The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1877.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 111, 10 August 1877, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1877.

'• It is better to have an open enemy to " deal with than a false friend." The truth of this aphorism was never better exemplified than is being done by the Ministry in their proposal of dealing wiih the land fund of Canterbury, as sot forth in the Financial Statement of the Hon. the Colonial Treasurer. For some time past many of the Northern members have boldly stated that the land revenue of the South ought to be made colonial revenue, in short, that it was common property, and ought to be enjoyed by all the Provinces alike. On the other hand, the Southern members declared that the fund derivable from the sale of Crown lands in the South was exclusively the property of the South, and ought to be expended solely for the benefit of those districts in which it was raised ; and this view was endorsed by the present Ministry, and by none more vehemently than by the Hon. C. C. Bowen, Minister of Justice, a Canterbury man, and member for Kaiapoi in the House of Representatives. There is something manly in the open declaration of the Northern members, that considering the land fund of the South to be common property, they were determined to have their share of it • such a declaration commands respect even from those who may be opposed to it, but the conduct of those who, whilst professing to hold sacred the land fund of the South, yet, nevertheless, endeavmr to make it common property, cannot but be legarded with the utmost contempt. The modus operandi of the one is by open assault, of the other by insidious sap.

The cost of carrying into effect the Public Works and Immigration scheme initiated by the Fox-Vogel Government, has been defrayed by loans, the interest and sinking fund of which have been charged to the Consolidated Fund, and re-charged to the Provinces in proportion as they were benefitted by the expenditure. Nothing can be fairer than this, and we see no objection to a portion of the land fund of the Provinces being taken in order to repay the money that has been borrowed and expended in their behalf; but it would be manifestly unfair, nay, more, it would be positively unjust, that the money should be taken from one Province that had husbanded its resources, and had consequently cash and to spare, and that the others who had squandered theirs should, instead of being called on to pay, either from their land fund, or failing that, liy direct taxation, should be allowed to go scot free ; yet such is the proposal of those who now occupy the Treasury Benches. That the majority of the Provinces have little or any land revenue is clearly proved by the following statement made by Major Atkinson, when delivering his Financial Statement on the 81st ultimo. The Hon. and gallant member'is reported to have said: — " The receipt from the land fund during " the year (exclusive of gold duty) were " £1,039,242, or £419,000 more than " the average for the preceding, seven " years. Since the Ist of ■■ January, when •'"the Financial Arrangements Act came " into force, the receipts have been " £544,454. The estimate was " £322,610, so that the estimate is ex- " ceedeel by £221,884 ; but 1 regret to " say, that though there is a very large •• increase on the whole, the deficiency is " larger than was provided by the Finan- " cial Arrangements Act. The sales in ■' C'tnft •l/vn/.oiww an enormous excess, " whih s '' """ .._ Auckland, Taranaki, " JiTfJ'.a-'O&'-iJUyI Nelson, and Otago have " proved to be Jess by £83,000 than the " estimate." vThore is no mistake about this, the land revenue of Canterbury is

declared to be enormously in excess of the estimate, whilst the revenue of the other Provinces has fallen wofully short. They were not in a position to pay from their land revenue the money which had been fairly charged to their from the Consolidated Fund. . Indeed," the Colonial Treasurer admitted this when he said:—" We recognise that at '• the present moment, to refund these " charges, is beyond the immediate power "of the less wealthy districts." But there had been no hesitation in allowing these less wealthy districts to participate in the benefits to .be derived from the Public Works and Immigration policy, the expenditure on account of which they are now unable to repay. Canterbury, however, is to be made to pay up instanter, and mark with what transparent sophistry Major Atkinson endeavours to gild over this violation of every principle of right and justice. When speaking of the proposed appropriation of £58,000 from the Canterbury land lund, he said : " It is necessary that I should recall the " attention of lion, members to two prin- " ciples which have been clearly recog " nised as underlying all our legislation ■* relating to waste lands, and to immi- " gratiou and public works. Those two '* principles are—first, that the land " fund shall be localised ; second, that "the cost of immigration, roads and " railways is a proper charge against the " land fund." No one will dispute the correctness of this latter proposition, especially when taken in connection with the former, " that the land fund shall be •'localised." And now it is that sophistry comes into play, Major Atkinson goes on to say : —" When the money " has been spent in opening and peopling " the district, the object of localization "has been accomplished. Our duty to " the land is fulfilled ; and there, in my " opinion, localization ends. It seems "tome no violation of the principle of " localization, but merely an extension of " it, to say, that if the State finds the " money beforehand for these purposes, " such an expenditure should be made a " charge against the land fund." But what we ask is to be done in the case of those less wealthy districts, which according to Major Atkinson, are not in a position to refund these charges ? Are they to be made to pay ? We apprehend not, for in another part of his address the Colonial Treasurer affirms that the country requires political rest, and should not therefore be disturbed with additional taxation. This £58,000 is to be taken from a sum of £100,000 of surplus land revenue belonging to Canterbury, and which ought to be distributed amongst the road boards and municipalities. The .truth is that this is only an insidious attempt to get in the thin end of the wedge, which, if driven home, will lead to the whole of the land fund of Canterbury being declared to be common property. If this is to be, we would rather that it should be done by open foes than by false and treacherous friends. We have no confidence, and we believe that the country has no confidence in the present Ministry, and the sooner they are hurled from power, tho better for tlie country.

An article in au American contemporary has drawn our attention to one of the vices of the present day, and one which, we are sorry to say, seems to be on the increase among the female population. We allude to the habitual use of stimulants by ladies. Everyone will agree with us that it is degrading for a man to make himself the slave of a vitiated appetite ; then how much worse is it to see the fairer and better portion of our common humanity, giving wo.y to the debasing influence, both morally and physically, of an inordinate craving for stimulants. To quote our contemporary.— " When the weaker creature yields her finer nerves and more sensitive organization to the insidious encroachments of tippling, it takes only a short time to undermine the strongest constitution, and her abasement is much deeper than a man's. This seems to be the inevitable law of nature. No one who sees much of women, can be ignorant of the altered state of things in this respect— they drink more than they used to." The mildly innocuous household drinks, made by our grandmothers, does not suit the acquired tastes of the present day. No, something with a dash of alcohol in it is required to give a fillip to. the jaded nerves, and to brace them up afresh for " some new tax upon their energies." Are not our medical men partly to blame for this great and growing evil ? Are they not doing a great wrong by tacitly acquiescing in the injuriously increasing consumption of unneeded stimulating drinks ? Would not remonstrances from them have a tendency to check this vice which we all deplore ? . We think it would. In the language of our coutemporary : —" If medical men were less given to order stimulants for almost every feminine derangement, and were to impress upon women the vital importance of exercise and pure air, there would be many more blooming ■ cheeks, less jaded nerves, fewer fancied complaints requiring, or supposed to require, stimulants ; and many a now anxious husband won>d have his anxieties for the health of her who is dear to him, removed, and his home freed from the cankerworm of that care which is produced by the tippling propensities so steadily increasing amongst us."