The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3741, 18 February 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1875.

The ‘New Zealand Times’ of the 13bh of this month, in an article on the revenue for the quarter ending 31st December, 1874,, takes occasion to make certain observations, which aro evidently intended to mislead. That journal assumes to be the exponent of the views of the General Government. When, therefore, it puts forth statements which are in exact opposition to the Ministerial resolution adopted by the House of Representatives as the basis of the proposed Provincial changes, there is a tendency on the part of the public to ascribe a significance to them that they really do not do- • erve. We look upon this course as unfair to both the Ministry and the country ; as, in fact, gaining the public ear under false pretences; for we are quite sufficiently aware of the relationship in which the * New. Zealand Times’ stands to tbea present Ministry to feel justified iq stating that that journal has no claim whatever to be considered a “Government organ,” and further that it expresses views which not a responsible Minister entertains. Two articles appeared in its columns on the date to which we , allude. Both of them are ably written; both bristle with figures ; and each is intended to serve a special purpose : the first to glorify Wellington, a little piece of local vanity which may be forgiven ; but the intention of the other is to prepare for an attack upon the land funds of Canterbury and Otago. Ihe ground work of this onslaught is that the fiscal system of Zealand is unequal. Our contemporary says

One would be apt to think, running his eye down the formidable array of figures disclosing the revenue of New Zealand, that there was a uniform fiscal system for the Colony, and that wherever a man may chance to land in it—a united Colony—the burden of taxation would be equal. Never was there a greater mistake than such a supposition. In one half of the Colony the inhabitants are permitted to sell the Crown lands, and apply the proceeds in aid of local taxation : in the other half of the Colony, the colonists are not permitted to sell an acre for that purpose, but are compelled to tax themselves, or do without schools, roads, bridges, and other local improvements. It is plain from this extract that the tactics of the Northern Provinces will be to endeavor, to reverse the conditions of the compact of 1856, and to appropriate our land revenues to Colonial purposes. It must be for uo then to prepare omaelves to make a determined stand on this point. It is one on which the Ministry expressed them selves in plain terms during last session. The Northern Provinces have had the management of their own estates, and wasted them, instead of, as in the case of Otago and Canterbury, securing for themselves roads, bridges, schools, or local improvements. Having failed in the management of their own lands, they appear determined to reduce ua in the South to a level with their comparative beggary. If they have to tax themselves, it is because they have sacrificed public to private advantage through throwing their land away, at nominal prioes, and therefore there can be no unfairness in holders of property paying something in return for the advantages they might have enjoyed had common prudence been shown in Provincial affairs. The South has already sacrificed too much to Northern greed, and a stau 1 must be made against it. Our coatempoi ary has laid bare his weapons, and we must therefore meet him by further examining bis arguments.