South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2522, 21 April 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 1881.

RfiTKOGßESsiONratberthan progression has been the order of the day tor some time past. The colony has been, so to speak, taking in sail. Since the present ministry took office the industrial orders have passed through a variety of unpleasant experiences. Diminished speculation, crippled enterprise, the languid condition of trade and commerce, a glutted labor market, fires, insolvencies and serious defalcations, are all undeniable symptoms of widespread depression. Yet the soil is fertile, the people though unprosperous are hopeful, the seasons are good, and the harvests abundant. The question arises, why is the industrial condition of New Zealand so unsatisfactory ? II the resources of the colony are so elastic, as they are generally alleged to be, why do evidences of commercial rottenness abound ? Why are honest, enterprising tradesmen experiencing a season of unexampled embarrassment ? Before the remedy can be applied the cause must be determined, A great deal of blame has been attached to over-speculation. Settlers and tradesmen, we are told, have been recklessly gambling on the deferred payment system. But why should the blame be all on one side ? If rash speculation has been indulged in, who granted the facilities ? Who is the greatest offender against commercial morality—the snarer or the ensnared ? Has not the money

market been specially rigged ? Are not the natural laws of political economy daily violated ? Are not the community groaning beneath an iniquitous and inequitably distributed load of taxation ? Has not the credit of the colony been damaged abroad, while her internal resources have been crippled ? Is not absenteeism like a vampire draining away the life-blood that should feed her commerce and manufactures ? What about the huge debt that has been contracted chiefly to improve the property of the British money-lender ? Does not the colonial tax-payer contribute the interest ? Is there any give and take in this one-sided arrangement ? Are not the people, thanks to Major Atkinson, merely hewers of wood and drawers of water for absentee proprietors ? Nor can the latter he blamed. In taking advantage of a bad arrangement they are but following the instincts of the omniverous intellectual parasite. The bee yields its honey to the beekeeper, the sheep is annually fleeced for the benefit of the stockowner, and the producing population of this colony are sending the profits of their industry home to the foreign investor. There is no need to amplify our meaning by illustrations. Every colonist who reflects for moment must perceive that the producers are as helpless as the bees of a beehive, or the sheep in a stock-yard. Money is travelling out of the colony—not in moderate sums but by several hundreds of thousands of pounds to the tunc of one and a half millions annually. We do not believe in repudiation ; the money must be contributed and the colony must meet its obligations. What we object to is the dishonest way in which the contribution is exacted. Instead of the owners of the improvements, whose property is enhanced in value, being called upon to pay, an all-round contribution is levied. The artizan and Lis employer arc sacrificed at the altar of foreign speculators and usurers. How long will the industrial classes tamely submit to be blackmailed for the benefit of foreigners ? A general election is approaching and they must determine this at the ballot-box. With Major Atkinson as Colonial Treasurer, no satisfactory reform can be looked for, A man who could urge an income tax and suggest that until such a tax was levied there should be no alteration in the tariff, yet a year afterwards could bring down one of the most outrageously oppressive tariffs that has ever been introduced in a British colony, and who has since then eaten the words that he uttered in favor of an income tax, is not to he trusted. An unscrupulous tax-master, whose convictions are as transient and variable as the winds of Heaven, is the last man in the world for the slightest reliance to he placed in. He may he eminently fitted to shine as a timeserving sycophant, hut a statesman capable of beneficially serving his country, be cannot he. Fortunately, the signs of the times are hopeful. As the result of the suffering they have lately undergone, the people, we believe, are painfully alive to the nature of the crisis through which the colony is passing. If the industrial classes only unite in the endeavor to secure, once for all, patriotic, trustworthy and capable representatives, the load of taxation that is keeping their noses to the grindstone will he shifted. The taxes will he paid, but they will be paid by those who can afford to pay them, and who have a right to contribute. One thing to be insisted on is a modification of the customs tariff. There is no sound reason why imported articles of food and dress, or even luxuries, should be taxed to the extent of 50 per cent higher than they are in the neighboring colonies. Our ears are constantly assailed with the cry of high wages interfering with the profitable application of capital in connection with new industries. But what regulates the rate of wages if not the cost of living, and while the existing tariff is tolerated can the cost of living be otherwise than excessive? Working men will have tobacco, yet the duty in New Zealand is just about double what it is in the Australian colonies. In spite of Sir William Fox and his doctrines, they will have beer and spirits, yet the duty on the latter is 14s per gallon as compared with 10s per gallon in New South Wales and Victoria. No wonder that artisans are taking their departure by every vessel for these colonies, when every little comfort they require is taxed so outrageously here. The present customs tariff has been ingeniously framed so as to compel the industrial classes of New Zealand, either to contribute inordinately to the revenue of the colony and thereby spare the pockets of those who ought to pay, or to forego the comforts and luxuries to which they have been accustomed, and which arc common to artisans and labourers all over the world. This, however, may all be changed if the majority stick true to one another at the next general election. In the meantime it becomes every man, who desires to influence the political destinies of the colony in the right direction to see that he is enrolled as an elector. If he values his own privileges, if he regards the welfare of his friends, his relatives, or his successors, ho will remember that a political crisis, pregnant with important results is impending and that his watchword must for the present be Register ! Register ! Register ! TL • electors will shortly have the ball, that, properly kicked, will reach the goal of restored prosperity, at their feet ? Will they kick it vigorously ? On the last occassion they made a poor u.. 0 of their opportunity. They sent representatives into power who have scourged them with the rod of taxation ever since. Will this folly be repeated ? The minority the absentees and their representatives in the colony—though numerically weak,

are hacked up by powerful influences. If the battle of taxation reform and land reform is to he won, there must he no apathy. The struggle will be a hard one, and every artisan and laborer—every settlor and manufacturer—every bona fide colonist in fact, will he needed if colonial thrift and industry are to carry the day against foreign usury and land monopoly.