THE LAND TAX.

Temuka Leader, Issue 171, 30 August 1879, Page 2

THE LAND TAX.

TO THE BDITOR OX TUB TKiVItTKA DRAPER. S.T>i, —Would yon allow mo to point out what. appears to me to ha an or -or in your leadin'' - article of last Saturday’;? issue, in connection with tlic Land Tax, viz , that a half-peuuv hu mw, etc. The facts ate that, instead of its being aid per acre, its a. T 1 in the B, which, in very many cases, will amount to a very heavy and vexacious

import. The valuation of land in this district will probably range between £7 and ;£l2 per acre nett, which means from 3id to Gd an acre tax. But the amount as it stands at present is not its most objectionable feature. Tire Act is declared by its most unscrupulous author to be only iho thin end of the wedge, and is meant !o bo progressiva in the amount levied. The cost will swallow up a large proportion of the amount realised. Another objectionable feature is the difficulty of so administering it that every landowner shall contribute his proper share. The bungling manner in which the vain a Hons have® been made is strong evidence against its being fairly adjusted. Too much rests on the ability and integrity of the’valuators, but although there ■is an appeal against high valuation, the. appellant is heavily handicapped. If, m Sir George Grey says, the tax is directed against capitalists, lie has missed his mark. The weight will fall on the ■•a niggling farmers, very few of whom haveheir farms clear.

I will point mil one more view of the case, in which it will appear that Sir G. Grey,s if!cal working' man is at a disadvantage—suppose a man to have a few acres near a huge town which iio does not care to part with, although it,is nominally of considerable veins as ho can make a good living by gardonng, etc. Suppose a neighbour has one aero alongside, hut yet displaying on his hind ton times the wealth of the" former. Which will be the taxpayer under this very liberal law. In conclusion, 1 consider the measure a moat unjust and repressive one, and as a step towards direct taxation. 1 have, etc., John Talbot.

filr Talbot is right in stating that it is a halfpenny in the £ tax, and not a halfpenny upon the aero. This was. an error which erect into tho article referred to. However, the 'tax is only upon the value of the raw laud, ami. has nothing to do with improvements. Only favorably situated land would in its raw state bring TO to £l2 an acre. We are not in love with, a laud lax, unless a property tax goes along with it —unless this tux is to be collected and spent upon the land from whence it is derived ; but wo see no other way of getting at absentees who grow rick by the industry pothers. Ido one has yet, to our mind, a right substitute. We repeat that the idea of putting capital away from tin colony, is a rich conception on the part of tho Opposition. Wo accuse dir Maeamlrow -of thinking. Otago is Hew Zi a-

hind. Are we sure that wo do not think tho Canterbury Plains arc the only good lauds in Hew Zealand ? The Cantci-biiry plains may be valuable, and the Te.ieri plains may be valuable, but these are but a small portion of the hurls in this colony, tho larger proportion of which, would not amount to £3 an acre, or one penny tax. —Ed. T.Jj.]

SAN'FRANCISCOJNAiL NE^S.

Ou July 24th a skirmish torj^pj^ce.between the American troops and hostile Sioux. The former lost three men, and an auxiliary hided and Dsoidiers wounded. President Caval, of hQiyti has abdicated and tied to Kingston,. J aiuaion. Prepara-, tioas aro being made" to elect iijs succes. sor. In a brush between the Indiana and cavalry at Montana, the Indians were 1 routed". They had previously killed a*. ji scout and a family Of nine children. __ The working men of several large citieaf '■ f have made great demonstration^,‘in favor % of the eight hour movement A , J Negro exodus to the north-west still continues. ' v; Bennett’s Arctic expedition was enthusiastically commended by the itrench Socicte Geographiqne on July 21st. The ship Templar arrived at San Francisco on July 3.lst, living , lost thirteen lives from yellow fever during her voyage of 320 days from New Pork. The Mexican,war vessel Liberafcad was carried off by mutineers from. Agig . When at sea""another mutiny occuffl^ ; itnd" the ship returned to port, where the crew submitted to the authorities.

The Chilians deny thatuny land engagements took place as reported last month. Tire Peruvians report disabling two Chilian ships blockading Iquique by the Hnascar, which was uninjured. Bennett’s exploring \ ship Jeannette sailed for the North Pole from , Sau Francisco on June 10th.

EUROPEAN NEWS

Ambrose Yortcsquc and William Bangor have been apprehended in London for endeavoring to pass a forged cheque on the Bank of England. They are supposed to belong to a strong gang of American forgers operating in England, France and America. Three hundred, engineers on strike at Bradford arc about to emigrate to the United States and Canada. / 'London, Aug. 2. A despatch to the ' Times’ from Dublin says a bitter feeling has arisen amongst the Home Rujers, owing to Mr Parnell, of Meath, abusing Mr Shaw, of Cork, in- a speech at Limerick. *An Emigration* Association has .been formed at Sheffield for the purpose of aiding woxddng-men to obtain a livelihood in the Western States of America. The French residents in England will erect a memorial to the Prince Imperial.;.'

The 12:h July celebration in Ireland ended with some rioting, one death' .-being reported. had taken extra precautions to preserve .peace. The day passed oil quietly' in Canada. The hop crop in Kent lliveatens-to prove a disastrous failure.

Cardinal Manning preached the burial sermon on the Prince Imperial at OhiselImrst in the presence of the Imperial family. The Duo Do Padua, Due De' Grammont, and, Ca'nrbbert weTe present at thejpftbral. Permission to bo present was refused to MarshalsMacMahou and Leboin, and Admiral Lagraviro of France. In the House of . Commons, on July 29th, the Government introduced a Bill to enable Banks to limit the liability of shareholders to toe amount of their paid.-, up capital. The Bill as introduced apnjf.gs, to Scotland, and Ireland, as well as Itogr land- The objections of the Sccftch members were thus appeased,, and the Bill was rea* 1 a second tkneA-: - The ‘ Civil Sarv ice Gazette’ says the sentence of the- Com (-Martial on Lieutenant Carey in South -Africa was death. The Empress Eugenie - had written -. to the Queen, bogging that no punishment' be inflicted.

Lord Cranbrnok, Secretary of State for India speaking at a great Conservative gathering in the Crystal Palace, _ took a hopeful view of the future condition of trade which is now not so depressed, lie defended the Afghan war because it had pacified a hither!o disturbed country. He said that l:e firmly believed that Russia would fulfil all her engagements by the Treaty of Berlin, and pleaded for time for the Porte to accomplish reforms in Asiatic Turkey. ® At a meeting of Bonapartists it was decided that the Prince Jerome Napoleon become the head of the Bonaparte family, only two voices dissenting - . The decision lias been communicated to Pope Leo.