THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBEE 22, 1891. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2257, 22 September 1891, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBEE 22, 1891. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Something must be done to curb the power of the Legislative Council. At the present time it is rendering the efforts of the House of Eepresentatives nugatory. Splendid, measures have been passed by the. jLqwer House, but their main principles .have been struck out by the Legislative Council, and, thus they have been destroyed. For instance, the Land Bill, which embodies the main policy of the present Government has been completely emasculated. One of its features is the adoption of the perpetual leasing system. Hitherto the system has been perpetual lease with the option of converting it into a freehold after a certain number of years, but, regarding this as wrong, the Government have in the Bill, before Parliament insisted on the perpetual lease, pure, and simple, the tenure being fifty years. Now the Legislative Council have destroyed this principle, and the Hon. J. McKenzie says that under the measure as amended by the Council he would have no power to prevent the land falling into the hands of speculators. Another provision was that no one should possess more than one run. Hitherto a man could possess as many runs as he liked. For instance, the Hon. Eobert Campbell possessed 25 runs containing over 360,000 acres, Dalgety & Co,, have 22 runs, containing over 555,000 acres, and so on. This is the system the Hon. John McKenzie wanted to destroy, but it is the system the Legislative Council wants to establish, and hence the difference. But wherever the interests of labour are concerned the Council seems tp act as if suffering from temporary insanity. It has destroyed the Labour Bills, but that was not enough. There was a' provision in the Land Bill for setting aside a block of 5000 acres for the 1 purpose of experimenting in co-operative'farming. The Legislative Council threw this out. They think it not wrong that Dalgety & Co., should possess 550,000 acres, but it is a great sin in their opinion to set aside 6000 acres, or less than one-hundredth part of Dalgety’s estate for the, purposes of experimenting in settling workmen on land on the co-operative principle. Then the Council has changed the Bill in other respects. For instance, there is a limit to the number of acres one man should possess, but the Council has given the power to the owner thereof to add to his estate by purchasing land for each of his children, and for his wife and so on. It will be seen from these facts that the increased taxation has in no way diminished the earth-, hunger of the Council. One of the ' objections to the new taxation was that large land owners would be ruined, but it is evident there is no reality in this cry, judging by the persistency with which the Conservatives desire to acquire more land. The Hon. J. McKenzie refuses to agree with the alteration made in the Bill, and there is, therefore, likely to be some trouble between the two Houses on the subject. We see nothing for it but to wipe out the present Council completely, and that can only be done by swamping it with members who will completely abolish it, STAMP DUTIES. The amount which the revenue will lose by the reduction in the postage on letters is £40,000 a year, ’ but the profits of the Post Office, after paying all working expenses, is oyer £72,000 a year. This £72,000 is a, tax. The cost of carrying our letters is no tax at all, it is simply payment for services rendered, but anything over the actual expenses incurred is taxation. Now we have been paying over £72,000 more than we ought for the carriage of our letters, and the question is, who has paid it ? Most undoubtedly the mercantile classes. Land owners have not much correspondence and consequently do not use many postage stamps. This indirect taxation was therefore a graduated tax upon commerce. We never heard mnch about it, but we hear wild screams because £60,000 has been added to the taxation of large land owners. Again, every cheque for £2 one pays contributes a tax of twopence, one penny on the cheque, and another on the receipt. Who has paid this in the past ? Chiefly the comtnerical classes, and we have not heard of any great complaints. All these stamp duties were progressive taxation, born by the mercantile classes, but now the pre.- 1

sent Government are giving them relief to a certain extent. The postage on letters is to be reduced to one penny, and a large firm which has hitherto escaped taxation mnst now contribute its fair share. This is the Union Steamship Company, which, though the wealthiest and most powerful in the land, paid neither property tax nor stamp duties and thus robbed the revene of an immense amount. If one paid £2 to any other person he had to get a stamped receipt; but if he paid £SO to the Union Company for his passage, he got nothing except his ticket and thus the company escaped stamp duty. All this is to be changed and thus justice will to a certain extent be done. RAIN. Rain is a very interesting subject to talk to farmers about at the present period of expectation. How much depends on a few good showers of rain farmers can tell only too well. An American named Frank Melbourne has come into prominence of late by asserting that he can cause rain to fall over an area of 250,000 square miles in extent at any time and without regard to climate. No one will deny that the inventive faculty of the American is as a rule, very largely developed, but who would have dreamt'that it would be possible for even an American to manufacture rain to order 1 But when we look back to the time when such things as telegraphs, telephones, or phonographs were unknown, we cannot help thinking that the people of to-day with regard to rain manufacture put themselves much in the same position as the people of those days; viz, a feeling of incredulity. No one would have believed it if they had been told one hundred years ago, that it was possible to catch the sounds and tones of a human voice on a wax cylinder and preserve it for reiteration to the end of time and yet today we have proof of it in Edison’s phonograph. For all we know to the contrary, in another fifty years more wonderful things may be bronght to light. It almost seems from a scientific point of view that we are fast hastening to that age, of ease and comfort spoken of by Bellamy in his book called “ Looking Backward.” However, looking at it in the light of past achievement it would be folly for us to say that “ manufactured rain ”is an impossibility, Frank Melbourne claims to have invented a machine by which he has actually broken twelve droughts in Australia, five in New Zealand, and three in the State of Ohio. A few months ago his, invention was subjected to a practical test. For several days the weather was perfect, without a sign of rain. Meantime he pledged himself to produce rain on a certain day. He spent several hours daily in his laboratory, and on the day before that appointed for the rain, heavy clouds gathered and rain fell. Melbourne claimed that this was his rain, and that it had been produced sooner than he had expected. But as the stipulation was for the next day his claim was disallowed. When the day dawned on which rain was promised the sky was cloudless, and everything seemed to indicate that he would fail. He locked himself in his laboratory and awaited the result. At last, just before midnihgt, rain began to fall, and a heavy shower followed, which lasted several hours. The machine he used is supposed to be electrical.