Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1871.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 18, Issue 1119, 13 September 1871, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1871.

The Financial Statement of the Colonial Treasurer was delivered according to promise last night, and the abstract of it; which appears in this evening's issiie was telegraphed to the press on its delivery. It does not, as was predicted by some, contain anything that takes the Colony by surprise. That there would prove to be a considerable efficiency in the past year's revenue, notwithstanding the enormous success that has attended the mining interest and the large sums that it has contributed to revenue in excess of estimate, was well enough known before; and that additional taxation to meet such deficiency would be proposed was also expected. Again, what we feared regarding protective duties, so called, has come to pass, even to the throwing of the onus of the proposal on the Victorian Government as a measure of retaliation, In some respects, however, the budget falls sjiort of what sonic were quite prepared to expect, in that it does not propose the infliction of an income and property tax in addition to our present customs duties. Perhaps the most clever hit in the whole is the proposal to double the subsidies paid to Road Boards, and to do this out of the loan. Of course road works are in a certain sense public works, and so fall within tfre purposes for which the loan was ostensibly raided. This master-stroke will purchase the support of a large class of persons and confirm some waverers. Another promising feature is the indication of intended retrenchment. If this be genuine, it is the most import ant part of the whole. We must, however, wait until we see how this pro niise is rec|eemec| before we indulge in gratulatiorjs. Our limits to-day will not permit of our gointj further into details, but there are several points of importance besides those above noted, which shall have our early attention.