Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXIV, Issue 9174, 18 June 1908, Page 4

Rangitikei Advocate. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1908 EDITORIAL NOTES.

A CORRESPONDENT writes to us complaining of the fact that so much more public money lias hitherto been spent in the South Island than in the North. He considers that far more determination should be shown in this island to put an end to so undesirable a state of affairs, especially at the present time when, with the Main Trunk line nearly completed, large amounts of borrowed money will be set free which will undoubtedly be captured for "South Island development unless action is taken to prevent this further injustice. Our correspondent suggests that the expenditure in the two islands should be strictly in accordance with the revenue received in each case from customs,land tax and income tax. This proposal certainly seems an equitable one, but we are not able to provide figures, as he desires, to show the separate receipts and expenditure in the two islands as the statistics do not appear to show what proportion of the income and land taxes are paid by the North and .South Islands respectively. That the disparity of revenue collected must ba very great is shown by the fact that out of imports to the Dominion valued at fifteen millions the North Island received nine millions and consequently paid threefifths of the total customs duties received. Assuming the proportion to hold®for the other sources of revenue it is clear that £3 should be'spent by Governmenc iu the North Island for every £2 in the South.

FOR years past the policy of successive Ministers has been to thrust on the ratepayers as many burdens as possible. The Stateonce formed roads, erected bridges and maintained them out of the general fund and did moat of the work now carried £.on by thellocal bodies. Hospitals were established by public subscription and the wants of the really needy were to by private benevolence. Besides delegating most of its duties to the local bodies, the State has also imposed on them the task of providing funds for the maintenance of hospitals and dispensing charitable aid. When money is required for road maintenance it lias to be supplied by the ratepayers, who are also kindly permitted to mortgage their properties for a term of years as security for any loan required for construction work. And when the expenditure of their own money has added to the value of their properties, benefited by such work, the Government Valuer steps in and assesses the properties at rating and taxing purposes. SojffarT the"only plan evolved by the politicians to give the local bodies “assured finance” is to increase their rating powers. Not only do Ministers refuse to supply local bodies with funds to carry on the work, which has been delegated to them, but they decline to hand over to them any source of income which they should possess, and tell them that if money is required they must rate themselves. At the present time attempts are being made to induce Government to relax its grip on the wharfage dues at Foxton, and it |is believed that if this was done, then the proposed Harbour Board would have sufficient revenue from this source to enable it to do all the necesasry work. When the Premier was asked for this very reasonable concession, he evaded a direct answer by stating that the matter would be brough t before the Ministers of Marine and Railways. But he intimated \ that the local bodies would have* 1 to recognise their responsibility with regard to rating. Once the district begins to be rated for harbour work, there is no possibility of predicting where it will end, and the ratepayers might have a repitition of Taranaki’s experience some years ago, when the bailiffs were put in to compel ratepayers to pay exorbitant rates.. We trust a systematic effort will be made to compel the State to handfjover to the Foxton Harbour Board, when it is formed, all the revenue from wharf age dues. If this cannot be effected then it will be better to take no further steps to improve the port.

THE striking success of Miss Reeves, daughter of the New Zealand High Commissioner, in being placed at the head of the list in the Moral Sciences Tripos, at Cambridge is sufficient evidence, if evidence were needed nowadays, that even f iu the most abstruse studies women can compete on equal terms with men.' The so-called moral sciences include such subjects as ethics, psychology and political*economy, which demand from the student unusual mental power to deal with the problems raised. Another woman

student in the mathematical examinations held at Cambridge at® the same time,' was equal to fourth on tho'-list. Both those ladies would be entitled to an honours degree, but for the fact that Cambridge refuses' to admit women to degrees, and therefore the successful students will not have the privilege of writing B.A. after their names, although they have earned the right lar more than many men, who obtain what is known as the poll degree, by a minimum of intellectual effort. Such men gain the degree without honours, while women have to be content with the honour and do without the degree.