Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1923. THE OUTER HARBOR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16186, 24 July 1923, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1923. THE OUTER HARBOR.

The Harbor Board has much cause foiv satisfaction for the very thorough manner in which the Appeal Court has dealt with its appeal against the latest judgment of Mr. Justice Reed. The. advice given by the- Board's solicitors and counsel to appeal against the very lengthy and technical judgment of the Court be<low, has been abundantly justified. The judgments of the,. Appeal Court are especially valuable, as no one in future can have any. feeling of uneasiness that the Board has in any way been a party to, or has itself perpetrated, any act which would give any ono a moral right to object to, or to feel aggrieved at. As the unfortunate contract made with Mr. Lysnar by a former Board had in a previous action been held by the Appeal Court to have been void, as made in a manner which was in excess of the Board's power to contract, it was open to suggestion, that in some way '-or other, the contract being ultra vires, that advantage had been taken to make use of Mr. Lysnar's work without payment. This can never be suggested, as it is now clear, although Mr, Lysnar was undoubtedly acting in perfectly good faith, hehad, in fact, nothing to sell. If anybody was entitled to credit as the discoverer of a remedy for harbor troubles by a divert : on of the river to the west, it was Mr. Reynolds, who made use of and plotted the* idea in actual work as far buck as 1892. Apart from Mr. Reynolds' older map, now, we understand, in the custody of the Board, the idea was common property, and as such was made use of by Mr. Ureig in 1917. The Court of Appeal holds: That Mr. Lysnar's plan was not novel; that Mr. Ileynolds used the idea in 1892; that Mr. Reynolds' plan is quite distinct from Mr. Lysnar's; that Mr. Lysnar himself published his plan in 1920; that the tludge in the Supreme Court himself held that there had been no "literary piracy"; that if there were no "literary piracy" there could be no restraint upon tlib Board's user; that Mr. Lysnar had shown no right to restrain the Board from its use of Mr. Reynolds' plan. There is no reason now why the engineer's report, which we understand is ready, should not at once be considered and every preparation be made to arrange for the required finance and to commence the work, so as to cut down as much as possible the time before which relief from the present quite intolerable condition of the river can be obtained. The Board will , have the whole-hearted support of the great majority of the ratepayers behind it, if it now goes on with the best scheme which upon Mr. Campbell's advice it can approve, and refuses for a moment to look back. The Board has been exposed to great delays in its work, for which the whole district has had to suffer. It has been put to serious expenses in dofending the rights of the ratepayers. Its course is now clear. To ignore all further, threats, suggestions, plans, reports, schemes, compromises, or other hindrances, of any and every kind. To go on with its work without fuss or noise. 'To, give away nothing: -listen to nothing. Upon the Board's stamina very largely the rapid recovery of the district is now dependent.

"THANK PROVIDENCE AND TAKI: COURAGE,"

Mr. Massey is always at his best when addressing a sympathetic gathering of farmers. The occasion and the man met happily at the opening of the tenth annual meeting of the New Zealand Council of Agriculture, which took place, last week at Wellington. Mr. Massey was in happy vein. There was no one to interject. No one on hand with inconvenient questions. So the meeting was a success—all parties smiling and happy. The farmers were "congratulated on the increase of exports from some £-23,000,003 to approximately £45,000,000 during the last ten years, vyhich was most gratifying. The fuller use of Nauru phosphates was encouraged. Land ten years ago worth only oije pound an acre was, by the use ol these phosphates, now worth twenty-live an acre. One hundred thousand tons, or double the present importation, could be had if required. Air. Massey hafc pleasant things to say as to the provision being made by liberal advances to settlers at 4£ per cent, to meet the uplift of the moratorium in December, •1924. Jlo <vas on more delicate ground ,Avhen ho went on to speak of what the Government was going to do in the direction of the reduction of taxation. The fanners must have beon in a very complacent mood if they derived much inspiration for greater productive effort from the outlook in this direction. Mr. Massey's feeling was all right, but there were a good many "buts." The only solid hopo held out was the reduction of two shillings: "... ho was worried about the income tax on land upon which there had been many complaints, and which ho agreed should be removed as soon a®, possible. But it would not be fair to reduce taxation on one man and make another keep' on paying. If he could reduce taxation by two shil-. lings ho hoped to do so, nothing would help tho country so much. Until it was reduced they would not bring down the cost of living or get interest on loans reduced." A s a set-off to Mr. Massey's optimism it is fair to take note of the retiring president's pessimism. Mr. J. D. Hall said: "The burden of taxation was bringing up the cost of production on farms of all kindi to such an amount

as to make working the land result in the minimum amount of profit and the maximum amount of worry and anxiety. It seemed futile to exhort farmers increase production and at the same lime io take from them by means of indirect taxation all but a pittance of what they did so produce. It was bad enough to have annually., before them a mountain in the form of land tax; fanners could see that, and knew it was there and had got to be surmounted; the indirect taxes were like icebergs of which they only saw a seventh part, but the other sixsevenths Was under the water, and had got to bo reckoned with before farmers got any net profit from their work. The whole system of taxation required reviewing. Mere reduction of company income tax was not sufficient. The.cost of production on farms was overlooked when the country was described as having had an 'exceptionally good season for the primary producers,' but it was a matter that farmers, and farmers' organisations, have got to pay"attention to if they did not wish to see their industry overburdened with costs and taxes, and , their land greatly depreciated." Getting off from the very diliicult problem which always faces a colonial Treasurer of giving way to pressure for expenditure on the one hand and reducing taxa--tion on. the other—.a difficulty which is almost strained to breaking point when a narrow majority, made up of supporters and a few independents, has to be kept in hand day by day to meet any emergency, Mr. Massey was able to speak hopefully of all'markets for our produce except beef. He could not resist this little bit of self laudation: "He told them two years ago in regard to their wool, that they would get increased prices, and they came." The only thing he could find to complain about was the climate, "which bad not been so good as usual, but such things would take their course." Ab .to local.bodies, they must go slow —money was more urgently required for settlers and farmers than for local bodies, so ' the Government would have to check their expenditure." Be it far from us to suggest any fly in this rather luscious ointment. Mr. Massey was among his friends. The shadow even of "the Country party" or even of the "Agricultural Bank" was carefully shunted off into one or other of the ramifications of the big building in which the meeting was held. Turning to the financial statement, Mr. Massey. esti : mates that he will receive from income tax, £3,500,000. Last year the receipts from this source fell from £6,002,967 the previous year to £3,831,932. He will then have some £332,000 in hand to cover the proposed reduction of two shillings, assuming the .returns are as good this year .as they, were last, which has to be proved. As Treasurer he steadily refuses to take off, the unfair tax levied upon the income of joint stock companies beyond the degree by which they will.benefit in any scheme of general reduction.' It has been repeatedly proved that this itax is now passed on and falls finally with full weight upon the farmers. Mr Massey's refusal to meet an absolutely unfair position is responsible as much as .anything for the maintenance of high bank interest and for the time required to bring about a reduction in the cost of living. Mr Massey admits as .fully as anyone that it is high taxation which is keeping New Zealand back. Yet a reform. which is within his power he will not accept. In this perhaps Mr Massey exhibits his strength. He will not, as Treasurer, accept from his opponents what he might welcome from -them' if they were in control of the Treasury and he himself in Opposition. The advice Mr Massey gave to the farmers. "to trust in Providence and take courage" is his own creed, which has carried him so far, and which gives him the undoubtedly strong hold he has obtained .in. the respect and affections of the people.