Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1861.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 187, 12 August 1864, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. NAPIER, FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1861.

Me. M'Lean has succeeded in establishing a present popularity and a lasting reputation amongst a few mercenary storekeepers and squatters, hut he has done so, in the eyes of all disinterested men, at the expense of every sound principle of Government, and his name will ever be associated with war and taxation, than which it would be impossible to discover anything more odious. It is to avoid taxation that thousands of people leave England every year for the colonies, but it will fare hard indeed with the enterprising emigrant who leaves the shelter of the old roof-tree and the strong and respected institutions of the Mother Country, where life and property are secure, to meet in a strange land with those very exactions from which he thought himself for ever free by his selfimposed exile. The “ Highway Act,” about which much has been said, it being, par excellence, the Act of this session, to which Mr. M’Lean avers he is not “ wedded”—a perfectly original figure of speech, by the way, and which Act Mr. Ormond, with surpassing shrewdness and clearness of diction, repudiates as “ not his child,” —in spite of the protestations of these gentlemen to the contrary, enjoys the questionable reputation of being the result of the combined exertions of the two ; and it would seem from the peculiar phraseology of these two distinguished statesmen that during the discussion of the merits of this unfathered and unwedded article, their minds (probably in consequence of the expected importation of females) were wandering upon irrelevant matter. Anyhow, the Act in question is a living example of what sort of laws they are likely to make and what kind of treatment this unfortunate Province has to expect at their hands. Bad in principle, false in practice, faulty in construction, so ill put together that it will be possible at any time to drive a dray right through it, —in theory a delusion, in practice ruin,—arbitrary in its provisions, and contrary to all existing contracts as between the Government and the land owner, —such is this Act which has been brought forward by the Government and passed by the Council with but one dissentient voice. That a system so preposterous as that of toll bars should be introduced into this Province is indeed surprising, the uselessness of that means of collecting a tax was demonstrated and exposed in England 20 years ago, and it has gradually fallen into disuetude ever since. It is difficult to combat and remove all at once, old and vested interests, however ruinous and vexatious in their effects, but it is not difficult to prevent interests of that description springing up under new conditions and circumstances of society, such as obtain here. Yet it would seem that we, although free from the influence of time-honored and traditional absurdities in the way of legislation, and with a wide sphere of originality in that direction open to us for action, are, by the ignorance and stupidity of our law-makers, hurried blindly into those very courses, and are following those bad old customs which have long ago exploded everywhere else. What stamps this plan of toll-bars with a particularly barbarous character is the principle at the bottom of it. Tolls established in one district will of course be a tax upon another. The system enables one district to throw a portion of the expense of the maintenance of the roads upon its neighbors ; and those neighbors will of course return the cora-

pliment. Nor does the [matter improve when we go into the question of the expenses of collection. It has been calculated from long experience that the cost of collection of tolls at bars cannot be less than 25 per cent of the receipts—an enormous per-centage. It will ever remain a disgrace to this Province that we have in less than five years squandered away an immense landed property, a property sufficient in itself, if wisely managed, to have secured us against the incursion of the tax-gatherer in any shape, for a hundred years to come. Yet here we are already, at this early date, driven to that vexatious means of raising money. It is true that some people have made their fortunes out of this estate—it is true that while our enlightened Government is so hard up that it does not know which way to turn, nor how to raise money, the Maories, those unlettered originals, are in receipt of a large revenue from their lands; but it is also most unmistakeably true that these facts do not in the least mitigate our condition. It might with equal show of reason be asserted that the squatters are a blessing to the country and that Sir George Grey’s Land Regulations are wise in thought and profitable in action. It is easy enough to prop up a false position by false means—it is easy enough in this money-grubbing community to obtain popularity by pandering to the cupidity of a certain class of people, and it is still easier to cover those few men who protest against this vile state of things, with ridicule, contumely, and abuse; but it is not easy in after time to remedy the ill done in the present day. The most severe responsibility rests upon those who introduce taxation into a country, no matter in what shape it comes or for what purpose it is to be used. Let the thin end of that wedge be inserted, and it will not be long before it is driven homeland the memory of that man who gave the first stroke to it will be bitterly reproached by succeeding generations until the end of time.