New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1871. THE WEEK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 35, 23 September 1871, Page 11

New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1871. THE WEEK.

The debate on the financial policy of the Ministry, which has been the principal topic of the week, has been so far satisfactory. It would be extravagant and ridiculous to hold up that policy as a perfect piece of statesmanship ; or to expect that it would please everybody. Neither the Ministry nor their policy is infallible. Neither is so perfect as could be desired. The Middle Island ought to be represented in the Cabinet; not because it suffers because it is not, but because it is right that it should be. Decidedly the least wise of the Ministerial proceedings relate to the San Francisco mail service, for which the House and not the Ministry deserve censure. What the result of- the debate will be we do not care to conjecture. If it should result in strengthening the Ministry, and in improving their policy, it will not be without its uses. In any case the two principles by which the Government will be guided relative to the construction of railways will receive th e almost unanimous sanction of Parliament. We are not sorry to find that the original proposal for subsidizing road boards, and repairing district highways, out of borrowed money, will have to be considerably modified. We believe that a property and income tax is right in principle, and that it cannot be much longer delayed. We are of opinion that its imposition now would have been most opportune, seeing that it would have been felt less as a burden, while the public works are being prosecuted, than it would when the circumstances are less favorable for its introduction. We believe that its imposition would tend to greatly enhance the credit of the colony, and establish its freedom, prosperity, and future greatness upon a broad and firm foundation. We deprecate strongly all sudden organio changes, as being alike dangerous, unconstitutional, and uncalled for, whether those changes are in the direction indicated by Mr Macandrew, Mr Hall, or the Colonial Treasurer; but we say with the Government let the provinces perish rather than that colonisation and public works should be suspended. It will be seen from Friday’s Parliamentary proceedings that the House has resolved “ that the native race should be represented in the other branch of the Legislature j” the words should have been added “ by members of that race for we cannot admit that they are not as fully and faithfully represented in the other branch of the Legislature as the rest of the population.

It will be seen that the Public Petitions Committee recommend the House to pass an amended Licensing Act during the present session. Why should not a bill founded upon that introduced into the House of Commons

by Mr Bruce be introduced into the House of Representatives, where it would be likely to, meet with less opporition than it did in the Imperial Parliament, the great brewing interest not yet being quite so powerful here as there. There is no reason why a district should not be empowered to refuse or grant publicans licenses, as well as a Bench of Magistrates ; if care be taken to guard against the evils of monopoly.

The Hon. Mr Waterhouse has introduced into, and passed through, the Legislative Council a bill intituled “An Act to alter the succession to real estate in cases of iutestaey.” It consists of two clauses only, and its object is to place the law relative to real estate on the same footing &8 personal property, in the case of persons dying without having made a will* The object cemmends itself to the common sense and just feelings of the people at large. We find from a comparative return of wool exported from New Zealand for the years ending the 30th June, 1870-1, that the total quantity, in the first named year, was 34,337,453 lbs, of the declared value of £1,596,200 ; and for the present year 35,964,251 lbs, of the declared value of £1,476,639; which shows an increase in the weight of wool exported during the year, ending the 30th June last, of upwards of 1,600,000 lbs, and a decrease in the declared value of £119,657 ; but only an average increase of Id per lb on the declared value of the wool shipped at the commencement of this year, would much more than cover this apparent loss. An increase of 2d per lb would make a total increase in the real, over the declared, value, of more than £280,000 which would show an increase over last year in the value of the wool exported of more than £160,000. The total value of the wool exported from Wellington, Wanganui, and Napier, for 1871, was £299,771, or £9OOO more than its value in 1870. Wellington stands third on the list of ports from which wool was exported, during the year ending June 30th last; Dunedin standing first, and Lyttelton second.

A report has been printed of a board appointed to enquire and report what practicable plan could be adopted for providing for allowances and pensions under the Civil Service Acts ; from which we find that upwards of £33,000 has been paid in retiring allowances a™d gratuities during the past ten years ; and that for the last financial year the sum paid in pensions reached £7322. It is worth noticing that the board consisted exclusively of officials interested in the question on which they were appointed to report.