South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, FEB, 17, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2157, 17 February 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, TUESDAY, FEB, 17, 1880.

Whkn difficulties arise despondency .seldom provides a remedy. The reason of this is obvious—despondency is destructive of energy. The Colonial Treasurer of'‘New Zealand is realising the truth of this. At the commencement of the financial year he Took a singularly -despondent view of the prospects of the colony, and his gloomy apprehensions are likely to be fulfilled with a vengeance. In his desire to rescue the colony from its difficulties, instead of lifting it up he drove it back. The result that we predicted is beginning to be evidenced. Major Atkinson's remedy instead of proving beneficial has proved signally hurtful. Instead of reviving trade and commerce, and improving the revenue by natural means, it has done just the reverse. This is what we said at the time would be the inevitable effect of indiscriminate taxation. The colony was suffering from depression ; it stood in want of nourishment; a large loan was in process of negotiation ; machinery stood idle, and men were clamoring for work and wages; and what was the remedy proposed ? The vigorous prosecution of reproductive works ? Nothing of the kind. The remedy applied was blood-letting. As an immediate measure the tariff was revised —revised without the slightest regard for probable consequences. The consuming population was to be treated as a huge milch cow, whose capacities for affording nourishment to the Treasury are unlimited. At a time when labor .was scarce and monetary pressure severe, and people were restricting their expenditure as much as possible, the Colonial Treasurer declared—Our revenue is falling off ; it must be repaired ; everyone must have his share of the burden ;

we will have a property tax, but let us begin with the Customs duties Hie stroke was .a bold one, but it was also suicidal. We said so at the time, and what we said lias been verified. Colon} after colony is recovering from the depression which temporary causes produced, the five million loan has been secured, farmers have been cheered by a magnificent harvest, the -Bank barometer has gone up and discounts have fallen, yet trade and commerce are depressed in New Zealand, and the revenue shows no signs of buoyancy. The Customs duties, which were nearly doubled, instead oi realising - the anticipations of the Government, have fallen off tremendously, and our imports have declined to an extent that is quite unprecedented, and in a way that no temporary stagnation in trade or monetary depression can account for.

This is no mere assertion. Here arc the figures. The latest returns to hand show the total imports for the quarter ending Doc. 31 to he £1,y00,07G. For the corresponding quarter of 1878 the total was .-1i , 2,202,373. The falling off ainounts to no less than £701,097, or nearly one-third of the whole. This, it must be admitted, is rather a serious decline. The export trade of the colony for tbu same quarter shows a falling off also, but it is small contrasted with the decline of our imports. From the returns furnished for the month of January by different ports it is evident that there is no improvement, and the present quarter is not likely to be better than the last. A wholesale falling off of this kind is significant. It proves that the trade and commerce of New Zealand instead of reviving, as under the influence of a five million loan and a good harvest they might be expected to do, continue in a most unhealthy and unsatisfactory condition. It demonstrates, we think, that not only has the purchasing power of the people been lessened, but it has been discouraged. One of the recommendations of the new tariff, which was obtruded by the Government, was that heav} r duties were imposed on luxuries. But the consumer has stood on the defensive, and if the Colonial Treasurer is open to conviction, he must be convinced, wc [imagine, by this time, that there is a dangerous limit, even in Customs taxation to trespass beyond which, is to destroy trade, reduce consumption, and impair the national revenue. The sudden jump from ten to fifteen per cent ad valorem duties at a time when the colonial taxpayer was endeavoring by severe exertion and ingenuity to make both ends meet, was impolitic and siticidal, and this the present condition of the Customs revenue indicates.

The apologists for financial mismanagement, aware that the colony is drifting hopelessly in the meantime, are propounding all kinds of advices and excuses. lletrenchmcnt is always a good cry, because it is eminently poprif lar. Some of the Government departments are undergoing retrenchment, but it is retrenchment of that peculiar kind that produces suffering without any great or compensating advantages; The Telegraph Department has been undergoing retrenchment at the cost of a few

hard-worked and badly-used operators—some of whom are retreating in disgust to the Australian colonies, while others are preparing to follow their example The Railway Department is retrenching, for trains and subordinate officers are knocked off and the public are inconvenienced ; but no attempt is made, by the reduction of inordinate salaries and the establishment of a reasonable differential passenger and goods tariff, to retrench in the right direction and improve, at the same time, the tiullic returns. The worst feature in Government departmental retrenchment is that it is obstinate and mulish, aiid always aims in any other but the right direction. The useful is slaughtered, while the useless is carefully preserved, impaired and untouched. Ministerial intentions, however vigorously expressed, invariably undergo a wonderful modification whenever they enter into contact with the big-wigs of the Civil Service. A Minister of the Crown would no more venture to interfere with the seventh heaven of officialdom—which revels in salaries represented by four figures—than he would venture to trifle with forked lightning or tread on the toes of an irritable Chief Justice. Another side issue that is being dragged in is the necessity for private economy and retrenchment. Now, this is simply an insult to the great majority of the people of New Zealand. It is true that we do not live exactly as paupers, but anyone who has travelled in any of the adjacent colonies, and has mingled with society here, must be well aware that the sin of extravagance, or anything approaching it, docs not lie at the door of the New Zealander. The remarkable falling off in our imports shows that this lecturing on the score of extravagance is both absurd and uncalled for. The question of Protection has also been rushed forward as a stalking horse, but Major Atkinson has effectually disposed of that problem. A property tax united with indiscriminate Customs duties, have operated like a ponderous steam roller on our industries —crushed them to the earth. Capital is being driven out of the colony, investment is discouraged, and trade is prostrated by an iniquitous policy of taxation. Still we are hopeful. What is Avantcd is a proper commander at the helm, but that commander will never be found in the despondent, doleful, melancholy, and hypochondriacal Major Atkinson. With a property tax in the immediate future, and prohibitive

Customs duties in full swing, the energies of the colonies are being jumped on ; remove them, and the trade, commerce, manufactures, and resources of New Zealand will grow up strong and vigorous, making fresh headway every day. The exigencies of a heavy national debt are no excuse for a system of taxation which is killing enterprise, and defeating the end sought to be attained —an incroa-icd and increasing revenue.