Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1889. MR REES AND TAXATION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5629, 26 November 1889, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 1889. MR REES AND TAXATION.

There were several points in the political deliverance of Mr Rees which we did not touch upon in our leader last evening. The candidate bases his claim to support mainly on the promises which he makes of relief from general and local taxation. He did not say a word about retrenchment. His plan is to shift the burden from one set of people to another set of people. He would endow the local bodies with the land fund, and thus deprive the Colonial Treasury of that source of income. No doubt the County Councils, Road Boards, and Harbor Boards would not object to see a scheme of the kind carried out, but we undertake to say there are not a dozen intelligent men in New Zealand who believe there is any prospect of tho land revenue being conferred on the local irovernment bodies. The land fund has gone from the districts for ever, a fact which was fully recognised when the Grey Government carried the proposal for colonization of the proceeds of public lands. The drift of legislation for years past has been to throw lo'calburdens more completely on local shoulders, and there is not the slightest sign of a reversion to tho old order of things. The exigencies of General Government finance do _ not allow of liberality to the minor bodies. A Parliamentary Committee may report that it is advisable that larger powers and larger revenues should be conferred on the County Councils, but where is the money to com© from? If the Colonial Government be deprived of any portion of its present income additional taxes would have to be placed on the general body of the people. It would simply be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. A.s regards the land question, we must confess that we would not like to see the management and disposal of the Crown estate transferred from the Central Government to the County Councils. The Provincial Councils were guilty of the grossest mismanagement in dealing with waste lands. Nearly all the large estates in the colony were acquired under the Provincial system. A lot of influence inimical to the public can always be brought to bear on small local bodies, who, without laying themselves open to the charge of corrupt motives or conduct, often yield to personal considerations. The present land system of this colony is one of the most enlightened in the world. The land laws are as liberal as they ein bo, short of giving the land away for nothing. Mr Rees endeavored to make political capital out of the fact that sixty people had reoently acquired sixty thousand acres in Cook County. He thought the areas were so large that poor men had no chance of establishing homes for themselves .ukl families. Anybody possessed of a knowledge of the Crown lands in this district must recognise that an averageof one thousand acres is proof that the Government is endeavoring to place as many people as possible on the land, having proper regard to the future prosperity of the settlers. As for the " poor man " he had better leave the hill country alone. A few thousand acres of rough pastoral country is little enough to ensure the prospect of a comfortable living, and then k settler would require to possess considerable funds at the outset. There could not be greater folly than placing people on the hillsides to starve. This is a splendid pastoral country, but it requires capital to work it. Mr Rees would have displayed generosity if he had given the Government credit for their enlightened land administration. The figures he quoted in condemnation only prove his own ignorance. We have not heard a single experienced settler, no matter what his°political opinions may be, complain of the size of the areas in which the Crown lands have lately been disposed of in this county. Mr Rees is in favor of taxing the English holders of colonial bonds. The proposal embodies a breach of faith and rank robbery. It is quite true that the Home Government taxes the holders of its bonds, just the same as it taxes all other kinds of income. But it must be borne in mind that every halfpenny of the National Debt was raised in England, and all the bonds are held by the Home people. If Great Britain had borrowed, say a thousand millions in Paris, and then turned round and taxed the French holders of the bonds, the case would be analagous to the prooosal made by Mr Rees. Taxation of tills nature would simply mean a compulsory reduction in the rato of interest, and once commenced there is no knowing where it would end. None of the colonies have yet been guilty of so gross a violation of faith, and are not likely to. The spoliation, on the basis of the Property Tax, would give a return of something over L 150,000 a year, but, of course, the amount could be increased. If Mr Rees only knew it, he has hit upon a plan of wiping out the colonial and local debt. Moreover, the proceeding would effectually prevent any fresh loans being raised. After the process commenced, no sane person would think of lending sixpence to New Zealand. But a British community must be in desperate straits before resorting to the dodge of taxing tho English bondholder. On the face of each debenture there is a contract to pay -in London a stipulated sum at stated periods. How could the tax be collected without a violation of the written agreement ?

Graham, Pitt, and Bennett sell to-morrow at 11 sections 61 to 04, block 9, Waimata survey district, containing 211 acres.

Tenders will be received by MrDeLautour until 3 p.m. to-morrow for the right of grazing for any term up to six months on 119 acres, portions of the Matawlu'ro and Whataupoko blocks.

Tho Borough Council meets this evening. Mi' Pe^g announces tho places and time at which he will address tho eleotora. Tho Banks will be closed on Saturday next, the 30th inst.

The Post Office authorities notify that the Matawhero Post Office will close on and from Saturday next.

It will be seen by a Dunedin telegram that Major Pitt lias arrived at Punedin from Australia. After doing the sights of the. Exhibition the Major will come on to Gisborne.

The Loan and Mercantile Agency Company have set up and on view at their warehouse a McCormick light draft reaper and binder.

With regard to tho concert winch was notified to be hold on Thursday evening next the Committee have decided, in order not to clash with the Hospital concert, to postpone the same to a future date, which will be duly advertised.

The sum subscribed up to Friday last for the Free Public Library in Wellington amounted to L 1434 13s. The City Council have granted an allotment on which the building will be erected.

A surprise party, numbering about sixteen gentlemen, paid a visit to Government House last Monday night, and serenaded His Excellency the Governor and Lady Onslow, singing several popular part songs — ' The Rhine,' 'The toast,' 'The evening song,' and others. Lord Onslow hospitably entertained his visitors, and expressed to them his own and Lady Onslow's acknowledgments.

The (joverutnenVare taking steps to make the Sutherland Falls accessible to tourists arriving iv January. Mr Adams, chief survovor, has sent four men round in llie Hinemoa—they left at the end of October— with instructions to improve the track, by bridging creeks, tilling up holes, etc., from Milfoid Sound to tlve Falls, a distance of eight or ten miles. This party is in charge ot Mr Henry Adams, brother to the Chief Surveyor. Tlioy will also attend to the track from the Beech Hut to M'Kinnon's Pass, about two miles. Another party is going out to improve the track from the head of Lake Te Anau to M'Kinnon's Pass, and they will build a tworoomed hut ut the Hetwl of Te Anau Lake for the convenience of tourists. There is * disadvantage in beginning this work so late in the season, but against that may be sut the advantage that tourists will find the parties at work, and thus find the best guides to the locality. The first party will be finished in January; the second party's task will last four mouths.

The Melbourne correspondent of a southern paper writes : The question of paying the sum of L4OO as duty on the tiara of diamonds to be presented to Lady Loch is causing some commotion amongst the subscribers. The amount subscribed (1700) was sent Home, and Lady Lytton (Lndy Loch's sister) was authorised to make the selection of the jewellery. The whole sum was expended in the purchase of the present, and the LIOO is now required for duty. It has actually been proposed that Lady Loch should bo invited to meet the mail steamer outside the bay, so as to evade paying the required sum. The Commissioner of Customs was waited on and asked to remit the duty, but he very properly refused. One member of the Presentation Committee has offered to give LSO if seven others will each contribute a like amount, but as yet his offer has not been accepted.