The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1884. THE ATKINSON MINISTRY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1192, 17 June 1884, Page 2

The Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JUNE 17, 1884. THE ATKINSON MINISTRY.

Thh Atkinson Ministry have fallen, but there is no doubt that they have brought defeat upon themselves. Never yet has any Ministry rushed mare directly to their doom. Their conduct has been so extraordinary that no one can look on without finding himself face to face vith conflicting ideas as to the motives that have actuated them. First they raised the grain tariff on the Canterbury railways and stopped the free passes to newspapers. Nothing could be better calculated to bring them into disfavor than this, but people said their object was to set the North Island against the South, and that it was a very clever move. Their Native Land Bill, however, sets aside that theory. That measure certainly is one of the best proposals that could be made. Its object is to stop private speculation in native lands, and prevent it from falling into the hands of monopolists. They knew that amongst their supporters were several native land sharks, and this Bill would alienate their support. Thus the tbeorv of North v. South is set aside. They have killed themselves, and for what reason it is impossible to understand. They could not be so mad as not to see what they were doing. It is very possible that they have an object in view, of which they want to make political capital, but really we cannot see it. They are fallen for the present at any rate, and very few Ministries have ever gone out of office of whom the country was so heartilv tired. They have sins of commission and sins of omission to account for, and it is not likely that the country will now back them up. The raising of the grain tariff was a political blunder which Canterbury will not easily forgive, because it was a special tax put upon the industry of farmers to make up a deficiency in the revenue. To make railways pay is right, but to single out the very moment when farmers were hurrying thdr grain to market, was wrong. They allowed wool to go at low rates, and handicapped the poor and unfortunate farmers who were groaning under an exorbitant rate of interest and a bad harvest. As for the charge of purchasing votes with public money, it seems to us a custom that has obtained in New Zealand since the public works policy was instituted, and that they were not a bit worse in this way than other Governments have been. So long as there is public money to spend, so long will corruption continue, because constituencies look to their representatives to get something for them, and if they do not get it they are cried down. The result is the representative sells his vote to please his constituents, and while that sort of thing lasta there must be corruption, and no honest Government can remain in power. There are two men in the present Ministry for whose fall we feel heartily sorry—honest John Bryco and William Rolleston. No man has ever done so much to place native matters on a sound bisis as the one ; no man has ever so devoted his energies to the settlement of the people on the land as the other. By their fall the colony loses the best Native Minister and the best Ministsr of Lands it has ever had, and it is very doubtful whether these two offices will be so successfully filled by their successors. We have no sympathy with the Atkinson Ministry ; they have ever and always been undecided and vacillating ; they seem to stick to no one thing two days ; they have frequently put forward measures and withdrawn them the moment they found them unpopular, This charge, however, doe* not refer to Messrs Bryco and Rolleston ; they have always worked with characteristic energy and determination, and they have been successful to an extent that has extracted words ofcommendation from their veriest opponents. 3t is a great misfortune to the colony that they are not in better company.

INCIDENCE OK TAXATION. t Sir Julius Vogkl proposes to abolish the property tax because it taxes the money lenders. We always thought Sir Julius would favor the money rings. If thtre is a man in this colony deriving benefit from it, that man is the money lender. He is the leech that is sucking the very life-blood of the people, the man whoße iron heel is felt most keenly, There is a great cry against Urge landowners, but the benefits which the money lenders get are far greater than those which the landowner can secure from his land. Why then should not money lenders be taxed? A man lends £IOOO, and gets between £BO and £IOO per annum out of it. Under the Property Tax that man would have ,t© ,f pay between 2Us and 30s to the support of the Government. Well, if he ought not pay no man living ought. But tha bent of

it is, Sir Julius would abolish this tax and place in its stead a tax on land, which land tax he would give to local bodies to spend. A grand idea, but (vhat is to paj the expenses of Government ? There is nothing else but Customs and stamp duties. Now, is not this absolute nonsense I In the first place, if Sir Julius Vogel would give tho land tax to local bodies, where is the necessity of the Government having anything to elo witk it? Could not the local bodies levy tho tax themselves ? Then, if the property tax it abolished and the land tax given to local will pay the one and a half millions we want to'send away annually ? What will pay the expenses of government ? The thing is an absolute absurdity. We have read Sir Julius's socech, and have no hesitation in pronouncing it the most vague, the moat undecided and the most unc«rtain we ever came across. He tells the working men not to interfere with the rights of capital. No man ever thought of doing so except, perhaps someone who was dishonestly inclined, but people have been thinking of preventing capital from absorbing not only its own rights but the people's rights also. He is not in favor of denominational education, but be would alter the present system to a cheaper one, He does not give the slightest idea of what that system would be. tie has a plan for securing the South Sea Islands trade, but does not tell what it is. In fact, he does not tell the people anything except that what they suffer from'is want of confidence. How can people with empty pockets have confidence in themselves ? Wliat has ruined the people is over-speculation, and what does that prove but that too mach confidence has been our bane. He praised the West Coast railway scheme, but was not sure that it would be wise for the Government to construct it. Still he would give something—about 2 per cent—towards it. The Government should not make it, and yet the Government ought to go peddling with it to the extent of 2 per cent ! He was not a free trader, and he was not a protectionist. Was there ever such indecision heard of ? Did ever a man try to please both parties more earnestly ? He was not in favor of leasing Crown lands, but if a man wanted a lease he would give it to bim, and thus would multiply our land laws until a ' Philadelphia- lawyer' could make neither head nor tail of them. And yet this indecision, this attempt to pander to everybody's taste, was not seen through in the most intelligent constituency in New Zealand! Clever, pointed, pertinent questions were put to him, but he gave no decided answers to them. What a change has come ! When Sir Julius Vogel first came out he was not listened to although he spoke sound wisdom. Now ka talks nonsense, and secures cor.(idence without an effort.

THE TIMARU HERALD. Some time ago the Atkinson Ministry were held up as noble examples of statesmanship by the Timaru H<n\»M. and Sir George Grey was (l»wn as much as possible. When Mr Montgomery delivered his speech at Akaroa two or three months ago, he was praised by the Herald. We pointed this out then, and predicted that before long the Herald would change again. Our words have come true. The Herald of last Saturday finds all sorts of faults with Mr Montgomery's speech at Akaroa. It says that no speech delivered during the recess did so much mischief. Now who will the Herald support next time. We do not hesitate to wager that Sir George Grey will be the hero of the Herald before the month is at an end. What a change ! If the Herald supports the Grey party it must back up Mr Turnbull, and that will be a new sensation for that gentleman.