THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1870.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 77, 29 July 1870, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1870.

The. Financial Statement lately made at Wellington by the Jbton.-the Colonial Treasurer-in committee, of:" the whole Ho use, and since issued from- the Gfcor vernmeht Printing Omee,is ofthe uiest

exhaustive kind,, and proposes a policy so vast in its details and liabilities-as really to make one pause for reflection. Tne changes in the „ariff are chiefly of a character calculated to foster iVew. Zealand industries by raising the. duty upon articles heretofore imported, from other-countries,, but which it is known, can be grown amTinanufactared by the people of the Colony, ITour, wheat, barley, oats, and maize "have always been allowed entry to bur ports iree of duty until, now; but. to appease Lithe.clamor of the agricultural interest, a tax of Is. per -hundred pounds weight of the former from 'seaboard has been -imposed; and per hundreds pounds on each of'the cereals mentioned. In the same way hay, t chaff, eggs, &c.,' /heretoibre duty" free; be imported .under heavy taxation. Gordage,,' ; soap,, jeathei', furniture, 1 timber of.all kinds,, from other' countries, ; are each heavily- taxed"ori'.importation;/ '- while about thirty articles of universal:: use—such-as-nails, tools,, iron, steel, larm's, '.eopper manufactures, < arsenic, •&e., bags, and wool packs, MJb-have been, ent iri-ly relieved from their pre.yi-' ous heavy customs pressure, and will; i "blithe Ist';ocfcbber the j | changea indicated .into, operation, j l oe importeciduty That the ten-J | doucy of these alterations in.our Tariffl | will, be to idevelo.pe &ae resouuvcs of'the j I couiUry, and-fosce.r niraiy local iudns-j ' people, "there can. be i little tiqubt;' bu't'lu Wsometv.liat siugu-1 -lut'jiiiat 'bagti.and wobfpacksj.sb largely j country, used ' on"-efWy-.iv.rm and sheep station, in the | land,"should now be relieved.from cus-j toms thrahioin, wbile Cordage,' blankets,. \ &e.. are frig hly' taxed. VV os h o uld have.j iuougiit..th;tt of iiie interests wJieh \ a. lioeriil" poik-y Would be moot- likely to'l d«A\ ibp". y Lie: ut lioat ion. of the snimn t&nax) native flax, would have de~ | manded immediate recognitie n— -would \ have rceidvt.'d.xha earliest, censile aud evoki d the warmest support of die 1 present Ministry, it is undoubtedlv.a glaring error in the Tariif mpuideari'on.s j ofour iMbrthern rulers, which must make ] irstdf apparent'to ev'ery rejecting mind,, j to. bifer no. inducement to estadish j .manufactories.of articles so' much in constant demand as sacks- and wool packs." With -thousands =-of : '.acres of native flax growing on Doth inlands,,.and with hundreds of machhies at present inactive "operation preparing tae fiocc for exportation, to foreign': inarkbtsj.. there to be "partially, if not wholly, aianafacturedfor our eonsumptioiihere, it appears as if one of nature's be.<t were either ruthlessly sacrifljed, or wantonly neglected to obtain the support oftbe squatting, and. agricultural interests.. ' After all these are only the minnows,, as it were ? . of Mr. J'uliua' Vogel's iiuancial programme. Jfrpm, speaking on. the revenue and ex .penditure of last year, together with, public works and immigration,tthe Hon. Member for the Otago quietly approached the. subject of railways for the JN'orfch and Middle Islands, advocating the American, system of "sreyenue. railways." " He then fairly launched the grand scheme of the ses-sion-;—the panacea for all the ills of the country-^when it was\n iSyondei:- if every representative in the House felt somewhat bewildered, at the magnificence of his political fabric." In iutrodacing it he said,. "••n.ow, as to the " mode of paying, foil these railways it " is essential, in order that we shall not "proceed, too fast, and undertake- more "than, our means will justify,-that we ''should fix a very effectual limit to the "liabilities to be incurred. 'fepeakiuj* «' broadly, I contend that during the

" next fcofijjears tlie- Colony will run* ; " no risk if it commit itself to-aaxexpeii--! " diture of ten-mi Wane for railways, and "for the* other purposes comprised itt '•' these proposals," - - This extraordinary device for a settlement ef our present monetary drfficul- ! ties, and; securing the- permanent prosperity of the- country,.. is- one- of the most of its kmd was.; ev.er sketched, out and this heavily taxed Colon*-. T-J-a Hon. U-eptlenmn afterwards;proceed*to say that the- interest on : 'ten million of money tt 5\ per cent-., divided the j present population/ of 250,003adults, a? settled d-ebt- of £i) perbead, or-£2 per head per annum, "here "is no men?ion made in thin estimate of thealready existing -colonial debt, .which in round numbers- in--iy be 3et down at £5,000,000, and, would tlyia maie the , general liability of" the country £15:000,000, and! fit the same rate of interest would settle a permanent Saancial responsibility upon; the iiuwiJual colonist, of £6O per annum. We wil resume this-subject on.an.earJy date".