The Globe. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1874.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 16, 18 June 1874, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1874.

New Zealand has the proud distinction of being one of the heaviest taxed countries in the civilized world. What with the General Government taxes, and those levied by each of the different provinces, almost every individual member of the community pays a goodly sum to the income of the colony. Of course we are aware that the taxes fall much more heavily on some classes of the population than on others, but on the whole we think the burden is pretty equally distributed. But there are some taxes, small in themselves perhaps, but excessively galling to the unfortunates who are liable to them, and this is more particularly the case when the impost in question is a provincial levy, and each separate part of the colony makes the law which seems good to it. Foremost among these taxes, is the one on dogs. To the richer part of the settlers this tax is not inconvenient, but to some of them who have to live by hard work the impost in question has become a positive injustice. It is a fact that a man, who in the course of his business may have to travel from one end of the Middle Island to the other, may be obliged to pay the registration fees for his dogs no less than five times. As is well known there is no harder working body of men in the country than that which is made up of the drovers of stock. To these men, dogs are absolutely indispensable, and the consequence is, that as they are constantly employed, in taking stock of all discriptions from province to province, they have to pay considerably more than a fair share of this tax. Added to this, they often lay themselves open to the chance of having to pay a double registration fee on coming into a province for the first time, as they are very probably unaware of what the law may be in that part of the country. The law rises to positive tyranny in some provinces, as it has actually been enforced that the owner of any pre- “ mises is liable for any unregistered “ dog found upon them, whether iris or “ not.” Fancy going home, and finding an unregistered brute of a bull dog in one’s house, that refutes to-be ejected out into the world, and then when he has finally been forced to quit, having to make one’s appearance in a Police Court and be fined in consequence of such an accident. If the dog tax was collected by the General Government the registration might be effected at the post offices, as is at present the case in England, and one fee should enable the proprietor to travel with the animal from North Cape to the Bluff.