The Daily News SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24. RESTING ON OUR OARS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 258, 24 October 1908, Page 2

The Daily News SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24. RESTING ON OUR OARS.

In the course of ll's policy address at , ' Palmerston North oil Monday, the Pru- I ' mier expressed the opinion that wll'le progress should be our watchword, a rest in legislation was desirable. We are heartily iu accord with Sir Joseph Ward thai no iuum will accrue from a law-making respite, This country lias made the pace during the past i:w years in tackling the greatest problems of tile day. legislating in a diivctio* which on the whole has made

for the betterment of all classes and callings. For a few \ ear.;, therefore, without departing in ic.ie slightest from a policy of progress, we can well alloid to rest on our oars meeting new conditions as they

perfecting as their defects become a-p- J paivnt to tiie laws we have, and giving '1 closer attention towards good adminis- li tration of our laws, tile active settle- p nieut of the people on the land, the f pursuance of the closer settlement po- i licy that now exists, tile finding of the f ■best and most lucrative mantela 'i>r i our producers, and affording our indus- ] tries every opportunity for extending ( and improving their output and of giving irrea'ter employment; in short, close attention to the practical development of tlii> resources of the country. lie must indeed have a short or unwilling memory who fails to give the Government credit »jr great concessions given within recent years to every class of industry. They amount to many millions sterling, anu no class ol the community, and very properly, we admit, has benefited more than the producers on the land. Since 1801, concessions under tiie Land Tax alone have been made amounting to no less than 432,288,801). 'lhe Land Tax, however, does not affect the average tanner's pocket to an appreciable extent, for the exemptions are such that out of 145,188 land-owners in the Dominion, on.v 20,5(13 (including 3073 liable for the : graduated tax) pay Land Tax at all. Taxation through the Customs, however, touches every individual in the State, and here again we find that since 1804, there has been a decrease of nearly. £8 in Customs duties charged "n every £IOO worth of dutiable nice undise imported . In other words, the rate of duty collected on all dutiable imports decreased from 38.18 per cent, in ISJ4 to 30.28 per cent, in 1007, or to apply another comparison, the percentage ot Customs duty collected on 'all merchandise imported, both free and dutiable, has fallen from 26.2 i» per cent, in 1894 to 18.05 per cent, last year. This is a big concession. The Government has, if anything, been too liberal in this respect, To our mind, it would have been better not to have made such large reductions in the Customs tnd to have devoted the surplus, money to the Public Works Fund. .Such, however. has been the spending power of the people within recent years and the demand for luxuries, and heavily dutiable goods, that Customs revenue has increased steadily aespitu concessions and reductions. Such items of revenue as stamp duty, on deceased wealthy estates largely/and amounting to £204,531 last yc.iv. is not a- direct tax on the -people as a whole. The £30,000 of totalisator revenue is a source of revenue that cannot be classed as a tflx onthe masses, no more than the £152,000 stamp duty oil legal deeds, etc.

To return lo the concession from .taxation granted, it is a peculiar fact that •farmers as a wnole fail to recognise that no class in the country has received greater protection through the Customs than the industries of me ljind enjoy. Xo class, moreover, has more 11011 -dutiable articles 011 the Customs tariff than tile fanning community. Since ISilj, when the Goveriiiwnt resumed control of the railways, concessions amounting to 110 less thin

£2,(>74,(Kit) Jinve been made to the people of the Dominion. To what extent these huge concessions have assisted in tlie settlement of the land and the material prosperity of the producers it would be hard to estimate.

A great deal uf capital is made out of the fact that (ho public debt. whiea Dow stands at CliiU-">;>.8!)7. lias increased !»y the large sum of £27,023,547 shuv IS!U. Jlitt of timt total no lvi>> tliaa £J8.:!0li.051 arns ius own interest, ami therefore is no burden on t*ie jvouiple. Do the fanners consider that the £4.110,000 winch lias been added to the public dcjsbt under tlio Advances 10 Settlers Act is a burden upon them? Could any sane man argue that tiu £5,5!>0.000 borrowed for the purchase of estates under tile Land for Settlement Aet is a. burden? As a matter of fact, this money is actually earning 4 1 /. per cent, interest. Again £2,(103.000. has bet*]} added to the public dobt for i granting loans to local bodies, and returns at least 3 per cent. For additions to op'en lines €2.350,000 r nas been raised and is directly interost-bearrag. 'J he half million raisvd to purchase Bank of Xew Zealand preference s'hares 1 earns 7'/* per cent., while, also, (he £BOO,OOO raised for the reserve fund ;e----eurities and £500,000 for Now Zealand Consol deposits are payable investments. J It i l -* mere humbug, therefore. to bewail

the increase hi the national debt', or to attempt to delude the people "with tire belief that the naturally increasing iuU-rest charges represents a corresponding burden of taxation. It is obvious that money must be found c or public works if we are "to continue to I develop the country, or tavation must •be increased in provide the necessary

funds. There is no other choice. Closer attention to the administration of the affairs of the Mfiiniiiion. with a rest from alt but pritsing legislation, is tV> policy that, the country, "we are convinced, is ready to accept. At I'almeistoii tile t'rcmiw detiiicd tile Uovemmcnl's aspirations thus: "To make conditions freer and better for all: not to legislate for one class

I against auotlu»r; not U) .sot capital md labor at ouch ullier's throats; -tot to j engender bitterness and strife; not hj create distinctions of any kind; not to favor a few as against the many; not lo establish a policy of puTlbig nvoyiltoily ami everything down to a. dead level, but to give increased opportunity to all; to give a (loaf oar to liin; who lifts idle bands and prays to tn« State 'to give him each day his daily •bread,' but a ready cm- to him wno hfts willing hands ami prays 'give me tiiis day an honorable opportunity to earn my bread.' W'c desire freedom. not the old negative freedom which for million* ill other countries moans freedom to starve, but freedom—freedom of opportunity, freedom to get on by getting a chance; not the old conservatism spelt privilege, and reserved (Careers and callings to a few—monopolies in the hands of a limited number—of land, capital, professions, politics—and uudot which a premium was required for many callings, such as law and trades—which meant a limited franchise restricted fo a small section of the country, as against manhood and womanhood suffrage. We advocate? a prognw sivu Liberalism, not. wild and unconsidered license, but liberty that provides opportunity —'opportunity foy all; efjual opportunity to the most humbly horn to ascend tlie ladder of life." Thev arc lofty aspirations, and it is to he hoped the (iovvrnincitt. however it is eousnluted, will act, up to then. If il duos. X'ew Zealand's future will be assured.