THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1874.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 291, 26 September 1874, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1874.

As a means of producing revenue which would have the merit of. easy -calculation; we would suggest to distressed Provincial Treasurers a general poll-tax of, say £l a head. Such a tax is already, to a certain extent, collected to keep .up, Provincial administrations, arid, strangely enough, is -portion of the''Press—not revolted at by the people,: as some'might imagine wcjuld be the case, if'"such an idea was mooted as-imposing a poll-tax throughout the Provincfe;of £1 per head additional to the ordinary taxation of the Colony, already, so high, as computed by those in-a position to judge. Yet this is what is done in Otago, whoje institutions and administration, we are told, are perfect. "We find the amount collected on gold duty from the gold obtained in this district is £1,468 odd for last year, while the adult male population was only 1,200. In addition to this, these unfortunate 1,200 really, eliminating shepherds and others, only, a portion of them—contribute " £1,037 10s. to be allowed to lease about 447 acres of "ground—paying in all, before the 447 acres are destroyed, £10,375 for the privilege of such-destruction. The sum levied for miners' rights and other petty taxation imposed -would -swell up this amount to between £3,000 and £4,000 special as we have said before, additional to,the proportion of the Colonial indebtedness', "each individual through the length and breadth of the two Islands must 'bear to a greater or les3 ex bent. Yet the Goldfields have no grievance. Those who say so have not shown yet, or attempted, to show, the difference between produce raised on sheep's backs on leasehold ground and produce raised from the bowels of the earth similarly leased—similarly, that is if .perpetual rent per acre where land is not destroyed is equivalent for £2 10s. annual rent" where presumedly it is in ten years. In point of fact, there is no possible justification of the taxation on-the Goldfields. Thiß state of things cannot be remedied by voting for liberal candidates at elections who see the abuse. The evil is past remedy witho.ut popular pressure of the strongest kind is raised and continued to support measures introduced for a redistribution of taxation. It seems, to us cowardly to bear, these exactions by running from them, as so many do. " What does it mat- ! " ler? We mean to try the Palmer," '

is too often the way in which agitation is smothered Not only is this cowardly, but it is disloyal to those who, companions- in industry,- have rooted themselves in such a way that they cannot, at the whim of the moment, be off to the Palmer.

The Central Mining Association can do much, but local Associations can do more : in the first instance, by obtaining particulars as to the local" taxation in their respective districts, and also the amount of expenditure they have benefitted by. The Provincial Appropriations will not show the true exexpenditure, for money is" over and over again voted in deference to the' pressure of a troublesomely pertinacious member which is never intended - to be spent. Such statistics would be' of great value when Otago Provincialism dies, to show, when a new system of truly "local Government is introduced, the abuses we have suffered under. At present, in the minds of the residents themselves on Goldfields we have little more than clamorous ideas. What we want is popular knowledge of the imposition at present hardly known to those, who, groaning under it, attribute their general hard-upness to bad times, dry seasons, and, pretty generally—an instinctive idea, we suppose—obsolete Provincialism. _lf the Mining Associations would disseminate facts such as these they would be doing a great work commensurate with the importance of the interest they represent. The average wages earned by miners in mining districts is barely-'£7o per annum. ° We think it is more in our own district. Out of this about ten per cent, goes to the sp3cial taxation raised to foster up large towns of th,e -Provinces against the country that' feeds them. Special taxation, in any case, ,is ■an abuse, but the abuse is mitigated if the money so raised is expended faithfully in the district in which it is raised.