PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2066, 1 July 1890, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY NOTES.

The Eegistration of Electors Bill has passed the second reading. This Bill will completely abolish all existing electoral rolfa, and throw upon the' people the necessity of registering their names anew. If this Bill becomes law thousands will have no votes in the next election because they will pqt the trouble to register them* All the Conservatives are in favor of it, and all the Liberals against it.

Sir Harry Atkinson has gone on sick leave. At a eanQa|g rpepting last Friday it w.a§ decided that he should retain the position of Premier, but take no part in debates* and that Mr Mitcbelson should lead the House*

This is ft very clever move. Many will refrain from too severe a criticism of the actions of the Government out of respect for him. It will be put down to bad taste to say anything against a man who l is' too ill to defend himself. The Conservatives think it a good thing to rethin Sir Harry’s name to conjure by during the elections; the Liberals think it unfair to ask them to fight a headless Government.

According to the report of the Property Tax Commissioners, real property, that is lan! and its improvements, has decreased in value during the last three years by £5,238,945. In 1886 the value of real property was £116,376,659, ia I§B9 it was only £111,137,714. If bo, where is the boasted good done by the Atkinson Government ? Personal property increased during the same time from £82,540,315 to £85,540,210, equal to £2,939,895. This is better. The report says that £3,000,000 of the decrease in the value of real estate is due to reductions made in the revaluation of the lands held by certain land companies. Two things this points to: The enormous area of land held by land companies when they can reduce the value of it by such a huge sum as £3,000,000, and the ease with which these companies get out of paying taxes. They will not have to pay taxes any longer on this £3,000,000, and that is about £12,000 a year taken off them. It would be interesting to know would they sell the land at the present value. Everyone thought that companies had already undervalued their lands. The small land owners must sweat to make up the taxation taken off the companies. The report further says that sales effected proved that the land brought a higher price than what it was valued at.

This report of the Property Tax Commissioners is altogether an interesting document. The value of live stock, which is personal property, has decreased by £777,051. The value of produce has decreased. The Goyernment say they have settled 1,500,000 acres in 3 years, but the value of what is on land has decreased by close on a million. Apparently, therefore, there is nothing on the land disposed of by the Government, and it is only held by speculators. The value of money lent on mortgage has decreased by £1,318,078. That is very good. The value of other debts decreased by £3»704,127. That, too, is excellent, and shows soundness, and when taken in connection with the fact that the value of stock-in-trade machinery, &c., has increased by about £1,000,000 it is splendid. Let the reader remember this now. Two years ago the Customs duties were increased, resulting in an increase o £1,000,000 in the taxable value of machinery, stock-in-trade, &o. That helps to lighten the burden of taxation.

The report still continues to be interesting reading. The cash returns have increased by £2,000,000. That is good, but there is a large number o£ wealthy people swindling the Government, for the report says that there is £6,718,000 deposited in the banks more than is returned under the property tax, and that there is no law to get at it. There ought to be a law made to punish these people who are defrauding the Government of about £25,000 a year. Mr Turnbull has for years cried out against this, but no notioe haja been taken of him. It is worthy of note mat- no land company or money lender has been prosecuted for making improper property tax returns, while individual land owners and merchants have frequently been before Courts for this offence. It is time these matters were looked into.

The farmers of Blacks (Otago) have petitioned Parliament to the effect that the squatters in the neighborhood are breeding rabbits for the sake of their skins, and that consequently rabbits are becoming alarmingly plentiful, also that when the squatters are summoned to Court only nominal fines are inflicted on them. This is nice. There existed a superstition in the minds of the.people that rabbiters fostered rabbits for the sake of the employment they give them, but if the squatters have begun farming them now there is danger of a realisation of the picture which showed the rabbits chasing the last white man into the sea,

In his Financial Statement Sir Harry Atkinson has made the extraordinary discovery that the people who left the colony during the last three years were women ana children, and that the number of children were in the proportion of 18 children to every woman. This is very funny, but what does the report of the Pro-, perty Tax Commissioners aay ;■ It says that there a,re 1409 fewer persons paying property tax now than in 1886. In every F 0 ™ 0113 year the number of persons who paid property tax increased, but lately the number has decreased. That means, of co\\rae, that they left the colony amount of sophistry on $$ part ot Sir Harry can get tjbftt feet- Each one of .these must have taken away over !£SOO, or they would sot have been taxed, so that really they must have taken £1,000,000 with them. What about the women and children in the face of that fact.

Mr Joyce, the leviathan questioner, has extracted a fact of an interesting character out of the Government. In reply to him Mr Mitchelson admitted that the Government had lent £4992 to the New Plymouth Harbor Board. Now, this is the district Sir Harry Atkinson represents, and for years he has been trying to get money for the harbor but Parliament has refused him. While Parliament was at home minding his own business, however, Sir Harrv dipped his hand down into the public purse and handed this money as a loan to the New Plymouth Harbor, and now he cannot get it back. The tax-payers of the colony must make it up. And still New Plymouth wants more, and is ruining the colony’s credit by its defalcations in London. The New Plymouth people call their harbor difficulty the “ Atkinsonian blight,” because they attribute its want of funds to bad management on Sir Harry’s part whilst he was connected with it.

Perpetual leasing for the last mne years has been denounced as a “ fad,” but now the very Government who went in to destroy it say that the vast majority of the people prefer it to any other tenure of land. In can, therefore, be called a fad no longer. The fact is perpetual leasing never suited the monopolists and money-rings. Under perpetual leasing no man could acquire a large estate. J hat was the reason it was callbd “ a fad ” Under perpetual leasing mortgages could not lend money on the land. That was another reason why it was called “a fad.” The land monopolists and moneylenders thought they could destroy it by calling it bad names, but the thing was too good, and it has now outlived their vulgar abuse. It is now the recognised tenure of land.

The position now is becoming comical. A large number of members are very much dissatisfied with the Government, owing to Sir Harry Atkinson’s retirement from active service, and many others are of opinion that Parliament should be dissolved at once. If these would coalesce with Mr Ballance and his followers the Government would be defeated at once. But they will not. They recognise the utter uselessness and helplessness of the Government as at present constituted, but they will not accept Mr Ballance on any account. They are afraid to reverse the land policy of the present Government, and legislate for the people instead of the money-rings. They will keep Mr Ballance out of power as long as they can, and that will be until the electors open to their eyes, and realise th e difference between sham and real Liberals,