Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2. EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10494, 2 November 1912, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2. EDITORIAL NOTES.

ONE of the tasks the Massey. Ministry have to perform is that of repairing the. damage to ; the finances caused by the mismanagement of the ■geddoh-Ward Administrations. Members of the party which has been put out of office posed as financiers, but their only idea of finance was that of the spendthrift who mortgagse his assets to the pawnbroker and believes that this is clever. , As a result the country has been burdened with many millions of debt, and as some of this has to be arranged for at an early date it has been found necessary to send the Hon, Mr Allen Home to arrange for renewal. Next year about five millions of loan money, which has mostly been recklessly squandered, falls due, and it is ho light task to arrange for such a large sum while at the same time providing sufficient for the working of the State machinery. The position has not been improved by the action of the . late Ministry which entered into engagements that cannot be met without borrowing, apparently with the desire of embarrassing their successors. The state of affairs fully illustrates the incapacity of the recent administrators as financiers, and shows that New Zealanders have reason to be thankful . that the “kiteflying” policy has been ended. We have no doubt that Mr Allen’s ability as a financier will enable him to make satisfactory arrangements. The country is sound enough, though for many years past ’ its affairs have been sadly mismanaged by professional politicians.

WE trust tli a,t how the Reform Party are in office they will set to work to reform the system of the valuation of land for taxing and rating purposes. The present method is really no system, and the value is arrived at merely by taking note of prices realised at sales of land in the near vicinity. It is not necessary that a valuer should „ have any expert knowledge or skill to enable him' to compile a valuation list by this means; any fourth: standard schoolboy could do the work. It is eminently desirable that the basis on which rates and taxes are leviable should be just and correct, and valuers should therefore be at once instructed to abandon the present method, and endeavour to ascertain the true value—the producing or site value, ! or both. If this was ascertained, and a proper allowance made for improvements, there would be little to complain of in our present system of taxation, except that there is no just reason . why land users should pay special taxation as well as their share of general taxation. r

IT is no doubt' true, as alleged by Mr Semple, of the Labour Fedefa-1 tion, that if the Ward Ministry had

been in office the Wr 1. -- wonia not have been ' fl “ ' eteifcers , but this merely mem S a °l» Ministry in that ««“«><> Ward Imre denionsto ■' wonW ** order mmt he .** * hat law “ a matter of far' ®»«amea. A* a Herdman, * ® 9®“‘ed ont by Mr self-made ,-«*,»»“ strikers are their 1 -> SE'Moaers and can obhtain wilii : whenever they are the ■ a ®’ provide sureties that ■S 'will not again disturb the eao© <of the community or iendea/Vtmr to paralyse industry. As the futility of striking, has been demon* >strated, and the attempt to defy the j law has proved costly to the Federa--2,1 tdon, it is not surprising to find the i leaders raving loudly. Their “mana” has been destroyed and their occupation, which has heen , more or less profitable and easy, is u' vanishing. But their swan-song is not a pleasant strain.