THE NEWSPAPER POSTAGE TAX.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume XII, Issue 511, 23 September 1867, Page 2

THE NEWSPAPER POSTAGE TAX.

! [Frosii the Xew "ii'i 11-.--.a!.i,j ■I" !be>v bo one i ■;\ nm. o than another w men is geiieralh li ll as aa aiuioyancv, n;*l, by m iiviilua;-., as an u j ot and opj'v.o.vr i Ui'iii-n, .t i, the !>■ -stage upon •iou>p.i;•!•••». Jins resort to increase the asoiiif has boon tr ed in (wo of (ho Ansiioiui Colonies, but there it is an nnpopu l ia as in .New V. -aland, and wo Irani i>\ ■nom recent auvic.-s will be dheouti'ineu in N\w .’inuth Wales. It is c<'’*■ >' ry jibe sj it-ir of the age, a (baa upon tie- ! » heel ot education ami intellectual tinproveineiit, ami, in a now country such as llns, übj eliomible Iroin every point ol I'a w. .Smith Australia lias never at- ,.• ■:i:} -iv‘;l am thing of the kind, and in . i a-niania, welcome to the heart of the :Colonial Treasurer as an addition to the jieiimu; would have been, no siieii barbarism lias been resorted to for the purpose ol

ii creasing it. We trust that the present session of the AsSiinhly will not he allowed to pass without tins matter having been brought pro-

jminently lor ward lor discussion. I here Dare in Die to moral AssemUy, a number ol D gen! If me ti connected with Die press, edijiotiaily or as pronrietors, who must, whore !there are no statistics to guide, be pre.cti’icalty aware of the working amt result ol 11 ills impost 01; tile tniliSmirflel! of new s;j papers. Tin-re has, however, been jiuli■’jUsoed a statement which shows the results J which have follow, d the ir.ipo-’.Do" id ( !postage on papers since the first day ot the; ■! present 3 ear m Ww Zealand. Instead oil 'there being, in the tmlt-year commencing. Ust January, Ist.7, as would have been I'naturally looked lor, in the number ol .:papers p sled in the colony, over tue !>uml>tT i osted in the corresponding hall-year of It>;i(s, there is a decrease oi rather more titan one lout tit, or at the rate ■ <ji Hu re than cue mhltein papers in the • ! year. Who will s iy that the public, a? [ 'individuals, have not be. n largely incon- | ve. ietieed bv such a decrease in the enen- ’ lalion of newspapers P Vi lie can say to 1 what: exlent the public, as a community, i have not sutiered by it ? Probably a very

large number of the papers would have found their way info the villages of Great Britain and Ireland, and have dune the work of emigration agents not among the working so much as among the educated and better-cdf clss-es at home. The Government by its penny wise system, cuts oif, or materially' cripples, tins cheap, and very' useful agency iu the colonization of the country. This, however, is but one form of the evil. Within the colony the i effects of this decrease are also injurious!' | felt, it is just the circulation of newspapers in country districts which has been jaifecled by the decrease in circulation. Tin; towns Jo not sutler but the country does, and it is in the c-mutry that the newspaper, as an educating and enlightening agency, is most needed. The higher of papers published iu New Zealand will bear comparison with those ot any wuing country in the world. These papers | re-licet rot only opinions and ideas which are worthy of being used to train the mind of the rising generation in their duties as citizens and colonists, but reprinted into their columns are to be found the very li jwer of light literature, so called from the leaning English journals. They contain a record of passing events —the contemporary history of the world—a knowledge of which is essentially to young and old. Where schools are scarce and far apart, where often the newspaper read aloud at the fireside at night is the iuteleetual cultivation within the reach of hundreds of families, is it wise or prudent to cut oil' or cripple so civilising an inliu ence? The report, as furnished during present session, shows that there is lirtle money or prolit gained by' doing so. The revenue gained from postage stamps used on m-wspapers during the first half-yeari amounted to only Will the Government continue to inlliet this annoy ance and loss o.i the colony for the sake of an annual sn a of between seven and j eight thousand pounds ?

Tlic Government have not even the excuse for this tux, that the carriage of ike papers, when sent free, increased the contract juices at which the delivery of the mails were undertaken. Aids was not even the case with the delivery of inland mails, for not a penny has been saved upon the contracts, though the carriage of patu-rs has been lessened by one fourth, nor in the several post olliees have the services of a single official been rendered unnecessary. Hie wide gain to the truvemineul for the first half-year has been a paltry 1:3,8 Jd— paltry when compare i with the actual injury to the colony, and amiovance to individuals which have been 'caused by the raising of this sum ; a sum iw.dcli they recklessly spend on many piojeels, tlie abandonment of which would, to say tiie least of them, wou'd be no loss.