CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 206, 1 September 1879, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the " Evexi.vq Mail.' ■v n nr R n7r, All f W "^ thr ° Ugh the "edium oi jour paper to refer to some remarks made lield on Wednesday evening last in the mFE*™ 1 Ha l'' *' chmond When I hoar nevertheless a very promising one, declare llrTff "tT* >° thC rCVi9i ° n Of the «™5 O er Kin t " njUSt Insure u P o Sfowe?^ rstbe ; 1 Present, that he was not allowe.. an explanation, by the Chairman ™r. g against him. Since then the tuattet n»s ocenrred to me often, and I have endeavoured to Rift the subject. No doubt my fnend.in the questions he submitted tc Air Richmond, was anxious to prove the defectiveness of our Customs duties, and to show that they bore unequally upon all classes of the community. The result of my examination is as follows, which fully proves that the iniquity complained of existsVlTnder the old tariff I find that boots, to which he referred more especially, paid duty at the ** ♦•? - 10 per cent ' which amo « nt first paid oy the importer is afterwards extracted from the pockets of the customer, so that a boot costing . r >s in London paid 6d dnty, and another costinp 10s paid Is. This was fair and equitable, for he who needed a common article contributed to the revenne of the country a proportionate sum from his expenditure with the man who purchased a first-claps article and conld afford it. Now Sir, what^nre the facts of the case ? The exact opposite. Observe how this is chanped by the very law introduced by the Grev Ministry, which we were told was "made for the working man's benefit "—"concocted for his immediate bankruptcy " would have been a better phrase. Take men's boots for an example. The tariff revised in 1878 is no.w 12s per dozen pairs or Is per pair. Applv this, and compare it with the past duty ad valorem, and you then understand Mr Harkness merited condemnation. At the present time a boot costing 5s pays Is duty, bo that the man of limited means assists the revenue of the colony to the amount of 20 per cent on his outlay. Now turn Sir to the other side of this " robbery question," for I deem it nothing less. A superior gentleman's elastic sides purchased for 20s in the home market also pays la duty. Hence the wealthy who alone purchase such goods only pay 5 per cent, on their outlay to the revenue of the colony. On the other hand, if the dnty was, for argument's sake, say 10 pei cent, ad valorem, at the same price quoted above for good3, the poor man would pay only sixpence and the rich brother 2s, a much fairer distribution. "We must have taxation in the form of Customs levies to meet oui expenditure and interest upon loans, but Sir, let them be so adjusted, as to bear equitably and fairly upon all sections of our colonists Personally, I thank Mr Harkness for directing attention to this one defect in our tariff, "All power to him," I say, and trust he will always advocate the right. Working men, impress these truths upon your candidates in the coming election ; compel them to work for the revision of all unfair taxation. Apologising for taking up so much of your valuable space, and regretting that my friend did not advocate publicly these principles himself, as he could have done it with more ability than myself.— l am, &c. Faik Plat.