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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4125, 10 June 1874, Page 2

The Provincial Council of. Otago, wo arc told by telegram, have passed a resolution regarding the gold duty which will inevitably bring the question of the imposition of that particular duty more prominently before the Assembly than it has been dnringany previous session,much debated as it has already been. The Council, it seems, have sympathies in the direction of a reduction of tho duty, and as a practical way of getting over tho difficulty of legally reducing it, they have resolved to directly reimburse the exporters by handing hack a sixpence of tho duty imposed on each ounce of gold shipped' from tho Province. Possibly this peculiar proceeding is not vllra vires, but its propriety and expediency are nevertheless exceedingly questionable, and as much calculated to load to embarrassment as to tho conferring of any substantial benefit upon tho minor. No doubt Otago has, for a long series of years, enjoyed the advantages of that direct and easily-collected tax which tho gold duty _ represents, and may now bo in a position to dispense with it, but there are other parts of the Colony which arc scarcely in tho same position, and the consultation of tho interests of those districts, and of the general weal, might well have made tho Council hesitate before adopting tho step which thoy have now taken. It is a step which is almost certain to force upon tho Assembly the adoption of tho further stop of substantially reducing tho export duty on gold from all parts_ of tho Colony, and, however pleasing that maybe to some goldfields representatives who have actively agitated for such a reduction, it is doubtful if it will bo found to meet with tho approval of those who have tho administration of goldfields districts, or oven of the majority of tho miners themselves. In several of tho other Provinces in which mining operations are carried on, there lias not yet been any active movement either for the abolition or reduction of the duty, and none knows bettor than tho administrators in those Provinces that, by tho reduction of tho duty, tho_ _ difficulty of providing for tho necessities of tho miners will bo immensely increased increased to such an extent, in some instances, as to materially interfere with

the management and the prosperity of an interest of paramount local importance. This is especially likely to prove to be tho case in the Provinces of Nelson and Westland. Upon the maintenance of the gold duty in theso Provinces depends in a great measure tho means of providing official supervision, police protection, and tho provision of roads and tracks in the mining districts, and its material reduction will inevitably lead to material inconvenience in these respects, while it will contribute nothing to the wants or wishes of the mining community. Among the practical workers on tho diggings there is, in fact, much less complaint made against the duty than there is among candidates on the hustings or among the representatives on tho floor of tho House. Iss reduction or abolition is not sought for by the former with anything like tho eagerness which is occasionally said to exist, and, even if it wore, it is the experience of Provincial authorities that by it they are now enabled to do an amount of good in tho construction of local works, and in the consequent development of mining districts, which, in the future absence of any similar source of revenue, it will be impossible to effect. Cheap and simple in its collection, the tax is one which recommends itself as preferable to many others which might be imposed if it be abolished, and until there is a more general and marked expression of discontent on the part of tho miners, it would become tho Assembly to consider well how far it should further proceed in abolishing what is essentially Provincial revenue, and a revenue with which some of tho Provinces cannot yet easily dispense. It is doubtless satisfactory to know that, in tho case of Otago, tho goldfields arc now so accessible and capable of being so economically managed, that a further reduction of duty can be contemplated without any fear of injuring the interests of one of its most important industries, butthe same, itis to be feared, cannot be said of the mining districts in all other parts of the Colony, and it is desirable that, if at all possible, invidious distinctions between Province and Province should be avoided. IE it is found, or likely to befouud, thatapraotical reduction of the duty, such as that now proposed, can be adopted in one Province, it might be preferable, out of consideration for other Provinces, to substitute for the mere repayment of a certain proportion of tho duty to tho oxorters some arrangement by which the amount might bo retained and expended on special objects connected with the social condition and welfare of tho minor —such as insurance against loss and suffering by accidents, tho establishment of schools of mines, or the encouragement of prospecting by assistance or tho offer of rewards. Such a proposition was made some years ago when the reduction -was first mooted in the Provincial Council of Otago, and, although the circumstances havo since then changed, they have not changed so substantially or essentially as to prove that it is not a preferable alternative to tho course which has now been approved of there, and which, if put into force, will almost certainly have to bo imitated in all other parts of the Colony.