THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, JULY 14th.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 383, 14 July 1876, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, JULY 14th.

The long looked for Financial Statement is now before the country. The mi<at notable feature in ifc to our mind is fciwt Sir Julius Vogel has gone back un his'rrnjra StaiiCvsmaulikG proposals at Wanyanui. In that memorable

speech it will be easily remembered Sir Julius ridiculed the idea of Provincial districts as crt?ufced by the Aboliiiua plainly intimating his own perplexity aa to uow there could be provincial sources of revenue and provincial liabilities, tvuen the Provinces no longer existed, even although the boundaries of the Provinces were adhered to. In that, as we have long pointed out, Sir Jiiiius Vogel was quite right la the Statement the communistic stepping-stone is again brought into prominence, and Provincial districts are most religiously to be adhered to—at least, let- U3 aay, for five years. Wo have no announcement aa yet as to what shape the division into counties ia to assume ; neither are we told what administration the waste lands are to be subject, or what would be the responsibilities any such administration would be under to the people and to the Colonial Parliament. Thia is not said by way of complaint, for it ia not of course to be expected that a mass of administrative detail can be dragged into a Financial Statement. At the satne time, the whole effect of the Treasurer's proposals hang on these questions, and a few other of similar tenor. The land fund is the milch cow for everything. It is to bear the charge for railways, for education, for charitable institutions, and. Yogel only knows what else. The main feature of the Statement, which will, to a certain extant, give it vitality, is the principle it indicates that, in future, to avoid Colonial direct taxation —which might, it is said, impair our credit—local bodies are to be the agenta to impose the taxation themselves in their own counties. Hence direct taxation will exist in its very wor3t shape.

The differences in the relative positions of Goldfields to Provinces throughout the Colony prevents any practical cooperation among Gold'field Members in attacking special taxation. Otago miners are agreed that from their relation to the Province and other interests in it, special taxation in any shape is oppressive beyond argument: that under no possible circumstances * can a system of subsidies and localisation of residue mitigate the evil. Canterbury cares nothing about mining taxation at all. Westland and Nelson are not united in action. The G-oldfields in these two Provinces have been starved for so long, owing to the poverty of the Provincial Governments which have swallowed G-oldfields revenue with scarce any appreciable nourishment of the Provincial body politic, that some Members, who it must "be presumed represent sections of the mining community, are led away to believe that the amount of taxation collected—less deductions for purely administrative charges—would really be of value, and be sufficiently beneficially expended by local bodies as to make it unwise to reduce mining taxation at all. The Goldfields in these Provinces are isolated from other interests, and present so many special differences to what is common with us in Otago, that we do not presume to give an opinion from their point of view. la Auckland circumstances again vary : Mining revenue goes to Natives. The Province reaps no benefit. Hence it can be easily understood that the Provincial Council has been chary of expending money locally for which it would get no direct return. Again, the Thames district is a borough managed by a Council. The roads in this borough are cut to pieces by the heavy loads of quartz dragged over them. Remembering this we can easily understand how natural it is for a large section of Thames ratepayers to believe that mining taxation is perfectly legitimate, provided the proceeds, together with a subsidy, were available, even with considerable reductions, for roads and works in the iborough. ; Under these circumstances itis quite impossible to : obtain a- united opinion among Groldfield Members favorable to reduction of mining taxation. It may be that circumstances may arise which would induce a majority of such Members even to advocate extra taxation. Is Otago then to be scourged for the hypothetical advantages of a system which in other parts of the Colony, OTing to local peculiarities, is not as yet condemned ? Certainly not. Yet it is well to intimate clearly to Miners' Associations, and those few leading men among miners, who for years have battled for the Otago mining interest, that no practical reductions are possible so long as mining taxation is imposed by the Colonial Parliament. A Colonial system —a united IS T ew Zealand, with no intermediate form of government between the Colonial Parliament and the County Council—means perpetual robbery of the Otago miner for the benefit of the freeholders and tenants in his county. A Federal Government, on the other hand, would be most advantageous to our Goldfields. Under it each part of the Federation—let it be called Colony, Province or State—would have the regulation of the mining revenue to be collected. Equally as under the united Colony system such revenue would be returned to mining districts, but no more would be collected than was equitable as between man and man, or than would be the least possible exaction upon the development of our auriferous resources if taxation were considered necessary at all. \V hatever other advantages or disadvantages might be set in array for or against a United New Zealand on a federal basis there can be no doubt that it is .the best possible system for the Otago Goldminers. Under it Wakatipu can have its County if it pleases, with endowments iar more substantial than are ottered by the Colonial Government.

