The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3872, 14 December 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1883.

Uxless there is a very great change for the better—a change so great that it is beyond all reasonable expectation—Ministers will meet Parliament next session with a big deficit to account and to provide for. As the prospect at present presents itself there will be a deficiency of not less than £200,000 on the estimated revenue. Tho receipts from all departments have so far shown a serious falling off. The total revenue from the Customs exhibits a deficiency of £80,000 from tho Treasurer's estimate up to the end of November, and nil hope of recovery by the end of the financial year is now gono. Tho receipts from the duty on beer show that, unless there is an immense improvement during the ensuing four months, there will be a deficiency of £9000 on the estimates. On tho basis of the returns for the first six months of the year the deficiency in stamps will be £23,000, and in railways £80,000. When it is considered that any deficiency iv the revenue must be met by either increased taxation, or further borrowing, which, of course, involves more taxation, the outlook is dreary enough. But circumstanced as the colony is, how can either the one or the other be done ? Last year the property-tax was increased one-third; persons who paid £20 are now called upon to pay £30, and those who paid £100 have now to pay £150. The shoe is thus made to pinch severely, but still more pressure will have to be suffered. Indirect taxation can hardly stand a further increase. The Customs duties will certainly not stand it. The Timaru Herald says that already the protective policy which has secretly governed all alterations of the tariff for years past has seriously crippled it aa a method of raising revenue. Merely to increaso the duties as at present distributed would make matters worse. The heavy increases that have been made since 1878 have not been attended by a corresponding increase of revenue. Nothing short of a complete reform of tho tariff on a free-trade basis would afford any prospect of relief from that direction. The only other important source of revenue is tho j>ropcrty tax. Ati addition of a half-penny in the pound to this impost would unquestionably yield a large sum, though not sufficient, probably, to cover tho whole deficiency. It would produce about £170,000. But will property stand an addition to the tax of a half-penny in the pound? Our contemporary thinks not, and points out that if the property tax is increased by a halfpenny the profits from investments in property will be so reduced that foreign capital invested here will be withdrawn. " Those property owners willingly pay tho property tax so long - as it only amounts to a reasonable proportion of the profits win oh they derive from their investments in New Zealand. But it has already reached a point where it materially affects those profits ; and if it were increased by a halfpenny in the pound, with a likelihood of being fuvthcr increased next year, a great many investors would withdraw their capital from New Zealand, for the very sufficient reason that they could do better with it elsewhere." The colony has been hastening to this position since IS7B, and though the end could not but have been foreseen the Government have done nothing to avert tho disaster. It is contrary to Major Atkinson's nature to be economical; he holds his position by extravagance, and to the power that extravagance brings him. There never has been any attempt made to cut down expenditure, and year by year adds to the cost of government. In tho matter of railways, says the Rangitikei Advocate, we see the same reckless disregard of past experiences, tho same wanton waste of the taxpayers' money. Take tho case of the Otago Central line for example. This line was times out of number stigmatised by gentlemen now occupying seats in the Ministry, and by members of their party, as a "political" railway of the worst type. Yet, in order to hold their seats, they consented to go on with its construction, and by tho time that it is finished it will cost at least a million sterling. It is, indeed, a melancholy fact that political morality in this colony is of a very loose character. Honourable members, us a <yenoral rule, seem to ignore tho question whether a railway will pay the colony, and consider only how much it will benefit this district and— themselves. At tho present moment the Auckland and Taranaki members have entered into an unholy alliance to get tho North Island trunk railway made by way of Mokau, though they must be well aware that if the railway were constructed by that route it would be a huge financial failure As long as politicians have so little honesty Governments must yield to circumstances, and the great pile of debt under which New Zealand is struggling will go on increasing. The remedy is in the hands of the electors. Lot us hope that thoy will next year use it in a thoroughly practical manner.