CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 13, Issue 659, 25 February 1869, Page 3

CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES.

To the Editor of the Jlawke's Bay Times. Sir,—The editor of the Herald, in a late issue of his paper, informs his readers that he " paid his £2 education rate cheerfully," &c. That might possibly be so, and others may have done the same thing for a reason overlooked by Mr Colenso in his speech, viz.,—personal interest. It is quite possible that schoolmasters may have certain creditors who have little prospect of a settlement of their outstanding accounts unless the un*ust tax be carried out. The same person, in to-day's Herald, says : " When we hear of so much fuss in town over a payment of £1 per annum for educational purposes, we marvel at the long suffering of the Meanee and other settlers in the vicinity of Napier, most of whom pay at the rate of .£lB 15s to the collector at the toll-gate, without, so far as their experience yet goes, deriving any material advantage from so exorbitant a tax." Now, Sir, he should know that it is not the amount of the rate that has raised the spirit of opposition, but the principle of the thing; it is the loose and underhand way in which the affairs of the Pro. \ince are conducted. We do not like to see public property devoted to the gratification of private ambition, by being charged with expenses which it should not bear. Again, the editor of the Herald—a member of the Council—fought hard in his place against the Toll-gate Act—which Act, unjust as it may be, is not a compulsory rate, no person being compePed to pay it who does not use the road.—Yours, <fec, Justice. Napier, Feb. 23, 1869.