The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1877.

Manawatu Times, Volume II, Issue 44, 21 March 1877, Page 2

The Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 21, 1877.

Among the evils arising from the monopoly of land m the colony, the inequality which it occasions m the incidence of local taxation is not the least. A speculator holds a portion of the most valuable land m the district, perhaps. All around settlement is going forward, cultivation is extending, homesteads "are springing up, and the land which is locked up by the monopolist is increasing m .value with the progress of the district, to which he contributes nothing m the way of improvements on his portion of it. Sis time has not yet come. He can wait to be rich until his land will let or sell at such a figure as he has fixed upon it m his own mind. The law protects

him m this conr.se of conduct, arid hi; ; - oouscirjiice is quite at case about .the injustice ■o£ it. He dues not I consider, or, considering, does not care that he is not only acting the part of the dog m the manger by impeding settlement, but ia reaping tl-.e fruits of other men's labours — k reaping where he, has. not sown, and gathering where he has not strawed." He would reply, perhaps, that he j pays rates, but this is the very point j m which his defence is weakest and the injustice most glariug. Under the rating system now. m force his property is valued at a less rental than that set" upon the improved and cultivated holdings m his neighbourhood ; the owners of the latter are more heavily burthened m proportion than he, and thus the system becomes — to borrow Mr Sanson's phrase — a tax upon industry. Thus far we agree ■ with Mr Sanson ; the evil we have pointed out is a serious one, but we do not agree with all the terms of his proposal for remedying it. He proposes to substitute an acreage rate for a poundage rate, the land to be valued and classified and the rates assessed, accordingly, while very small holdings, say five acres m extent, are to be rated according to the present system. Now those very small holdings are as a rule snrburban ones. They are situated near the destined centres of population — the townships ; and as the population and trade of the latter increase so does the value of the rural lands lying adjacent to their boundaries. The consequence is, that those small rural sections which pay a poundage rate are yearly increasing m rateable value, and m all probability becoming more heavily taxed m proportion than those holdings which, being larger and more remote, pay an acreage which does not vary so much as the poundage, and thus an unfair share of the burthen of local taxation would probably fall upon the poorer ratepayers, laborers, market-gardenei's, &c.-; or at any rate, no logic would convince the latter that such was not the case, and thus the double rating system would not work. In a recent issue we advocated the adoption of a judicious acreage system of rating, not because we thought the system devoid of faults, but because we thought it would at once operate on the evils of land monopoly. We now purpose to notice briefly the main evil that belongs to this system, and suggest for consideration an alternative means that might be used to solve the difficulty, and that would at the same time fall far short of revolutionizing our present poundage system. The evil we refer to is that under the acreage rate, the largo suburban farms would have an undue advantage over the more remote holdings of the same size and class, because the former would increase more rapidly m value and would oc- v casion more traffic than the latter, and yet would pay no moi'e towards the repairing of the roads. The suggestion we have to make as an alternative to the introduction of an acreage system, which, under any circumstances could not operate within municipal or 4 Local Board districts, is, that instead of changing the whole system of rating m order to get at the non-improving absentees, why not deal with the latter by inserting a clause m the Land Act empowering the Coiinty Council to levy a special rate upon them — a rate equal to the difference between that assessed on the unimproved block and that levied on any equal extent of cultivated land m the neighbourhood. There would, we think, be but little difficulty m getting such a provision introduced into the Land Bill that is to be, and there would be none m carrying it into effect. There is a strong and increasing current of feeling setting m just at present against landed monopoly and absenteeism, and any reasonable project for checking those evils will stand a fair chance next session.