The Star. FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1879.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 3438, 18 April 1879, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 1879.

It would be an excellent thing for New Zealand if every elector would give some little portion of his thoughts to the serious consideration of the circumstances of the Colony, in order to the attainment of a full comprehension of what a policy of " rest " means. It is not too much to say that nearly every hole and corner of our estate is choked with dank and drooping weeds of abuse, and that the earnest and energetic hand of liberal activity is urgently needed to set our House in order. The laws relating to the administration of justice have descended to ub from feudal times and are still tainted with cruelties and inconsistencies which are the reverse of honourable to us as a Christian and intelligent people. Property is still regarded as of the first consequence, and humanity as of the last. The criminal found guilty of robbing a drunken man of 20s, is punished with six years' imprisonment ; the criminal who, in a drunken brawl slays his comrade gets twelve months ; whilst the brutal coward who kicks his unfortunate wife almost to death, is let loose upon society to exercise his fiendish malignity again after as many weeks imprisonment. Again, our system of taxation, notwithstanding the partial reforms attempted last session, ia monstrously unjust. The principal engine — Customs' duties — presses equally upon rich and poor. Those who have no property are still made to pay for the protection and the increase in the value of the property of those who have. The principles laid down by the greatest thinkers of the age, that taxation should be levied in some degree in proportion to the capacity to pay and in proportion to the benefits derived, though now — thanks to the present liberal Government — recognised t>y law, are not fully carried out in practice. The financial resources thus inequitably acquired are devoted to the carrying out of public works, essential to the progress of the community it is true, but the general effect of which, in gain to the colonists, is most unequal. Indeed, the general policy of the Colony may still be Baid to be designed for the purpose of making " the rioh richer and the poor poorer." This result — class legislation — is the outcome of representation based upon property — the exaltation of property as the highest good in all human things.

The people of New Zealand have incurred a very hea7y indebtedness as compared with the neighbouring Colonies of Australia. The time has absolutely come when — even suppose we could still go on borrowing with facility — we are debarred by considerations of prudence from rushing rashly into much further debt. The weight of taxation to be sustained in order to pay the interest upon present liabilities is sufficiently heavy, and cannot with safety receive much addition. In this consideration, the Colony owes a debt of gratitude, not yet realised or acknowledged by the people, to the present Minister, Mr Macandrew, for having instituted a policy of Public Works and Immigration based upon resources only partially drawn from loans. The new policy is to obtain for the benefit of the whole people the difference between the upset price, as formerly fixed, of the public lands and their real value ; a difference — larger than the whole of what the Government formerly obtained — which went into the pockets of land speculators and land jobbers. The practical result is that our future public works will be constructed at a cost of indebtedness to the public of only half of what they did formerly ; and the public lands instead of going into the hands of jobbers to lie idle for a time, pass direct to the bond-fide cultivator. Surely the carrying out of Buch a policy ib nobler, wiser, more profitable in result, tban any policy of " political rest f " Yet we hear nothing of all this. The organs of the Opposition do not admire a policy which shuts out capital from an easy, secure, and very simple process of doubling itself out of the public estate. They are so liberal in condemnation upon a vast variety of subjects that it iB not surprising they studiously avoid all reference to this. It is however a fact from which it ib impossible to get away, that, if Major Atkinson's Ministry had remained in power there would have been no Public Works such as are now in progress throughout both islands ; the value of the public lands would have remained unchanged, and they would at this moment be passing rapidly int© the hands of the class which are now clamorous for his return to power.

Letjnot the people be deceived aa who are their friends. Tho Government of Sir George Grey — whatever may be its faults —is not a "rest," but an active, working Government. It ie admitted that they have neither attempted all they promised nor ac compliehed all they have attempted. What o£ that ? They have accomplished important work ; and, perhaps, what they have prevented from being accomplished is more important still. In any case they are pledged to a career of action, liberal and progressive, some portion of which they are bound to attempt, and for that reason alone they are infinitely to be preferred to an essentially class Government whioh will not attempt to do anything at all. There is a vast amount of work which must be done. The establishment of manhood suffrage; the regulation of elections ; the adjustment of the representation; and Triennial Parliaments are questions which cannot be trußted bo any Government from the Opposi-

tion side even if they promised to deal with them, which they are not likely to do. We trust the electors of Coleridge will not listen to the " charmers," the " conciliators " of the Oppositioncharm they never so wisely. The country needs active and honest government. Honest, not simply in mere departmental administration, for important as that undoubtedly is, it is as nothing compared to the results to the Colony which flow from a honest and intelligent administration of the national estate — its lands, its works, its great resources. A corrupt " rest " means loss to every industrious colonist, and gain only to the privileged few who can turn the advantages presented to their own account. When therefore we ask the electors of Coleridge to return to Parliament a friend to " honest " Government, we mean one who is opposed to " political rest " and has no sympathy whatever with its advocates. The opponents of the Government are already in the field, and are forward with a candidate. His address is published, and it is made abundantly clear that, whatever principles he may profess, he belongs to the enemies of progress and the friends of " political rest." The issue is thus directly raised, and every elector is now called upon to decide whether he elects to belong to the party of the people or the party of a class.