THE REDUCTION OF THE GOLD DUTY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1836, 24 June 1874, Page 2

THE REDUCTION OF THE GOLD DUTY.

We take the following from the New Zealand Times of the 10th inst : — The Provincial Council of Otago, we are told by telegram, have passed a resolution regarding the gold duty which will inevitably bring the question of the imposition of that particular duty more prominently before the Assembly than it has been during any previous session, much debated as it has already been. The Council, it seems, have sympathies in the direction of a reduction of the duty^ and as a practical way of getting over the difficulty of legally reducing ifc, they have resolved to directly reimburse the exporters by handing back a sixpence of the duty imposed on each ounce of gold shipped from the Province. Possibly this peculiar proceeeing is not vitro, vires, but its propriety and expediency are nevertheless exceedingly questionable, and as much calculated to lead to embarassment as to the conferring of any substantial benefit to the miner. No doubt Otago has, for a long series of years, enjoyed the advantages of that direct and. easily-collected tax which the gold duty represents, and may now be in a position to dispense with it, but there are other parts of the Colony which are scarcely in the same position, and the consultation of the interests of these districts, and oE the general weal, might well have made the Council hesitate before adopting the step which they have now taken. It is a step which is almost certain to force upon the Assembly the adoption of the further step of substantially reducing the export duty on gold from all parts of the Colony, and, however pleasing that may be to some goldfields representatives who have actively agitated for such a reduction, it is doubtful if it will be found to meet with the approval of those who have the administration of goldfields districts, or even of the majority of the miners themselves. In several of the other Provinces in which mining operations are carried on, there has not yet been any active movement either for the abolition or reduction of the duty, and none knows better than the administrators in these Provinces that, by the reduction of the duty, the difficulty of providing for the necessities of the miners will be immensely increased — in--vt vjuooU-tTr-auctt am ujvtui.it, In — StJirre — iix— stances, as to materially interfere with the management and the prosperity of an interest of paramount local importance. This is especially likely to prove to be the case in the Provinces of Nelson and Westland. Upon the maintenance of the gold duty in these Provinces depends in a great measure the means of providing official supervision, police protection, and the provision of roads and tracks in the mining districts, and its material reduction- will inevitably lead to material inconvenience in these respects, while it will contribute nothing to the wants or wishes of the mining community. Among the practical workers on the diggings there is, in fact, much less complaint made against the duty than there is among candidates j on the hustings or among the representatives'on the floor of the House. Its reduction or abolition is not sought for by the former with anything like the eagerness which is occasionally said to exist, and, even if it were, it is the experience of Provincial authorities that by it they are now enabled to do an amount of good in the construction of local works, and in the consquent development of mining disr. tricts, which, in the future absence of any similar source of revenue, it will be impossible to effect. Cheap and simple in its collection, the tax is one which recomends itself as preferable to many others which might be imposed if it be abolished, and until there is a more general and marked expression of discontent on the part of the miners, it would become the Assembly to consider well how far it should further proceed in abolishing what is essentially Provincial revenue, and a revenue with which some of the Provinces cannot yet easily dispense. It is doubtless satisfactory to know that, in the case of Otago, the goldfjelds. are now so accessible and capable of being so economically managed, that a further reduction of duty can be contemplated with out any fea,r of injuring the interests of one of its most important industries, but the same, it is to be feared, cannot be said of the-mining districts in all other parts of the Colony, and it is desirable that, if at all possible, invidious distinctions between Province and Province should be avoided. If it is found, or liksly to be found, that a practical reduction of the duty, such as that now proposed, can be adopted in one Province, it might be preferable, out of consideration for other Provinces, to substitute for the mere repayment of a certain proportion of the duty to the exporters some arrangement by which the amount might be retained and expended on special objects connected with the social condition and welfare of the miner— such as insurance against loss and suffering by accidents, the establishment of schools of mines, or the encouragement of prospecting by assistance or the offer of rewards. Such a proposition was made some years ago when the reduction was first mooted in the Provincial Council of Otago, and although i ! the circumstances have since changed, ' they have not changed so substantially or ' essentially as to prove that it is not a preferable alternative to the course which , has now been approved of there, and which, if put into force, will almost cer- * tainly have to be imitated in all other parts of the Colony. 1

The San Diego river, said to have been dry for five years, has commenced running agaiu since the storms.