THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 1892. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2369, 14 June 1892, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader. TUESDAY, JUNE 14, 1892. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Within a few days, perhaps a few hours, we may expect to hear of the result of the Premier's interview with Lord Glasgow with regard to the new appointments to the Upper House. 4s will be remembered, the Premier approached LQi'd Onslow on the subject on the eve of his departure from the colony, but it was then agreed that the appointments should be deferred until the arrival of the new Governor, He has now arrived, and no doubt the subject of the appointments will be brought before 'him as soon as decency will permit. There is not much time to lose. Parliament will meet, we believe, next Thursday i week, saii the appointments ought to oe made by thai limp. That some number of members must be appointed there can be no doubt, as Hie (,'ouncll has at present fallen below its normal strength. When the Atkinr son Government took office in IHH7 there were PJ members in the I,egjslative Council, and to this numhiu\sev«n more were added, but during these same five years sixteen have died, two have lost their scats, and in the face j Of Court proceedings, the Hon. Mr Mr Whyfe js not likely to take any part in the proceedings for som.e time. ; That makes 1!» vacancies, and be.- j sides these Messrs Acland, JJoweu, Johnson, Peacock, and Wilson are ab&ettf from the colony, and not expected to be present during the coining session. The strength of the council, therefore, during the coming session will be only o2 members, or, if all the ,'bsentees return. .'!7, and, as many of these are so old as to be incapable of paying much attention to public matters, the council has now reached a degree of weakness never experienced before. According to the figures we have given, therefore, there is a vacancy for at least 12 new members to bring the number up to what it was five years ago, but whether the Governor will grant this number or not remains to be seen. We hope he

will, as it, is nothing more nor less than what the Government is fairly and properly entitled to. The late Government flooded the Council with their nominees on the eve of their leaving office, and it would be only right, and just, and fair that the present party should have some representation there. In a recent Ministerial speech we noticed it was stated that death and resignation had reduced the Liberal minority of five members which the Government claimed in the Council, to three, so that, with twelve new members of their own choosing, the majority in the Council will still be two to one against them. Some people are trying to create a little sensation over these appointments, but really, when the matter is calmly looked into, and the whole circumstances weighed, it will, we think, be conceded that no objection can honestly be raised to the making of twelve fresh appointments. It lias also been frequently thrown in the face of the Government that they purpose to appoint only men whom they can '•' lead by the nose," but surely that is a silly argument. When the Atkinsonians appointed seven new members, were they not chosen because it was known that they would oppose the present Government? and "under such circumstances, can anything be more natural than that the Cabinet will select men who will vote on their side? A very short time will now .settle the question, but meantime we do not hesitate to say that the Government are perfectly justified in securing fair representation in the Legislative Council.

THE LEVELS STATION. Nemesis has caught the Levels Station Company. When Messrs Elworthy, Postlethwaite, and Sterricker acted as a Board of Reviewers some years ago the Levels Station Company got a reduction of their valuation amounting to £30,000. In addition to that they got a further reduction of £12,000 privately from the Atkinson Government of the day. How, or by what means the latter reduction was made we are not in a position to state, but it seems strange that after the estate had been properly assessed by the Board of Reviewers the company could obtain a further reduction of £12,000 privately from the Government. It goes without saying that the strings were pulled. Now, however, the case seems different with them. They cannot talk over or cajole either the assessor or the Board of Reviewers, and we feel certain they will not get any reduction privately from the Government. Mr Allan, the assessor, seems to have gone to work when valuing the estate in a workmanlike manner. lie declined all offers of assistance, and raised the valuation by £4<S,;)()('>. This was reduced by the Board of Reviewers by £4232, leaving the total increase £44,074. We commend Mr Allan for the independent way in which he acted. That he was not far out in his valuation is proved by the fact that tne Board of Reviewers, after hearing evidence, only made a reduction of £4OOO in an estate valued at over £300,000. Hitherto the company escaped taxation on this £44,(574: and have thus been defrauding the colony of nearly £2OO a year. Of

course this is quite within their rights so long as there is a Government in power that allowed them to do it. We do not blame the company so much as the Government that allowed them to escape. But let us see what effect this will have on local taxation. Hitherto the County Council, the Levels Road Board, the Tiinaru Harbor Board, and so on were defrauded of rates on this sum. Sup- ' posing, for instance, that each of these bodies levies a rate of -|d in the £— and we believe they will levy nearly double that sum—it means that the Levejs Company must disgorge about i>)00 a year more Hum they have been doing, and local taxation will be relieved to that extent. it is no wonder the large land-owners do not like the present Government, or their officers and supporters, but we think the farmers of (South Canterbury ought to like them at any rate for makingthe company pay their fair share of taxation. This, we hope, will open the eyes ot the farmers, and they will now fei>(& ljow tiiis large corporation was escaping taxation, while they themselves have been sweating under the weight of its bin den. If the Levels J'jstajo must pay £ooo or £6OO a yea.r nj geijeraj and jLoeaJ faction j more than they used fariners will be relieved to that ex<«»t, But this is! only one estate alone. Let us not | forjret that this may occur in thousands of other esiajp.s : and if so the whole country will b,e greatly benefitted.