THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1868.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 122, 20 June 1868, Page 3

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1868.

•• Gitk me ti.e liberty lo.khmT, lo utter, ami to rrfue f.cen according to conseieiice, iuois all other liberties. ’’ Milton.

Somk time ago we proposed to, show that the Provincial Governments were not “ the main cause of the excessive expenditure of this Colony,” in contradiction to Sir David Monro’s proposition to the Nelson Deform League. Having been reminded of.this by a valued friend, we proceed to .make the attempt to make good our engagement. We asserted that, the cause lay, in the, reckless conduct of the .General. Assembly in byegone times. .Dor example, the Waitara purchase was made without any proper examination.' The war was forced upon the colony chiefly by Middle Island members, who fondly believed. that the Imperial Government would, pay the, cost. It turned out in the end-however .that they had made the trifling mistake of purchasing from the wrong inan., Afterwards, when it was found that the Imperial Parliament were not disposed to taxation, the enthusiastic loyalty of these members, among whom the present Speaker, was very pforaihent, suddenly ceased. At that time he had a theorys-that the;British Government ought originally - to have proclaimed all the land in New Zealand Crown land. This; of course in Cans that 1 Her Majesty ought to have siezed upon what did' not belong to her, and then after presenting it to . the Colonyy- have niaihtained’it at the expense of British taxpayers, by.,military force ! France,“ ‘ it is true, colonises in this manner;’ but; 'it ;is ; doubtful. Whether ' Sir David would like to he 1 , a- French colonist in Algeria, jinder . a . purely military government. That form. i of government is very simple such hhinga as taxation being fixed by the' Imperial authorities. He would never have been Speaker in a French colony, because there, is no House of Representatives ! The British systeni oft-colonisation is different; 1 the 1 Cape; 1 and New; Zealand have taught the- Tnipbrial Government a lesson, accordingly fhey refused the application ofrithp-Fuglish,'inhabitants in the Fijis, to;constitute* those?islands’ "British; colony. ‘' British colonists all over 1 the world 1 will insist Oh governitfg theinselves, and the -

Imperial Parliament is especially anxious that they should do so—but at their own expense! ' - - * ■ , , So, when the self-reliant policy was was adopted in New Zealand, it was cordially accepted in England. New -Zealand, was now to carry on the war unaided. She was on a small scale to have an army and navy of her own, and—as if this was not sufficients—she at the same time established anew line of ocean.mail steamers for all the Australasian Colonies on her own sole responsibility, and laid down a line of Electric Telegraph. A little Colony of 200,000 inhabitants was at once an Imperial power in miniature; of course money was to be raised. The Assembly voted a loan of three millions; an application was made for the Imperial guarantee for the whole; a guarantee was offered for one million on condition of pledging the . Land Eund, but the Assembly preferred going into the market solely on the personal security of the Colony to giving this collateral security, consequently debentures have been sold at a heavy loss. What remains of all this ?—The Colonial army (the Waikato Militia) is'no one knows where. The conquered and confiscated land is only a burthen, which Auckland will not have. The ocean mail line is simply a nuisance to New Zealand and New South Wales; its existence has prevented the cooperation of the Australasian Colonies for a common service, and the Electric Telegraph having been erected in great part with saplings green out of the bush, is fast going to wreck.-

But the .‘debt remains, anil is a permanent burden on the Colony. If some of the provinces have been extravagant, the General Government has been infinitely more so. The mischief has been that while the Provinces have been playing at Centralism, the Colony has been playing at Imperialism. If the Provinces be destroyed, their debts must be permanently adopted by the Colony. It is quite true that the actual amount of Taxation on the Colony cannot be much decreased ; but if the proposition to substitute direct for indirect Taxation for municipal purposes were accepted, the Customs might be greatly reduced; and one thing is certain, that our present enormous Tariff is a direct premium to smuggling. New Zealand is sometimes called the Britain of the South —ln this respect she bids fair to become the Spain of the South. If tiie Assembly ■will not reduce the Tariff, it will not be long before the contraband traders will reduce its proceeds. There is no possibility of guarding the coast of New Zealand, and the choice lies between Direct Taxation and Colonial Bankruptcy. Sir David Monro pointed, out very clearly how the Provinces may be saved. It would of course, fall very heavily on Auckland and Taranaki to have to provide for their Municipal institutions, and the interest of their debts, out of Direct local taxation —as they have no land fund—and some plan might be conti ived for the Colony to assist them, especially as they were the principal sufferers by the, war; but to throw the heavy debts of Canterbury and, Otago on the Colony, and allow these Provinces to retain their land funds, to be divided among their Counties, would be simply a robbery of the rest of the Colony! Yet the Centralist party in the Assembly would be quite ready to do so. These gentlemen, while inveighing bitterly against Provincial extravagance, have not' a word to say about that of the General Government," v : ” ,y .

Some members of the Assembly advocate an Income Tax for General Government purposes, but a Land and Property Tax for Provincial purposes, would we contend, be much better, and as being subj ect to local, and immediate control, more conducive to economy.... This established, the Customs cottld be reduced, and the Revenue would be raised from the class which. is best.able to pay. ' ... , , . - a > ,'o' Another source of ; considerable : expense, is laid by Sir David Monro,’ to the charge of the Resident Magistrates’ Courts, and ho 'thinks’ these riught .be' dispensed with,' except ’. in the large, , sea - ports, 'and among the Maoris, i; It, is really 1 a pity that the Centralist clique cannot leave the Maoris alone. If they chboseTo-administer ’ the Code Fbtatau amongst themselves, why of course, let them. As Al, exari fl er .sighed for another worlddo . conquer,so do . these gentlemen for more subjeels-to govern; : ;:;If Europeans will settle in the heart of Maori districts,' they must.take the consequences,; they know the risk theyrun, and it is out of all reason , that the] Colony' should be per- s petually embroiled with their quarrels, at ■the public expencel There is no end to if. A European magistrate is bent into a Maori. district, the Natives, will .not submit to his decisions, he attempts to enforce them, is driven away, and another little war is the consequence. The party in the Assembly who'are quite willing to. undertake the go-, yernment of the Provinces, and of the Natives, would be equally willing to under-

take the government of the British Empire. Like Sancho Panza, each would like ; an island to govern. With good reason too, the Speaker complains of some Superintendents getting salaries as high, as £ISOO per annum, which after all is exceptional, yet he complains that £IOOO per annum is but a miserable and insufficient pittance for a Colonial Minister! What would he have ? Certainly the Ministers are poorly paid, in comparison with the Speaker, who gets £6OO per annum, in addition to his honorarium as member and representative for the convenient district of Cheviot, for an average attendance of three or four months in the year.

Last Session a leading member of the Centralist party proposed to discontinue the payment to members of £l per day during the Session, on the ground of economy ; the real object of course being to drive all members from the House who could not afford to attend gratuitously. Could this be accomplished, none but wealthy men would have seats in the Legislature. We have plenty of class legislation now, we should then have nothing else. There would also be plenty of high salaries. As for whether the finances ot the Colony would be any better managed, it is extremely doubtful, when we remember the number of these representatives of wealth and landed property, who advocated that stupid blunder, the Panama contract. Of course this class would oppose all Direct taxation. These gentlemen always oppose vote by ballot, and they have a very good reason; very few of them would ever be returned under that system. Ho one understands them better than the late Colonial Secretary. He, long ago, said that many grave mistakes had been.made in which he had participated, and he was quite willing to pay an Income tax. Will the Centralists ?