GOLD EXPORT DUTY.

Evening Star, Issue 3192, 14 May 1873, Page 3

GOLD EXPORT DUTY.

To

Sjr,—No pupation, in ray opinion, is of more importance to the raining community than the total abolition of the gold export duty. That this tax ia both unfair and impolitic ia easily proven. What would be thought of any Government that intimated its intention of levying a tax of two pounds on every ton of iron exported from the Colony ? What would be thought of any Government that intimated its intention of levying a tax of five shillings on every ton of c al exported from the Colony ? What would be thought but that the Government bad arrived at the conclusion that it was advisable to stifle industry, to hinder the development of the resources of the Colony, and become a standing dire discouragement to the enterprise and in dustry of the colonist ? If such is the case in regard to coal and iron, I ask, why should gold be directly taxed, when a Governin'nt that would impose a coal and iron tax would be considered insane, and unfit to govern a single day? The estimated goldfields revenue, according to Mr I:eid, was L 43.000 for the current year. The number of officials required for the goldfields administration is twenty-two, at an expense of L/ 7,700. L what is done with the remaining 1.35,000? According to last census there were 7,780 miners ; and assuming that each of them was possessed of a miner’s right, a revenue )yould be obtained from this source sufficient £b cover administrative expepsep, to say nothing of the large sum accruing from certificates, Ac, The gold duty question was brought up at j;he late Conference at Tuapeka ; and from the report of I observe that it >yas unanimously carried that it should bo pntirely abolished, and that eycu resolutions ?nfi petitions should ho forwarded to the Jeuoral Assembly, My object in Vriting this letter will be fully gained if I succeed in bringing it, Mr Editor, before your notice, and eliciting; from your able pen a leading article on the subject; aud also, if it has the effect of jogging the memories of the various miners’ associations in the Province, so that they may try and move the spheres in the shapes of their representatives. It will be strange if the forthcoming sessions of our Parliaments pass over without a strenuous determined effort, at least, being made for the purpose of eliminating this unjust, unfair, and unnecessary tax from our statute books altogether. Hydraulic.

Cardrona, Ist May. MR BARTON AND THE OJUNCIL. To the Editor. Sir, —As my engagements at tho Appeal Court will probably prevent my appearing on Thursday in my place in the Provincial Council, I request a short space in your columns to add a few words of explanation to what I said to-day in speaking to the adjournment. * The party which voted for Mr Reids amendment, on the reply to his Honors Address, was a majority composed of I may say nearly the whole house ; for the amendment, which was moved by the supporters of the Ministry, affirmed equally with Mr Reid’s amendment that the Superintendent had acted unconstitutionally, in administering the Government for so long a time with the aid of a Ministry not known to possess the confidence of tho Council, and partly, if not principally, selected from the supposed minority. The success of Mr Reid’s motion, therefore, did not necessarily mean anything beyond the

assertion of the constitutional principle, am' cer ainly did not mean that the House wa? pledging itself to replace in office Mr Rei* himself "or any Ministry selected solely froiv liia former party. Fur my own part I regan' the vote of the House as tho triumph of tb* constitutional principle, not as the triumph o. Mr 5 eid over the Superintendent, and therefore under the peculiar circumstances I an averse to Mr Reid’s re-instatemen* in office; and had I been in communication whh hin I should have advised that if Mr Mac-mdrev sent for him he should avoid all appearance of triumph, and should not personally undertake the formation of a Ministry, but should propose to the Superintendent some < thei member of the Liberal party, whose official relations with the Superintendent would not. he marred bv personal hostility. Since Mr Heid has been sent for, I am not aware that he has taken any steps to seek the advice or ascertain the opinion of the Liberal party on the subject. As f.»r as lam concerned, it was only to-day, a moment before the v pcaker took the chair, that I wa* asked to join the new Ministry as Provincial Solicitor. 1 was not informed who were my proposed colleagues, and on requiring that information, there was m ntioned as Chief Secretary the name of a gentleman so entirely identified with Mr Reid, that in my opinion the Superintendent should not be asked to accept him as the head of the Government. The certain result would l>e » repetition of the unfortunate discords that have so long interfered with the public interests, and I can only repeat what I said to-day ‘ That a Government so co mposed would have my unqualified opposition.” I am, &c George Elliot Barton. Dunedin, May 13.