The Southland Times. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1874.

Southland Times, Issue 1869, 23 February 1874, Page 2

The Southland Times. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1874.

The proceedings in Tasmania in opposition to taxation under the form of a railway rate, departing from the character of " passive resistance" which the promoters of the opposition in the first instance represented, and in all probability intended they should bear, have at length culminated in an active riot, with damage to property, personal violence, and a threatened attack with a view to the demolition of the railway station at Launceston. We take it that taxation is by no means pleasant in any form, but if there be a form under which there is less of reason for grumbling at it than under any other, it is the form of our own devising, or that of self-im-posed taxation, and such appears to be the position of the matter in Tasmania. The construction of the Western railway, as it is called, being a railway between Launceston and Deloraine, was for a considerable period a matter of fierce controversy, and the parties to the strife wer>e* probably more equally balancedjifaan is often the case with contemj^Jrced undertakings of this nature. A large portion of the wealth, landed influence, and intelligence of the northern portion of the Island was undoubtedly opposed to its construction as an unnecessary and probably an unproductive undertaking, the opponents even proceeding the length of imputing, with a fair show of reason, corrupt motives to the leading advocates of the undertaking. During the agitation, bj way of expressing their opinion, not only of the feasibility of the project, but of their confidence in its success, a large number of the inhabitants of the districts proposed to be benefitted by the projected railway, voluntarily undertook, in the event of its construction, to make good any deficiency that might arise should the line be found not to pay. Acting upon this representation, the Government of the day, having first caused a poll to be taken of the ratepayers within a given proximity to the proposed line on the question of their willingness to sub mit to a railway rate under the circumstances of liability assumed, that is, of deficiency in the railway returns, this poll resulted in the affirmative, and the Government in consequence consented to guarantee a loan, to a certain, amount for the construction of the line, it being understood at the time that the totalcoat of the railway was not to exceed the amount so fixed. It was afterwards discovered that the line could not be completed for the amount contemplated, and it waa therefore necessary to increase the sum, which increase as a matter of course increased the liability of the ratepayers. This need not, however, be taken into consideration in the review of the matter as it now stands, because, as the result shows, had the line been constructed for the sum originally proposed, the traffic estimate was so far in error as that the railway could not by any possibility have been made to pay expenses. The position of the matter now is, shortly , that there is a deficiency which the Government has called upon the owners and occupiers of the property intended to be made liable to make good, by levying upon them a railway rate. The collection of this rate is resisted, upon what grounds we shall endeavor hereafter to show, and in the meantime remark that the above-given are all the facts in connection with the position of the matter which it is necessary for us, not being immediately interested, to take note of, in order to a proper understanding of the subject. It must, however, be borne in mind that the amount for which the Government now holds the people of the district liable, is not the full amount to which it was fairly liable in terms of the original agreement, a portion of the liability having been, by a process of political log-rolling, shifted on to the shoulders of the colony at large. Probably the success which has attended the effort in disposing of a portion of the responsibility has furnished the stimulus to the present course of proceeding, in the hope that the bold front of repudiation may suffice ,to get rid of the whole. It appears somewhat strange to find the magistracy of a community associated with an effort to thwart its legal enactments, yet it ap pears that at a public meeting presided over by the Mayor of Launceston, a resolution was passed pledging the meeting not to pay the rate, and of the 71 Northern magistrates, 66. have signed a memorial, the prayer of which is that the Government should not enforce payment of the railway rate until after the meeting of the Parliament. Considering that the Government, in enforcing the rate, is but giving effect to a Parliamentary enactment, and one moreover specially becoming law by the will of the parties directly interested, such a memorial is scarcely consistent with the assumed magisterial functions of the memorialists as conservators of law and order, and appears the rather to savor of a disposition to harass and impede the Government in its action. The reply of the Colonial Secretary to these gentlemen, not being to their mind, has called forth their resignation almost en masse. What then, it will be asked, are the grounds upon which payment of the rate is resisted ? Ostensibly these, namely, that the principle of local liability or guarantee which has been adopted in reference to the Western Eailway, and which it is now attempted to enforce, has not been adopted in the case of the Main Trunk line now under construction between Launceston and Hobart Town. There is another reason alleged for the opposition, being that after the decision of the poll by which the ratepayers agreed to allow themselves to be taxed, the condi-

tions of construction of the railway were materially altered, and the cost increased. This latter objection can scarcely be urged in seriousness, and if applicable at any stage of the opposition is certainly not so now, the Government having already relieved the district of so large a portion of its indebtedness as may be regarded as far more than compensating it for any claim it might have been presumed to have upon this score. Outside of the affected district the feeling is all but unanimous that the Government has acted with extreme liberality (and possibly with pardonable weakness), in having recognised any portion of the liability as a public indebtedness, and even within the district itself, the residents, whose judgments are not warped by the call for payment, or who are not led astray by the almost insane hatred of the North against the South, and on this grouml are j jealous of the apparently favorable/i!erms on which the Main Trunk line $ being constructed, coincide in the view taken by outsiders. The real grounds of the opposition must be sought elsewhere than in any unfairness on the part of the Government. The pecuniary loas by the working of the railway is precisely what might have been expected, and such as was confidently predicted, yet it by no means follows that the construction was unwise, or that it will not ultimately pay. Personal ends were largely mixed up with the efforts for its construction, and political motives, apart from the question at issue, have, there is too much reason to fear, been the instigation of the opposition to the deficiency rate. As an instance of repudiation by apparently a large section of a community, the aspect of the matter is unpleasant to look upon ; sifted however to the bottom, it will be found the work of some scheming politicians with an ulterior object not yet permitted to come to the surface. The plain duty of the Government in the case is to enforce payment of the rate, taking care if possible to single out the ringleaders in the opposition for example. Latest telegrams advise that the district is quiet, and the best to be hoped is that the good sense of the people will so far prevail as to induce at least an outwardly peaceable payment of an obligation voluntarily entered iuto, whatever means may be subsequently adopted to rid themselves legally of a responsibility which no doubt is proving itself burdensome, and the more so because contracted unwillingly.