Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4395, 21 April 1875, Page 2

We were correct in our conjecture that the majority of the Canterbury Provincial Council rejected the Municipal Council Revenues Ordinance because it was calculated to reduce the sum available for general appropriation. The country districts would not consent, through their representatives, to the principle of localising the provincial revenue. There does not appear to have been any other argument used against the Bill. It was not contended that each district was not entitled to the special revenue raised witliin it ; but it came to nearly the same thing in the end. The sparsely peopled districts insisted upon participating in the special taxes levied in the centres of population, which are called upon, in addition, to assess heavy rates for local government. This lesson in provincial politics is well worth paying for, as the citizens of Christchurch are called upon to do, because it will bring home to men's minds the conviction that the fewer taxing bodies there are in the country the better it will be for every interest in it. We have yet to see what policy Sir Ckacroft Wilson, and his colleagues in the Provincial Executive, will initiate. They are pledged, by their votes and speeches on the rejected Bill, to the principle of taxing the large towns for tho benefit of the outlying districts, leaving the towns to tax themselves for municipal purposes. How long they may retain office under such circumstances it is not easy to conjecture, but we suspect they will be forced to give way to the very just and reasonable demands of the towns and populous districts. At all events, their proposals will be very closely scrutinised. Indeed, we do not at all understand the demand for a fortnight's adjournment to examine into the finances of the province. The audited accounts were before the Council, and the province is in an exceptionally prosperous state, having a largo credit balance at its disposal. We cannot, therefore, but regard the interruption to the public business as a misfortune. It is a mere waste of time. '