The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1879.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5641, 29 April 1879, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1879.

We have lately witnessed an unusual, and to those behind the scenes, a somewhat amusing spectacle. The Ministerial organ has published an article, in which it states that the revenue accounts during the first nine months of the year “have “ given great satisfaction to the country, “ and reflect great credit upon the Oolo- “ nial Treasurer.” On the evening of the same day, another article appeared in a contemporary on the same subject, which bears a strong family likeness to that which appeared in the Ministerial organ, except that it goes more extensively into figures to prove that the total deficit on the laud revenue will not exceed £220,000, after deducting the amount which should have been payable to the New Plymouth Harbor Board out of the proceeds of the sale of the Waimate Plains. It is admitted on all aides that the land tax will bring in nothing during the year, and the returns show that the total territorial receipts during the past quarter were only £54,000; wo therefore absolutely decline to accept the estimate as a reliable one. Assuming that the land revenue receipts for the present quarter amount to another £50,000, the total land revenue for the year will but amount to £820,000, as against an estimate of £1,229,000, leaving a deficit onVthis one item of £409,000. To this has to be added the loss of the £50,000 of estimated land tax receipts, increasing the probable deficit to £459,000 on .these two items alone. In addition to this, it is well known thatjthe levying of the land tax has cost nearly three {times the estimated amount, and this extra expenditure will have to bo met out of current revenue. Besides which we have reason to believe that a most lavislPexpenditure has been going on in a measure sub rosa. A system has been adoptedjof giving unauthorised grants to the different public bodies throughout the colony, with a view of buying popularity by the lavish expenditure, which forms an essential part of the “ stumping” policy of Ministers. Vulgarly speaking, they first think it advisable to “ stump” round and then find it necessary to u stump up.” We may well admire tho ingenuity of the writer, who, finding that the estimated cost of imposingljand collecting the land tax had already nearly trebled the one year’s estimate of the Colonial Treasurer, determined to make it appear that this cost ought to bo spread over three years, because the valuation was triennial. In the first place, we submit that it is as yet utterly impossible to calculate the full cost of collecting the tax. The troubles of the department, like those of a young bear, are all to come ; up to the present they have had it all their own way. The

list of the objections will be most lengthy and formidable, the valuations made by each individual owner will be difficult to adjust and rectify, and the Judges of Assessment Courts are likely to. have some most knotty points brought before them. In order to make the tax as reproductive as possible, and in order to please their employers, the valuers had but to value as high as possible, and no doubt did so. The danger of doing this is so well known in England that the assessed values for rating purposes are considered to be at least 33 per cent, below real values. From all that we can learn, no such precautions have been taken in the present instance, and the results may therefore somewhat astonish the department. It has been shown that the Colonial Treasurer grossly over-estimated the receipts from land revenue, and altogether under-rated the cost and difficulty of imposing and collecting a land tax, the ultimate receipts from which can as yet only be guessed at. The imposition of the land tax alone was calculated -to check at once the purchase and settlement of the land. The country is now openly threatened with an increase in the land tax of 200 per cent., a step which is euphemistically described as another penny on the land. Even if affairs were flourishing this threatened victimising of the large landowners for the benefit of the rest of the community would bo enough to scare away all the more cautious and prudent investors, and the proclamation of this policy must have greatly added to and intensified the presentstagnationintho land market. In only one department is there any great or unexpected increase in the receipts. The revenue derived from railways, stamps, postal, and telegraphic services has always hitherto continued steadily to progress, but after a revision of the tariff “in the direction of free- “ trade ” by a Ministry in favor of a free breakfast table and dear beer we might reasonably have expected that the Customs revenue would have exhibited a slight falling off. But the “Tinkering with the tariff ” was very cleverly done, the result proves the truth of what was said at the time—that the only effect of it would bo to make things a little dearer. Mr. Bahance may therefore pride himself upon having imposed a land tax which will take an inordinate time to collect, and 30 per cent, of which, when collected, will be absorbed by the expense of collection. He will have the pleasure of announcing a deficit of half-a-million or thereabouts, and a complete stagnation in the purchase and settlement of the land. The chief surplus will be due to an increase of revenue derived from Customs duties, which was never contemplated, or if foreseen, carefully concealed. Our contemporaries have indulged in predictions more elaborate than these ; the results, when they become known at the end of the year, will prove which is the true prophet. There is only one person in How Zealand who at the present moment could believe that the existing financial state of New Zealand “reflects credit on the estimate of the “ Colonial Treasurer,” and that would be Mr. Ballanoe himself ; in fact, if that gentleman were the editor of the “New “Zealander” we should be inclined to attribute the article to him.