Tbb San Francisco mail closes on the 24th. The sum of £IO,OOO ia on the Estimates to provide for Provincial ofScers locally employed. The following is tie list of unclaimed lettera lying at the Naseby Dost office:—B.Z - Colhs. Mrs; Girvin, jair.es (2); Godwin,' Francis; Hall, Charles'! (Maniototo); Keam Joseph J; M'Galium, i)uncan (2); Odey* George; Simpson, Arthur;-Shaw,' Eobert (iJighfield). It is rumored in "Wellington that Mr. Macintends submitting separation propoAw entertainment in aid of the funds of the Athen.-tum i 3 projected, to come off shortly. Dr. Whitton, we understand, has been for some time past procuring phofcograpns of local celebrities, in their own peculiar attitudes, to exhibit through bis magic iantsrn. The performance pron isea to be most entertaining. Edition has been made to our iist or Clydesdale entire horses for the ensuing season by Mr. George Clucas, who. we learn, has purchased the well-known entire horse ' \otng "Wallace" from Mr. Hugh Crossan, a evict, in which district he has stood for the last few years, and left stock which has never been surpassed in that diatnct.

The nomination for the office of Mayor of Naseby took place at the Council Chambers on Monday last, passing of veiy quietly. Mr. ' • Busch was the only candidate nominated, and was therefore declared elected. \Ve understand that Mr. 11, Webber ha 3 received the amount of £3 IGa., contributions from Chinamen employed on the Sludge Channel \V orks, towards the charitable purpose for which the concert lately was given This amount, with the first sum, has been handed over to the Treasurer, Mr. W. Tnder. The annual soiree of the Mount Ida Lodgej .L.L., took place in the Masonic Kail, which was prettily decorated, on Friday evening last. There was a large number of the bre° thren and their friends present. The whole arrangements were carried out most satisfactorily by the stewards The supper was provided by Mr. King. The evening was spent in a most enjoyable manner by all present. At a meeting of the members of the Naseby Fire Brigade, held in the Council Chambers on the 6th instant, a letter from the Town Clerk was read, accepting the appointment of Mr. James Donnelly as Secretary and Gearman. Capt.iin Stephens handed over the usual monthly contributions to the Treasurer, and also the aim of £1 Ss., contributions from honorary members. Mr. GeoTge Collet's resignation as a member of the Brigade was accepted, and the thanks of the Brigade were recorded for his past services. We ('N.Z. Times') understand that it is the intention of the Government to introduce a bill next session appointing a commission to value the carrying capacity of the Canterbury run 3, with a view to their being offered to the licensees at increased rentals when the present serm expires. At the \Yaste Land Board last week Mr. Joseph Preston applied, to exchange an agricultural for a deferred payment lease for land m the Kyeburn district, 502 acres, with the object of purchasing the land at the reduction of the rents paid. The Board decided that they had no power to grant the application.

"Mr. H. W. Bobisson-'s translation of Horace's ode to Valgius is, considering the difficulty of Lis undertaking, on the whole fair. There are one or two very good expressions in it, that for instance of the frost glacies iners— holding "the streamlets fast." However, we must still say of this translator that he has chosen for the exercise of his talents a task all but impossible—if not altogether so—to accomplish, and in attempting which even the brilliant and learned Father Prout thought it necessary to claim the in.? diligence of his i-eaders. The sage Moni&igne, a grave Cestilian, Old Dr. Johnson, and Quinctillian Would say a task, by no means facile, Had fallen to him of Watergrasshill. May "he then indulgence claim for his attempt to render Horace ? " —From the Review of the 1 New Zealand Magazine ' in the «Tablet.'