OUR LAND FUND.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5355, 27 May 1878, Page 2

OUR LAND FUND.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE HEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sin,—The colonialisation of the Land Fund effected by the present Government has been paraded by themselves and their supporters as one of those great feats of statesmanship—one' of those bold strokes of policy that fully entitles them to the never-dying gratitude of the country. It was affirmed, and was and is as yet generally believed by the great body of taxpayers in this country, that it would not only secure common justice to all parts of the colony but bring a large additional amount into the colonial treasury, to be disbursed for purely colonial purposes, thereby easing the pressure of taxation. I do not intend commenting on the fact-that this measure was carried by the votes, of a number of honorable gentlemen who ou that occasion sacrificed bn the altar of party what they regarded, and most solemnly averred, to be the inalienable rights of their constituents, but to inquire as to how far the colonial exchequer has been improved by that Act, as eompared with the proposals of Major Atkinson, the former Colonial Treasurer, on the same subject. I am now enabled to do so, taking as the basis the anticipated revenue from that source, as put forth by a local journal which claims to speak under the inspiration of the Government. According to that oracle the land present half-year will not exceed £500,000. Of that 20 per cent, or £IOO,OOO goes back, as provided for by the Act, to the counties in which the land has been sold, thereby reducing the net amount that goes into the colonial Treasury to £400,000. The charges on the Laud Fund as proposed by Major Atkinson, including the £137,000 taken from Canterbury and Otago as an extra contribution, amounted to £810,208, or £405,104 for the half-year, from which it will be seen that the charges ou the Laud Fund proposed by Major Atkinson were in excess of the present net income of £400,000 from that source by £5104 for the half-year, or £10,208 per annum—so that instead of the colonial Treasury being benefited and the general taxpayer relieved by the present arrangement it appears to suffer a loss, or to have to sustain an extra drain on it to the extent of £10,208 per

I have not made this comparison for the purpose of throwing discredit on the importance of the change which has been effected, but to show that it has not benefited the colonial Treasury, as was confidently predicted by the Govermnent aud their supporters, and believed by the general public. There is, however, arising out of this of the Land Fund, as at present administered, a question of grave importance as to how far the colonial coffers will bear this additional strain, or how far it is just that out of an income of £1,000,000 per annum from the public estate, which, it must be remembered, is now recognised by law as colonial revenue, 20 per cent., or £200,000 per annum, should be handed over for the special benefit of the land-purchasing class in this colony. Because it simply means taking £200,000 out of the colonial coffers annually, which must be replaced by contributions from the general taxpayers of the colony for a most, purely class purpose, a course so adverse to the evenhanded justice so devoutly worshipped by the present Ministry and their followers.—X am, &c., Q. Wellington, 25th May. ,