The Globe. SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 875, 14 April 1877, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 1877.

We had occasion to expatiate strongly, a day or two ago, upon the extraordinary innovation introduced by the Government in the Survey Department, by which a fee was exacted from the public for the so-called privilege of looking at the maps kept there for general reference. Since, we understand, the copy of the circular issued from Wellington for the guidance of the several chief-surveyors of the colony, which was posted in a conspicuous place in the Christchurch office, has been taken down, and the mode of levying this unheard-of tax has been somewhat varied. A, fee of one shilling for each map glanced at was, at first, demanded without reference being made to the purpose for which the examination was desired, hut now, it seems, the new imposition has assumed a different shape. Persons only who wish to have immediate dealings of a pecuniary character with the Crown, in the way of purchasing Government land, are permitted to look at the maps, and on that clear understanding alone, which must be stated beforehand to the officials, can they secure exemption from the new tax. As for the unfortunates who have already paid their coins for “ value received ” in the shape of land situated somewhere up-country, where possibly the click of the surveyor’s chain is unlikely to be heard for years to come, before they he allowed to refresh their memory as to the whereabouts of their new purchase, by a further look at the map, down must go another “bawbee.” The commercial spirit of the age is really wonderful, and the net-work of taxation with which we are surrounded is indeed becoming complex in the extreme. Of course, as avc said before, the infliction of this singular impost is absolutely illegal. We defy the Government to enforce it without the usual steps of legalising it having been first taken. At the present moment, every shilling thus exacted by the survey department is obtained irregularly and under wrongful premises. It must be understood that we do not lay any blame at the door of the Chief Surveyor. Like other officers of a similar rank, he has simply complied with instructions received from head-quarters. But what puzzles us most is the extraordinary manner in which the Ministry has set aside the jurisdiction of the Waste Lands Board in the matter. The work entrusted to the Survey Department is purely of a technical nature, and it is dependent entirely upon the completion of those important transactions which take place between the members of the Board, the vendors, as representing the Crown, and the public, who purchase the land. The Survey Department de facto is only a piece of executive machinery which follows in the wake of those transactions, and is quite subordinate to the higher powers, as constituted by the Waste Lauds Act and Regulations. Yet, the circulars to which we have alluded, and under which this new tax is imposed, came direct from the Wellington authorities, without reference of any kind having been previously made to the Commissioners of the Board. And avc believe that we are fully justified in saying that, although this new rule in the Survey Office has already been enforced, the Board has had no official intimation of the fact. As a matter of course, any regulations affecting in the remotest degree the relations existing between the Crown as vendors, and the public, as buyers of waste lands, have always, and very naturally should, issue directly from the Board, which is absolutely custodian intrust of the interests of the Crown in the matter. And it is to us a complete enigma that the Board’s prerogative —and in so important a detail too —should have thus been mysteriously ignored Leaving aside the common-sense view if the queston, the statute affecting 1 eatings with lands of the Crown is dear and explicate. We wonder how ho Chief Commissioner, himself a tickler of no mean renown in matters ■f discipline, feels at this remarkV trespass upon his preserves. ...»ut then, it may be remembercc, that it hae grown to be tbe custom

in some cities of tlio Ear West where “ tall” trading rules, for traders to charge customers al fee whether they be purchasers or not for the privilege of looking at their goods. Ministers doubtless are trying to keep pace with the times.