THE Manawatu Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1880. THE BUDGET SPEECH.

Manawatu Times, Volume IV, Issue 48, 16 June 1880, Page 2

THE Manawatu Times.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 16, 1880. THE BUDGET SPEECH.

" Words are things, and a drop of ink falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions think."

We cannot say that we are able tG compliment the Hon the Treasurer upon the fertility of his resources or tht brilliancy of the financial scheme which he has enunciated. The Statement may briefly be divided into two parts — that which is plagiarised, and that which i* original, but viewing it from either standpoint his most ardent admirer cquld scarcely assert that it was by auy means creditable. With regard to the first, it will be seen that three of the principal modes for raising revenue have been *t">len from the programme of his predecessor — taxing Government and Maori lands, and the imposition of a tax upon colonial beer. The calm effrontery with which the gallant major referred to his strenuous opposition of Mr. Ballance's proposal to levy an impost of l|d, apd then not only to pick up the measure which he had helped to upset, but clap on a fourfold tax, exhibits an amount of refreshing coolness rarely to be paralelled- Passing over altogether the very lame, impotent, and ungenerous attempt made by Major Atkinson to hold the Grey Ministry accountable for the load of debt which has been fastened around the neck of the colony, we altogether set aside the past, to consider the propositions brought forward for the future. To new and sparsely settled districts, sjieh as the Manawalu, the great bulk of whose roads are yet unm.ade, the question as to what is to be substituted m lieu of the subsidies is one of all-important interest. We must confess that the scheme propounded by the Hon. th? Treasurer aannot claim the mer}fc of clearness, and while not a few are unable to master its details, at all, those who imagine they have grasped the meaning of the author of the proposal, are considerably at variance as. to what may be the right conception. Briefly summarising the scheme, then, it is proposed at fhe outset to repeal that portion of the existing law which gives a refund to counties of twenty per cent, of the proceeds from the sale of land. Next, the revenue received frqm land sales is not, as formerly, tq go into, the consolidated fund, but to be placed m the hands of a newly constituted Board, composed of one Responsible Minister of the Crown and three heads of departments — namely, the Engineer-in-Chief, the Surveyor-General, and th« Public Trustee. There are at the present time four different and distinct bodies m each County — the County Council, the Highways Board, Borough Council, and Local Board- and our first task will be to show how the withdrawal of the subsidies and their substitution will affect each of those respectively. At the outset the Rating Act will be so amended as to. allow of local bodies increasing the rates fa two shillings, or a far larger amount provided a special rate is struck ; m addition to which, under certain conditions, they are to be invested with, power to borrow at any rate of interest a,t whiab, money can be raised m the colony. Dealing with counties,. they will possess the power, to, rate Maori and waste lands of the Crown, but m cases where new main roads have to, be constructed, or the disasters by floods, repaired, the Government Board will give grants maid of the work to the proportion of seventy-five per cent, of the expenditure. T/hat is to say, that should a bridge cost £6000 the county must provide £1500, whereupon the Board will give the remaining £4500, but m order to provide that £1500, the county must impose a special rate, which will repay the smaller sum m twenty half- yearly instalments without interest. So far it will bo seen tha,t counties have been amply provided for t and the same may ba said 0$ .£Eigh» ways Boards, an,d m carder to, more clearly, show +he 'prospects of; these bodies, we will take the case of the Mauawatu Highways, Board and show how it wil} sta.nd m the future. According to Mr. Atkinson's scheme tb,e Maori and waste lands of the Crown are to be divided into two classes — pastoral and agricultural,—. th« former of which is to be valued at 6/Bd, and the latter at £1 per acre. Now we ar^. pretty safe m saying that m the district which is. within the jurisdiction of th» Manawatu Highways Board there are at least 100,000 acres of waste lands and 50,000 acres of Maori land, and taking it all to thepastoral, and consequently yielding the minimum amount, even then at a shilling ra,te, or 4d. on the acre, there would b. 3 a revenue from waste lands of £1650. It is decreed that Maori land s,hould not b.e taxed more than half, so that fifty thousand acres would yield at twopence on the acre £450, making a total revenue which the. Board would possess over and above its present revenue of £2100. The amount of subsidy last year was between £1450 and £1500 so that by the hew arrangement the Manawatu Highways Board would be. a considerable gainer- We come next to the question of boroughs and' local boards, and we fitd that they are left entirely out m the cold. It is true th.c Treasurer gives power to such bodies to rate Government and Maori property within their jurisdiction; but m some cases, and certainly m that of the Borough of Palmersion North, the privilege would be found to be a very barren one. The amount drawn from the Treasury last year m the Bhape of the£ for £ subsidy was £557, an 4 m lieu of that the Treasurer's scheme would give the rates on the post office, court-house, and Hokowhiti Reserve, amounting m all to less than £20. In stating #ie pjcvyisiga TrhjQ^ bad

made for the substitution of subsidies m Boroughs, Major Atkinson made the assertion that inside the control of such bodies there was Government and^ Maori lands to the amount of not less than £l;000,000in value, but the creaV financier forgot to add that at least £750,000 of the bulk sum was conr fined to "Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, m addition to which all the older cities, troughs, and local boards are otherwise amply provided. for m the shape of fat endownments: We rather suspect the case of this borough will be found to be that of many other such bodies. This is initiating a spirit of self-reliance with a vengeance, but like the experimentalist who sought tp make his horse exist upon nothing, we are very much afraid the selfr reliance will be purr ceased at the expense of the existence of the gjjbject. The only benefit which I we see accruing to boroujrhs pv lqcal boards from the proposed innovation is the fact that they can borrow money from the Government at four per cent, instead of paying seven as hitherto ; but then there is almost a prohibition attached to the enjoyment of the privilege by the withdrawal of the means to meet that loan. If we are uofc very much surprised the Local Public Works Bill will have to share the fate of the Property T/a?» and the Financial Cobbler take^ it again m hand to subject it to a " soling and heeling " process. We cannot goto the lenghh of condemnation uttered by a Christ church paper, which characterises the whole arrangement as vicious m principle, delusive iin theory, clogged with cumbersome machinery, and clothed m confused ' verbiage, but we must say that the proposal of the Hon. Treasurer as a whole bears upon the face of it a want of due and mature deliberation, q,nd quite a superficial thinking out of a scheme involving changes of such vital importance to large sections of the community.