Rangitikei Advocate. FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXII, Issue 8862, 12 July 1907, Page 2

Rangitikei Advocate. FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1907. SECOND EDITION. EDITORIAL NOTES

JUDGING from Sir Joseph Ward’s reply to the deputation from the Farmers’ Union, very little attention will be paid to the demands of the'Uuiou in regard to the tariff. The Premier merely “expressed his desire *to do all in his power to remove, anomalies which might be detrimental to the interests of the fanning community.’’ This, of course, merely means that the farmers will again bo deceived by being forced to pay more for their supplies and assistance, and they will bo expected to feel grateful because the duty on some line of agricultural produce will not be decreased. Unfortunately, the Ministry do not realise that all restrictive duties are detrimental to tho interests of the farming community. Tho farmers should be satisfied with nothing less than the complete abolition of all restrictive duties, and tho levying of Customs duties for'rovenuo purposes only. Unless wo are mistaken there is going to bo a very determined - effort made to impose still higher restrictive duties for tho benefit of parasitic “industries, ’ ’ and if tho farmers are not vigilant and forcible they will find themselves in still greater difficulties, and all tho benefits of the increaesd prices of produce will vanish.

ACCORDING to the Railway Statement the railways earned last year £2,024,600, or £274,896 more than the previous year, a record. The expenditure left a not profit on .’the working of £812,118, as compared with ££722,465 for previous year. The revenue exceeded the estimate by £174,600, which shows that the Minister wms a bad calculator, but of course tins will in duo course bo claimed as “surplus,”- The not revenue is equal to 3,45 per cent on the capital invested in open lines, and 3.19 per cent on the total capital of £25,438,568 invested in open and unopened linos. It is therefore apparent that the railways arc not yot r profit-making, and it is rather ox- ' traordinary that the greatest carrying service in the colony should

yield such comparatively poor results. 1 The Minister’s estimate of revenue for the year ending March 81st, 1908, | is £2,550,000 and the expenditure £1,800,000, hut as last estimate proved so inaccurate these figures are only misleading The mileage open for traffic on March 81st last was 2456, an increase of only 50 miles during the year. The talk of “a vigorous railway policy” has therefore only resulted in construction at £the rate of less than a mile a week throughout the whole colony. Considering that the railways had all the advantages of increased traffic in connection with the Exhibition the profits should certinly have been larger.

THE politicians are evidently simple-minded, and having no guile in themselves, do not expect it iu others. They appear to have believed that when the State started to despoil by means of a graduated laud tax' those despoiled would not devise some means of escaping at least a portion of the impost., The Premier has mournfully laid on the table of the House a return showing the loss of graduated land tax iu the various counties, caused by subdivision of estates among relatives of owners for the twelve years 1895-6 to 1906-7. It amounts to a total of £28,186, but as the unnecessary sheep tax yields about the same amount there has not been much real loss to the Treasury from despoiling of the land-users. It appears that even iu our locality there are people who have, according to the Minister, evaded the tax, but it is more than probable that their estates have been reduced in the ordinary way. In Kiwitea, according to the return, there has been a loss of £74 and iu Eairanga £253. The Minister has apparently omitted to supply Parliament with particulars showing tho amount of laud tax lost through the repurchase of estates for land gambling purposes.