OTAGO GOLD DUTY REPAYMENT ORDINANCE.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 306, 9 January 1875, Page 3

OTAGO GOLD DUTY REPAYMENT ORDINANCE.

(From the ' Wellington Tribune.')

The levying of an export duty on " gold, being an exceptional burden on the particular industry which produces it, has, from the commencement of that industry in 1857-8, been the subject of much controversy, collected by the machinery of the Customs' department, successive Acts declare it to be *'• land" revenue, and therefore payable to" the Provinces in whichit is raised, in," order to recoup them for the " cost "of "maintenance," delegated to. them along with the management of Goldfields. But it was never intended to furnish, to either Colonial or Provincial Governments,'a revenue applicable to other purposes. Session af-

er sesrion, discussions and divisions have

taken place on the reduction of gold duty. On one fide have been the direct representatives of goldniining districts, combined with those who look upon a reduc - .tionas a simple matter of justice to a'deserving and valuable class of our fellow colonists. On the other, the Provincial magnates in the House of Representatives, unwilling to have the gold duty hone pulled from between their teeth ; supported'hitherto by the numerical votes and influence of the General Government. After one reduction of 20 per cent— 6d in 2s 6d.—it became hopeless to obtain any further reduction in the House ot Representatives. ' The miners, foiled "there, exerted pressure upon the local legislators. In Otag's at least, they thought they had succeeded. In the 1874 session of their Council, it passed a law called "The Otago Gold Duty Repayment Ordinance," under which a reduction of the duty would have been effected by a payment in nature of drawback from the Provincial Treasurer at the ports of that Province The General Government disallowed this

Ordinance, —not as being beyond thejurisdiction of the local legislature, but "because sufficient provision had not been made to protect the revenue of other Provinces ; " that is to say, gold raised in Nelson or Westland might be brought overland into Otago, and at its ports claim the drawback fas remission), whereby either or. both of the former would lose

the export duty otherwise payable i*. their own ports. In giving, this reason, the Colonial Secretary forgot to specify another very obvious objection, "namely, that the Otago Treasury might suffer seriously by having to pay the remission on gold raised outside the Province. That officer also suggested that " provision might be made for allowing the bonus (or remission) directly to the_miners, on their satisfying the Warden or other authorised officer that they obtained gold within any district, and forwarded it to the Coast for shipment." Such provision has not been made, though no great difficulties seem ,to lie in the -way. .But the contents of' a letter (date not given), published some time ago in the Southern papers, addressed from Kaseby to the Colonial Secretary by Mr. George Clarke, Secretary Central Mining Association (and which deserved more attention than it received), lead us , to believe that the, suggestion would : so easily have attained the avowed object .of the disallowed ordinance, that it is unwelcome to the Provincial magnates df'OtSgo. That letter-not'"only clearly sums up the facts above stated, but exposes one of the most cunning contrivances nf Provincial greed. - Mr. Clarke asserts that in Otago } alone, " in Bpite of the depression in gold- '

mining,.' caused almost entirely by the pressure of''special and general taxation', amounting to 4115 per miner, the amount of gold duty collected is double the amount spent for -maintenance ; while the whole amount of special taxation., collected a« duty licenses, leases, &c . is quadruple the amount spent in maintenance—the figures being for last year, in round num. Usra, £33,000 collected, as against £BOOO spent in its maintenance." He believes the miner to be no better off in other Provinces. At this rate, and reckoning that the Otago miners alone number be - tween (5000 and 7000, he shows that while the General Government is spending £200,000 fwr water supply on Goldfields in the endeavor to foster the industry, ■*« the Provincial Governments are allowed to undermine any benefit which might accrue from such works, by taxing the miners £5 per head." It is. clear, from the above figures, that a little "more £1 per head would pay the "cost of maintenance;" and'that if the'gold duty were absolutely' abolished, the' remaining items of special taxation would furnish moie than double that cost. Mr. Clarke distinctly charges the Provincial Govern -. ment of Otago with political fraud, in framing laws " which their legal adviser must have known to be unnecessary (nugatory ?;, and could hardly' fail to throw the bonus and ' unpopularity' of continued Goldfields taxation upon the General Go vernment while the inferior Executive continued to enjoy -the profits." The goldminers of Otago, through Mr. Clarke, pray that the Government will cause inquiry to be made into the truth of their allegations before the ensuing session of Parliament, in order to the devising of a " scheme of colonial administration of the Goldfields on such a basis as "will for ever preclude a, • swelling of revenue by means sf a direct tax on an industry almost wholly followed by working men ; " that they will also communicate with the Provincial Executive, si that there may be 10 pretence of any misunderstanding unJer which such a sham as the disallowed Ordinance may be screened, in case the Council of that Province again signify the vish of the people for.a reduction; and, n conclusion, that they will protect a ;reat industry now paralysed; not by the ittraction -of the public works to miners, >ut by " taxation collected for the benefit if Governments with which they have no ympathy This is evidenced by the fact hat our best miners are leaving the olony." The case of the goldminers is on the I »ace of it a grievous one, loudly calling for I inquiry, and, if the alleged facts prove 1 true, for redress also, by the, resumption of all the powers delegated by the General Government. Justice to the mining population requires this, they have our warm sympathy in their petition of rights. But we look upon the subject in a broader light. If the charges against the Provincial Government of Otago be • established, what becomes of the exceptional doctrine that, at least in Canterbury and- Otago, 4 provincial institutions continue to work well ? %\ this, case, 'those of Otago will stand condemned for special l political "fraud. If, as Mr. Clarke,, alleges, all .the goldmimng provinces are equally " swelling revenue" from special taxation- of that - industry, Nelson and Westland would also most' advantageously be-absorbed into the-Colonial Government. Need the process of total absorption—a sweeping abolition of Provincialism throughout the Colony—be postponed only for the benefit of the Provincial magnates of big Canterbury and little Mailborougli ? Even they, perhaps,"had better accept the general change, lest some yet unexposed injustice or peccadilloes be brought up against them. Better to die sans peur et sans reproche —to depart with a good character—than to be brought up at the bar of public opinion, and ban>ished as a political pickpocket.