriotism is discovered to be of the character that would shed every drop of his brother's blood for. the good of the country. Self-preservation is : the first law of nature, and Sir George bows to its dictates with no more lofty resignation than can be found in the lowliest of "down-trodden aevis."— Daily Telegraph.