The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 1021, 3 October 1877, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1877.

Mb. Toomkb has at last reached, the goal of his ambition, and been declared a member of the City Council. He has now a perfect right, if he chooses, to take his seat, and occupy it for his term of office. The disqualification of Mr. Banks places him in a position the citizens at the late election apparently were not prepared to do. If he resolves to maintain his legal right and become a Councillor, without taking any further trouble, he must, we should think, feel that he occupies his seat at the Council table on somewhat different terms to his fellow Councillors, unless indeed he wishes to carry out the principle of the representation of minorities. Mr. Toomer must feel that the dignity of Councillor is but an empty one, unless it is accompanied by the hearty sympathy and co-operation of the electors. If he consults his own dignity, now that he has unseated Mr. Ban Its, Mr. Toomer will resign and give the ratepayers an opportunity of expressing an opinion on the matter. If they have changed their mind since the last election they will perhaps place him at the head of the poll, and thus enable him to feel that he enjoys the dignity of Councillor, not from accident, but from the free choice of his fellow citizens. Mr. Toomer cannot pretend to say that he has been elected by the ratepayers of Christchurch. They elected Mr. Banks, This gentleman has now been disqualified, and Mr. Toomer has been declared entitled to his seat. Legally, of course, this is quite true. But has the latter gentleman any real claim to the position he now occupies, and is he convinced that his presence in the Council will give satisfaction to the majority of the ratepayers ? He can have no grounds for so thinking, and therefore we hope he will take an early opportunity of placing himself right with the ratepayers, by resigning and standing for re-election. If he does not, we must conclude that it is self-glorification and not the interest of the ratepayers which he seeks. We hope the question of the imposition of a land tax will not be lost sight of by whichever Government remains in power at the end of the session. We have at various times directed attention to what is being done in other colonies in this matter. In Victoria the Lower House has carried a Bill through imposing such a tax, and sent it to the Upper. To show that they intend to fight the question to the last, the Lower House adjourned, in order that they might quietly await the decision of the other branch of the Legislature. The Sydney Me raid has always been noted for the interest it takes in New Zealand affairs, and the following are the remarks it has to make on the subject of the proposed land tax here “ It appeared recently from the Financial Statement of the Treasurer of New Zealand, that the Government, though evidently in need of -money, desired to avoid having recourse to increased taxation, and proposed instead to tide over immediate difficulties by slackening ojf the public works expenditure, and falling back upon the land revenue for repayment of sums now held to he fairly chargeable against it, but obtained in days gone by from other sources. Later news informs us that this policy lias been challenged, and that an amendment has been moved on going into Supply, affirming the necessity for Kuch a change in the incidence of'

taxation as would throw on property its proper share of the public burdens. It is further stated that there is a very strong feeling in the country in favor of a property and land tax. "What the issue of this movement will be is only matter for conjecture; but upon two or three points there appears to be little room for doubt. The first of these is that the G-overnment of New Zealand will shortly have to raise additional revenue from some source or other : the next is that the attempt to raise it by increased Customs duties would be a dangerous experiment, New Zealand being heavily taxed already in that direction; and the last is that if direct taxation were resorted to, in the shape of a land and property tax, it would fall upon the classes best able to bear the pressure, and would cause the least disturbance to trade and enterprise. Although it is said that there is a strong feeling in favor of such a tax being imposed, it is hardly to be understood that those who would be most severely touched by it participate in that feeling; and it is hardly to be expected that a measure imposing the tax would pass without a sharp struggle."