FIJI.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 521, 18 February 1876, Page 3

FIJI.

The Fiji Times of Saturday, January Bth, contains an important and interesting message from His Excellency the Governor to the Legislative Council, from which we make the following extracts

After referring to the difficulties attendant on the preparation of the estimates of revenue and expenditure for the year 1876, and stating that the measures suggested are necessarily in a great degree tentative and experimental, whilst the estimates must in many cases be regarded as simply approximate. His Excellency proceeds : —“ The board is aware that the Imperial Government has made an advance to the colony of a sum of £40,000 during the present year, a'd has promised one of £60,000 for the year 1876. But it is the wish of Her Majesty’s Government that the funds thus obtained should be chiefly applied to defray those extraordinary expenses which will be incurred during the first few years of the existence of the colony, and that the cost of its establishments, and of those services exclusive of establishments which are likely to form a permanent charge, should, as far as possible, be defrayed from the outset by the colony itself. Nor is this anticipation unreasonable ; for if the colony be relieved by the Imperial Government of the charges incident to its foundation, it may fairly be expected to meet those for the ordinary annual maintenance of its establishments and the service of its public departments.” He points out that this task will be one at first of no common difficulty. The provisional estimates framed in October, 1874, were based on the assumption, to a great extent, that the new colony would be under the Government of New South Wales. The expenditure had been considerably in excess of the amount estimated, and the revenue anticipated by Sir H. Robinson had not been nearly realised by the receipts of the year. “The establishments already sanctioned by the Board constitute a charge of £21,482, and if the additions which his Excellency now reluctantly proposes receive the approval of the Council, will reach a sum of £23,085. The expenses of the services, exclusive of establishments which may be considered to form an annual and ordinary charge, may be roughly said to be about £15,000, forming, together with the establishments, a sum of between £35,000 and £40,000." After discussing and rejecting the proposals for the abolition of Customs duties and the imposition of a poll tax, the message proceeds* —“His Excellency has therefore been compelled to look elsewhere for the provision* of the requisite funds. He proposes to obtain them by certain alterations in the tariff ; by the imposition of stamp dues and licence#; and by a complete change in the system of native taxation. By these means he anticipates an increased receipt of £4OOO on Customs and one of £I2OO from licenses, whilst the stamp duty is estimated as likely to produce £4OO. Bnt it is by an entire recasting of the present system of native taxation that His Excellency looks for the largest increase to the revenue. The system of native taxation which prevailed before 1874 was that of a uniform poll tax. This tax and the mode of its enforcement were severely censured by at least one of the Royal Commissioners, and put an end to by Sir Hercules Robinson, and since 1874 the native tax has been legally at least, and in theory, one primarily payable in labour, though redeemable in money, at the option of the taxpayer. The results of this system have not been more satisfactory than those of that which preceded it. Both these systems it appears to his Excellency labored under the same defect, that of attempting to deal with individuals instead of with communities ; and he proposes that in future the community system of taxation prevalent in NorthWestern India and other places where the village or the family forms the social unit (and nowhere is this more strikingly the case than in Fiji) should be substituted for individual taxation. The outline of this scheme, which will be laid before the Board in greater detail at its next meeting, is that the Legislative Council should from time to time assess the amount payable by different provinces and districts. For the first year it will probably only be possible to assess the different provinces as a whole. In subsequent years it may be possible to assess each district, and perhaps even each village separately. The Governor proposes that the amount of the provincial assessment shall be raised by the production of articles of export, which will be taken off the hands of the Government at fixed rates by contractors, who will themselves undertake the work of collection and shipment. His Excellency believes that by this means the production of the colony will receive a stimulus which it has never yet known.” The Governor has not ventured to anticipate any large sum from the sale of lands, as he considers that in the first instance land is more likely to be purchased from those now in possession than from the Government. A sum of at least £SOO ought, however, to be realised from this source, and a like amount from the fees on Crown grants to settlers. Should these various sources of revenue, which form a total of £40,400, at all realise the amount expected, the ordinary expenditure will be defrayed, and the loan be applied exclusively, or almost exclusively, to public works and other expenses incident to the foundation of the colony.” The tax on Polynesian labour will be abolished. “It is proposed to expend on public works a sum of £14,015; of this amount it is suggested that the large sum of £IO,OOO should be devoted to the construe tion of roads. The expenses of the Land Titles Commission are estimated at £2500. A sum of £7OOO is asked for to meet tho expenses of introducing Indian and Polynesian laborers to the colony. The expenses connected with the return of Polynesian labor are estimated at £7OOO, of which the greater part ought to be recovered from the parties on whose account the expenditure is incurred, but which will, in fact, his Excellency fears, to a very large extent remain a burden upon the colony. A sum of £350 is asked in aid of the expenses of 4he marine survey. The rates of these allowances are estimated at half those paid in Australia. The total expenditure, exclusive of establishments. is estimated at £4B,2SG 9s 9d, making with the establishments a grand total of £71,381 9s 9d. Nothing has been set down on account of the payment of such liabilities of the late Fijian Government as may be ultimately assumed by the colony, as it is at present impossible to say to what extent claims of this nature may be made good, or in what manner it may be decided that they should be met, but it must be remembered by the Board that a vote on this account will almost certainly be asked of them during the ensuing yea*"