The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3913, 8 September 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1875.

It is quite correct on the part of the Opposition that figures should be brought to bear upon the Abolition question 3 but in order to render them useful some common data should be agreed upon. It is not at all likely that two calculators can agree as to results, when each starts from a different point in a reckoning convenient to himself. Viewed from the line of figures adopted by Mr Montgomery, he may be quite able to bring out the result, while Major Atkinson, having adopted a different starting point, can easily shew that his Canterbury antagonist is some half-million wrong. Figures, it is said, may be made to prove anything. 'They are however the stiffest logic with which to contend. Given certain numbers to add together or subtract from each other, and admit them to be true, and the sum or difference cannot bo gainsaid. The speculative question, therefore, is the correctness of the data. “ I say that shield is gold,” said one knight 3 “ I say it is silver,” said the other. Neither took the trouble to ride round to the other side to see what the other saw ; so they fought to prove each other liars, and both died. ■ Although there is no danger that Mr Montgomery and Major Atkinson - wiJ] run a tilt with each other, they cannot be both right. Their statemants go for what they are worth, and it may be fairly assumed that, without in the slightest degree impugning the veracity of either gentlemen, the calculations of both will be proved mere waste of ingenuity. They are really not worth the time that has been Driven to them, which would have °beeu equally well spent in unravelling a Chinese puzzle. In dealing with questions like the Abolition Bill, the proceed of certain classes of revenue has very little to do with the matter 3 for whether administration is in the hands of the General Government or under Provincial control, the amount receivable and to be dispensed will be about the same. J he mere fact of change of government does not alter the incidence or character of a tax; it oaly chaages the men who have

the responsibility of appropriating the. money. There may be saving or there may be waste ; but even the°one or the other cannot be predicated without knowledge of the machinery to be substituted for that which it is proposed to abolish. The light in which Major Atkinson put the land question, if true, proves that Provincialism must' in a very short time, have died a natural death, through the failure of the land revenue it was principally engaged in dispensing. Had it been retained as an institution, it would have been a mere parade of local legislation—a body without a soul—an expensive and useless toy. The people of Otago have been accustomed to imagine that they were rich in land, and that they were in a position to construct public works for themselves by means of the princely laud revenue at the disposal of the Provincial Council. Major Atkinson, although contradicted by His Honor the Superintendent, dissipated the pleasing dream with a single line of figures. He tells us our available land fund only amounts to £200,000, and will be exhausted in two years. All the rest of our landed property, according to his reading of Mr Montgomery’s figures, is mortgaged as security for our railways and public works. We offer no opinion ©n the matter, for it may easily be gathered from what we have already said in regard to figures, that it is quite possible Mr Macandrew, taking a different starting point, would show both Major Atkinson and Mr Montgomery to be in error. There are, however, some matters connected with the relative position of the Provinces to the Colony as a whole that can be positively ascertained. Major Atkinson informs us that already the “land funds of the various Provinces are liable for railways and public works within their respective boundaries.” "We are not at all alarmed at being reminded of the fact, for we are quite prepared to think that the mortgagee will be so well satisfied with the revenue that will be derived from railway traffic, that there will be no foreclosure. The one fact that is brought to light is the possible clashing of Provincialism with the Public Works scheme. This has already manifested itself in the railway lines sanctioned by the Provincial Government, which have been projected altogether irrespective of the general plan of the Public Works plans. We hold it impossible for two administrative bodies with different views, the one merely local, the other national, to work harmoniously together in railway construction ; and the very successof the Public Works arrangements depends upon the unity of the plan. Conflicting views inevitably lead to waste of time and money, and since every feeder to the main lines is a contribution to the one great whole, the irregular and haphazard schemes of Provincial Councils are not only not needed, but are calculated to prove a drawback to the economic and efficient carrying out of the system. One other conclusion is inevitable from Major Atkinson’s statement: eveiy effort must be made to have our reserves placed in trust for their respective purposes. Either Mr Macandrew’s Bills must be supported or the more general proposals of the Government. Either wifi do ■ but we ought not to let the session pass without securing one or the other.