POLITICAL OBSERVANDA. Letter No. 2.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 22, 12 February 1881, Page 220

POLITICAL OBSERVANDA. Letter No. 2.

" A majority taken collectively may be regarded as a, being whose opinions, and most frequently whose interests, are opposed to those of another being, which is styled a minority." De Tocqueville. (To the Propertied Classes of New Zealand.) Gentlemen, — In my previous letter addressed to the electors of New Zealand it was my purpose to convince you, amongst others, of the very serious importance of the electors realising their duties and their neglect in the selection of representatives. To you (who for the purposes of my letter I will consider as sufficiently wealthy as to be liable to pay property tax) as the most important se^.ion of those electors I now further address myso. i on the subject in order to show how, in addition to being parties to general electoral mistakes and negligence, as already pointed out by me, you have been most .supine in the protection of your estates and therefore of your special interests. For although you, of course, in common with the large majority of the electors, have rights and privileges affecting only you.i persons, you have something more at stake which the large majority of the electors have not, namely : — Property — which has not only its duties but its rights and privileges. The main body of electors, with characteristic envy, will always be very careful to see that property fulfils its duties towards the state : but will be not equally careful to preserve, much less to encourage or foster, its rights and privileges. It specially behoves you therefore, even were it only for your own sakes, to see to this. To look to this, may, to theelarge body of electors, (who are not of your class) seem selfish. Hut it is not so. If all electors really realised what is for the best interest of the state, they would readily recognise — (].) The importance of encouraging and protecting capital and its expenditure and use in all forms ; as being the special life blood and motive power of a country, and especially a young country like otir colony. (2.) The increased stake in the peace and prosperity of the Colony which the possessor of property has, as compared with the nonpossessor, and (3.) The desirability of encouraging, especially in a new colony, the results of industry, enterprise, and determination. So that the special protection by you of the rights and privileges attaching to property, is in reality also a special service by you rendered to the state. But your supineness has been surprising. Let us quietly examine why I assert this : and firstly, The Fiiaxchi.se. lam an ultra-liberal. lam a fervent admirer of the far famed Declaration of Independence, and especially of the self evident truths it enumerates, "That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights ; that among these are. life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." I therefore freely admit that all men should, where their life, liberty, or pursuit of happiness is involved, have an equal voice in the government of the country. .But readily granting all this, why should you — who have in the interests of the stale as well as in the interests of yourselves, something more at stake than all other classes, more duties towards the state to perform, more taxation to pay, and who hold a large portion of the life blood of the state and its power to prosper, in your hands — have only the same voice in the representation of the country where the interests of your -property are involved, as an elector who has nothing at stake in the country except his own person : many of whom, for the sake of my argument I am justified in claiming, are not only uneducated, quite unaware of the value or effect of their votes, and perfectly willing to virtually sell them — it may be — for a pint of beer. And yet such electors you allow to have an equal voice with you in all legislation which specially aft 'eets your property . You knowing at the sanie time the instinctive jealousy of all nonpropertied classes against propertied classes, and their estates : .and the tendency of the age to communism and socialism. I cannot produce a more pertinent instance of my meaning than the £500 exceptional clause in The Property Tax. Here we have an exceptional clause, which I may very safely assert exempts the largest proportion of the electors of New Zealand — and even a large majority of the property owners in New Zealand — from the operation of the tax. In other words exempts the very large majority of electors who have by the course they have hitherto pursued, as pointed out in my last letter, made the tax necessary. And yet forsooth this very large majority of electors are specially exempted from the tax. So that you, only a comparatively small number of the whole* electors of NeAV Zealand, have to pay property taxation not only for yoixrselves but for the remaining very large majority — property owners under £500 — of the whole electorate. Even granting that property, as property, should specially contribute to taxation, yet here all property belonging to a person not possessing £500 in the aggregate, is exempt. Hence an incalculable amount of property in the colony bears no taxation j and it inevitably follows that the tax on your property is greater because the great proportion of property is free. You must surely see that this purely; resolves itself into a matter of not only paying your own debts but the debts of also a far greater number of persons (owners of property valued at less than £500). And that, especially in view of the other exceptions provided by the Act, the question of equality of sacrifices should not be deemed in any way to arise. This, you in ordinary business or social life would consider most absurd, and yet you seem quite content when, the glamour of democratic rhetoric is thrown over the subject. Where can you produce a more startling, instance in New Zealand of class legislation, and all against your class. Beware in the future lest you — a minority — be not virtually disfranchised in all qvestions affecting property. Brutus. (To le continues,.)