TAXATION AND REGISTRATION.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 541, 13 March 1876, Page 3

TAXATION AND REGISTRATION.

To the Editor of the Globe,

f'Siß,—l am now justified in the eyes of the public for my conduct in standing forward to enlighten the JElectors, the Government, and the traders as to the Commerce, Banking, Funded debt, &c, &c, of this splendid, but badly managed country. In the little sketch that was published on Taxation I proposed an assessment of the whole country for all purposes —thus for pastoral letting, for forest rights, fand forestry, for education rate, for rural municipalities (that is, Load Boards), and eventually % property tax for general purposes. Now the working men can understand and laugh over those hustings follies, _ the hiightiest genius ever given to_ the colonies, when they see that genius doing a loan at a loss through a Jew Broker, because the said genius had damaged the credit of New Zealand on the London Stock Exchange, and then getting a title from a statesman who had the sense to decline a peerage for himself. But while the working or labouring class and the traders laugh, let them also take care to register their votes, for the man ■who does not register his vote, ties his own hands and feet politically, and hands himself over to be robbed without mercy. A thickheaded labourer said to me—flow’s that? • The answer is the sad and dreadful state of taxation, as adjusted by the “mightiest genius” and his friends, and the fact that Only those who register their votes can have any influence at all upon taxation. A man

who does not register is a political infant, led like a lamb to the slaughter. That little article in the Christchurch comic journal, the Maltoinako, entitled “ Elections Ballot,” shows the shamefully unfair way in which taxation presses on the labourers, the shopkeepers, and merchants, to the benefit of the squatter and of the large landholders, but a few solid facts will soon show those who are ignorant of politics, how much they have to smart for through not registering their votes, and how the election of squatters and rich men rivets the chains of taxation on their unfortunate constituents. There are three freehold Estates not far from Christchurch —180,000 acres, 150,000 acres, 120,000 acres ; total, 450,000 acres. The three owners of this immense acreage pay nothing to the support of Education, although their land reaps the advantages of a law abiding, intelligent people, they pay nothing to roads, although they use the roads more than the unfortunate people who pay for them, they pay nothing towards the Eailway'that puts so much value per acre on these splendid principalities. While tens of thousands of pounds produced on these Estates are remitted to England every year to be squandered on those foolish luxuries of civilisation which Horace andj I condemned £the other day as only fit for fools —but these are only three estates, there are millions of acres of splendid soil occupied by squatters and freeholders that bear no burden for the State, Now, let us turn to Christchurch, in Cashel street is a butcher’s shop, it pays a yearly charge of £33 rates and taxes ; come into Lichfield street, here is a tumble down lean-to, fifteen feet of frontage ; here is the bill— Education ... ... £1 10 0 Building Schools ... 019 6 City Rates, &c, ... 212 0 Total £5 1 6 for one year Let us travel down the street; here is a large paddock belonging to a rich man ; here is the bill for one hundred and twenty-nine feet of frontage— Education nothing Building schools ... 0 7 6 City Rates 1 0 0 Total £1 7 6in one year There are 12 two-roomed cottages on one acre; they pay all taxes included, £lO3 a year, and in one of those cottages you might hear the mother hush her little one to sleep without its tea, “ for Father has £2 10 education poll tax to pay.” I saw one of the rich men driven in a landau past the place ; it might be fancy, but I thought I saw him sneer, such a sneer! as if to say, “those poor wretches have no business to come and live near me.” People may question me fin the streets of Christchurch, as they do, for writing to expose these matters ; they may say as one minister did, in a sneering way, that “It is very injudiciousbut as long as I have voice to be heard I will say, “ abolish that infamous £1 poll tax at once.” Tax the rich and ease the poor. Tax the absentees heavily, because they are the greatest curse of any country. Look at poor old Ireland, ruined by absentees. Register ! Register ! ! Register !! ! To the labouring class it is their only remedy, and if they will call at my house from 6 to 8 in the morning, or from 5 to 8 in the evening. I have the forms, and will register their votes ; they must bring the description and acreage of their leases or freeholds. The qualification for a vote is £5 a year rent outside the Belt, and £lO a year rent inside the Belt, or a freehold worth £SO, so any man who pays two shillings outside or four shillings a week within the Belt, as rent for a lean-to can vote, one may be elected as member to the House. Perhaps as the Education collector comes round, the labourers will rouse themselves to register, and then we shall be able to talk to the squatters. There are only 16 days left in which it is possible to register, after that it will be too late. Yours, &c, J. W. TREADWELL.