THE DISADVANTAGES OF AN "ECONOMICAL GOVERNMENT" AND A BEER TAX.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 151, 25 June 1880, Page 4

THE DISADVANTAGES OF AN "ECONOMICAL GOVERNMENT" AND A BEER TAX.

To the Editor of the " Evening Mail.'* Sir —l am an old man now, and have seen a great deal of the world, was born of parents who taught me to earn my living by honest labor, and it will be half a century next month since I first set foot on the soil of Australia in Sydney, but Sydney is not now what it was in 1830. I took the first employtneut offered me, which was to attend to the yard and stables of a public house, if the shanties could be called stables. The bar was let to oue Gannou, who acted on his own responsibility. I was sent by him to a wholesale store three, four, and sometimes five times a day for two gallons of rum, for which I always paid cash. The price was 9s or 9s 6d the two gallons, I cannot recollect which sum. Here was a chance for an eeodmical Treasurer. Adjoining the premises was a shed, where a mau worked at his trade during the long evenings, he being a carver in wood, and worked by candlelight. I made his acquaintance, being anxious to gain a knowledge of the country. About the second night he asked me to go a message for him, to which I consented; he named the articles required, and put down a shilling on the bench. I took it up, but loitered about for a time, when he asked me if I was not going. I said I wanted more money, but he told me that would be sufficient, and that I should have some' change. I went, but I went doubtingly, for in England one of the articles mentioned would have cost Is 6d; but at that time, you see, there was no economical Ministry to look after ua. However, I went, and this was my purchase: —Tea, Jib, 3dj sugar, lib, 2d; bread, one loaf, 2£d; beef steaks, . lib, li<3; fig of tobacco, l£d; one candle, Id; total, ll£-d. On our way out we called at the Cape of Good Hope, where we bought good American tobacco at 9d per pound. So there was no economical Treasurer there you may depend. English ale and porter was sold in Sydney then at 8d a pot. There was colonial beer to be had at 9d and Is per gallon, but it was composed of treacle and liquorice stuff, and only fit for teetotallers, children, and their nursemaids. The people of Sydney at that time had not tasted the sweets of taxation. —l am, &c, Simple Simon. Nelson, June 21, 1880.

This is Te Whifci's latest prophecy uttered on Thursday last:— "Seven days. of the fencing have now passed, and there are three still rernaing, after which the road is to be opened. Trust in my words and no harm will befall you. In about eight months hence there will be a great meeting held here, and at that meeting the dead will rise, and great rejoicing will be made. The dead will then be here under their leader—the Saviour of the world — who will come to restore peace and happiness to the inhabitants of this land. Onr forefathera, who have been long since buried, and their bones mingled with the dust, shall then comfort and console, instruct; and guide us in our daily affairs of life. There will be sweet and uninterrupted inrercourse, and all shall be rich in the fulness of the blessings which will be received from the Saviour of the world." The N.Z. Times blames Mr Hall for not having made a more statesmanlike speech in reply to Sir George Grey's attack on the Government, and says that the country looked to him for a clear exposition of the tendency of the policy which lie represents. "If the Premier," says our contemporary, " does not do this high duty who is to do it ? If he does not lend the people how are they to be led ? 'My honorable friend the Colonial Treasurer will tell you all about that presently I' Well, we hope he will, but we take leave to doubt it very much. That Major Atkinson will wind up the debate with a hard-hitting, small-grinding speech, that he will make mincemeat of Mr Ballanee's twopenny-halfpenny criticisms, let all the wind out of Mr Gi9borne's inflated rhodomontade, and scratch the inconsistency in handfulls out of Mr Montgomery's mumbling pomposity, we think may be taken for granted. But that is merely pour s'ammer. He is bound to make a rattling debating speech ; firstly, because he likes it, and, secondly, because while he has been lying twisted up on his bench, during all this long debate, chuckling and 'chortling' — to borrow a capital word from a capital book— at all the twaddle that he heard, he has been storing up points enough for a dozen debat ing speeches But the House and the country want something different from that just now. Mr Reader Wood showed well enough what they wanted when he made his admirable speech on Friday night. He answered nobody. He challenged nobody. He bickered with nobody. But he gave his party, — yes, all parties— a lead which the Ministers had failed to give them, but which, if it had come from the Ministers instead of from a private member, would have changed the whole character of the debate. It will not be without effect, but its effect will not be seen until after this wretched vote of want of confidence is got out of the way."