THE Mount Ida Chronicle THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1877.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 412, 15 February 1877, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1877.

In connection with the new system of gazetting adopted in Otago, it is right that one question which we have before alluded to 'should be set definitely at rest. Who is tjjp have the.benefit of the low tender, the .'Times,' the Government only, or.the public. The 'Daily Times,' in fair competition, obtained the sole right of publishing all advertisements, jth.at hitherto had to be published in Gazette.' On its part it agreed to perform the work of publication air a filed rate. This rate was very low, being only, a fifth of what the Auckland papers insisted upon for. the performance of a similar duty in their district. The proprietors, reasonably enough, counted upon obtaining a large additional circulation, as being the authorised gazette, and in that way cover the first loss upon the advertisements. The point to be settled is this—Do the terms of the contract exclude the public from the benefit of the low tender. We hold that they do not; that every applicant who is driven to advertise in the ' Times' as the 'Gazette' is entitled to be charged no more than the schedule rate of the accepted tender. In practice the ■ Times.'.. management is evading this, and we find that applicants who are forced to advertise in the 'Gazette 'are being charged ss. an inch—the full' Times' rate. Advertisements to be inserted twice under the Land Act, that should, according to the ' Times' tender, only be charged at the rate of Is. an inch, are put in against the applicants at 305., instead of about 10s. If the ' Times ' is to be allowed to charge full scale rates against every advertisement not signed by a member of the Government or public officer, the spirit of the contract, and, we venture to think, the letter also, will be most unmistakeably broken. Let the' Times' have all the good things it can Bqueeze fairly. We do not even jomplain at being obliged to pay for the ' Gazette,' but the public should be protected. If the present-milking process is correct, let it be clearly stated,, If it is wrong, the soongr it is remedied the better:

Oirai by one the County Councils of populous districts are taking refuge from their troubles by plunging headlong into the 213 meshes of the Counties Act. Hawke's Bay had to come under the Act, after deciding not to do so. Waimate also comes in, while Greraldine is suspect. In our own Province Taieri is the last victim. The difficulties of attempting to carry on and maintain, in times of disaster, the public works of such a district as Taieri, without local taxation other than that levied by the existing Koad Boards, are probably not "easily surmounted. The work in.such a : district cannot be estimated once a year with certainty. It ■R-avors'more or less of casualty. The property in such Counties as Taieri or Waikouaui is a security that any rate struck would do, more than cover the • expenses of the machine needed.to strike'and- collect it.. It is now proved, by thb amended valuation returns to baud, I "'.tuatth'o^ pula'tijcl dist'rictsas Lake'Countyj Vin--cent County, and Maniotbtb does not. It is not asserted that there may not be other reasons for fully constituting under the Act, but the one paramount reason actuating, decision is the question of rating, in "order" to secure sub-

sidies—no full constitution, no rates • no rates, no subsidy. Eating will not pay in the G-oldfields Counties; for which valuation lists are to Band, under the administration we must assume is rendered necessary by the Counties Act_ and its brethren.* The Clerk, Chairman, and Eoad Inspector in Vincent County cost in salaries £IOSO per year, while a 6d. rate will only bring in £lO9l. It may be said that the inference, that if rating is the test question, rating not being profitable Councils should not constitute, would stand good if rates stood alone in the County Treasury, and were available, without substantial additions, for the payment of Chairmen, Clerks, Surveyors, Valuers, Collectors, public notifications, valuation _ rolls, and the like. It might be admitted that the sum raised in rates equalled the cost of the administrative machinery, but that still rating was justifiable, because the gross proceeds are to receive a subsidy of £2 for £l. If this defence means anything it means that Parliament has practically compelled the great majority of Counties in New Zealand to incur expenses nearly equivalent to the whole amount of local taxation which can be collected, in order that, out of theoverflowirig public coffers, a present maybe made, in the whole equal to twice the forced unproductive expenditure. Thus the greater the unproductive expenditure rendered necessary the more money must be paid away as presents. To use the late Colonial Treasurer's words, this would be rolling a stone up a hill with a vengeance. To resort to such an argument in defence of open-eyed incurring heavy administrative expenditure is to admit that the Counties are condemned, by the wisdom of Parliament, to waste many thousands of pounds in unproductive expenditure, in order to receive the very doubtful benefits of receiving presents.

If this monstrous administrative waste could be incurred without protest and approved, as it is pretended in many quarters that it is, it should be remembered that the sum out of which the present is to come is already the property of the recipients. Further still, that, when the land fund fails to bear all the burdens imposed uponit, and it, has already failed, the taxation upon imported machinery, tools of all kinds, wearing apparel, and even upon food, must, under our present system of constituting a Consolidated Fund, be kept up to pay existing Colonial charges, and find ways and means for these presents into the bargain. A child is humored with a Post Office banking account in order to inculcate economy from experience. The parent, to give the credit side a start, gives him an intricate but very beautifully constructed lolly-pop machine. The child is entitled in his own •right to an annuity of £2O. As a great concession to economy and wearing of clothes the parent says that every £Vs worth of lollies the child eats he shall receive £2 out of his £2O. The child remonstrates, and argues the question thus :, —I don't care about lollpops ; sugar is dear ; and as the article is for home consumption it dont pay to use cheaper materials : yet, if I don't consume lollypops, I get none of my own money for the private account; Igo for the lolly machine. Is not this a fair picture of what is being said at the tables of the reluctant County Councils ? Take Mr. Allan of the Taieri Council as an exponent of what we mean. He said —" He had Yery great " doubt at first about bringing the Act " into operation; but the more he '* thought over it the more he found it " necessary. One important conside- " ration was that he could not see by " the Act how they were to get any " subsidies without rates unless the " Act were brought into force . . .

" he believed they would not get a " subsidy until a rate was put on, " either from the land sales or from " the Consolidated Revenue." The County Councillors of Hawke's Bay, Westland, and others, like Mr. Allen, are finding out, with better reason, that unless they go in for lollypop machines they confess they do not like or want, their share of subsidies out of the land fund (of the South) will be nothing.

Yet it is certain these subsidies cannot last. But for the subterfuge under which local started, which involves a large sum being raised locally for what hitherto was met in the South by land fund and in the North by accumulating Colonial debt, a property tax would have been imperative this year. Aa it is the Colonial debt will not mount up quite so fast in the North, and the difference in that respect will save a direct tax another year. There is one advantage in favor of a direct property tax levied by the Central Government besides the saving of a great wasteful expenditure. Under a Colonial Property Tax small properties would escape. Under tho local taxgatherer it is small properties that will suffer most. For, supposing the tax uniformly adjusted, which is supposing a very deal, the small property holder must feel the average per centage deducted from his earnings to a much greater extent than does his big neighbor,- whose estates would cut into a score or more of the small holdings. The present Property lax is of the most Conservative nature in which such a tax can be imposed.