South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, JULY 26, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2295, 26 July 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, JULY 26, 1880.

The members of the Levels Hoad Hoard intend this year to levy a sixpenny instead of a shilling rate. This is a concession which the settlers of the district will undoubtedly appreciate. It has been made at a time of wide-spread languor and depression. The object is to temporarily relieve property holders from the prostrating effects of bad markets and oppressive taxes. Since last year new burdens of a most disastrous character have been imposed. Many of the ordinary commodities of life have been taxed up to the point of prohibition ; heavy duties have been imposed on building and fencing material; and worse than all, to make improvements doubly harrassing, a property tax is about to be inflicted. It is in view of the excessive contributions which the State is exactingjfrom thrift and honesty that the Board has apparently resolved to work with half its ordinary revenue. Of course in dispensing with the usual rate the representatives of the district are submitting to a considerable sacrifice. A reduction of revenue means clearly a reduction of improvements. It is a sorrowful kind of econorpy that.lias to

be curried out at the coat of roads and bridges, but the Board lias no option. The members are endeavoring' to make the best they can of the circumstances. Economy is not a matter of choice ; it is being rigorously enforced. When a man becomes aware that for every nail be adds to bis house an additional tax must bo paid, he will throw down the hammer in disgust. Hence the general cessation of every kind of improvement. The imposition o£ 20s and 40s per ton on fencing wire and galvanised iron, and the corresponding heavy duties on posts and rails, and other kinds of building material has been met by just the kind of resistance that might hare been anticipated. Enterprise has been held in strict abeyance, those who contemplated building and otherwise adding to the value of their possessions have abandoned the idea, and labour has naturally suffered.' Not luxuries alone, but ordinary comfort? have been dispensed with. The hut which was to he exchanged for the weather-board cottage, remains in all its original ruggedness, broken down fences have been temporarily repaired ; there has been universal patching, but no additions or renewals. 1880, with its glorious harvest, will, in future 3 r cars, he regarded as a year of inactivity—a season of self-sacrifice —a period of waiting and anxious watching for a better political springtide. In consenting to impose only half the usual amount of taxation, the Levels IJoad Board have hut followed the example of the community. By reducing their expenditure the labor market will suffer, trallie will bo impeded, and the progress of settlement will necessarily be diminished, but these arc tilings that cannot he helped. With the fanners of the district, for some time past, it lias been nearly all outlay and nothing' coining in. The most aggravating feature iu connection

with this expenditure is that the money collected is being- applied, not on reproductive works, but in defraying the expenses of an overgrown Civil Service, and assisting northern land sharks in the acquisition of native estates. Were the money collected by the state used judiciously and beneficially it would be conlributed without reluctance, but is well-known that it is to a great extent devoted to useless or or iniquitous purposes. Tins is the reason why taxes are paid so grudgingly and why the honn fide settler and property holder, despite the appeals of the Colonial Treasurer, have taken up a defensive attitude.

The example of the 1 .cvcls Hoad Hoard may be copied with advantage by other local bodies. In the interests of settlers it is desirable that local taxation should be diminished as much as possible. It is quite possible to tax owners of property beyond the point of endurance, and force them out of the district and the colony. But such a course is not desirable. Public works that are not absolutely necessary should he deferred rather than have the taxation which at present is pressing so heavily on all classes of community, increased The proposal to impose a county rale at a juncture like the present is absurd, if not suicidal. Nothing could bo more impolitic should we say, more heartless. 'When the settlers of South Canterbury arc able to bear the strain of fresh taxation it will bo quite time enough to think of levying taxes for new bridges. In the meantime improvements of an expensive nature which arc likely to involve serious imposts, can very well be allowed to stand over.