West Coast Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 280, 16 August 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. THURSDAY, AUGUST 16, 1866.

Presuming that our telegraphic intelligence is to be relied on, we at length get some clue to the determination of the Stafford niinisfay not to proceed with any of the practical legislation of the session, until the vexed question of Separation was disposed of. Disposed of it has now been — and the ministry are at liberty to bring down a financial scheme, which, if it had been promulgated before the divisions upon Mr Whitaker's resolutions, and upon the several friendly amendments upon them» would have undoubtedly secured a far stronger combination of members in their support than was actually the case. It was only a few days before Mr Jollic submitted his budget, that Mr Yogel moved in the house a resolution affirming the expediency of securing to the provinces, by statute, the three-eighths of the Customs' Revenue, hitherto enjoyed by them only in virtue of a resolution of the Assembly. During the last two sessons, the members for the southern provinces especially have seen abundant cause to feel that the arrangement under which the present proportion of the Customs was assigned to the provinces, was an extremely precarious one ; and the wish has been generally

expressed that it should be more definitely secured. It was iv order to give effect to this view that Mr Yogel moved ou the 2nd inst: — " That the House go into committee to consider the following resolution * — ' Tliat is desirable a bill should be passed during the session to secure permanently to the provinces, for appropriation by the Provincial Councils, three-eights of the Customs Revenue.'" The hon. member for the goldfields pointed out that circumstauces established the fact, that the payment to the provinces of this proportion of the Revenue was entirely optional with the Colonial Treasurer, notwithstanding the general understanding Arrived at by tile Assembly. He said in substance, that a short time before the House met, the Colonial Treasurer had stopped the payment of the three-eighths of the Customs to the provinces — for departmental reasons no doubt, and to facilitate the making up of the accounts — but it showed that the pdwer rested With the Colonial Treasurer to stop the payment at any time. He wished to see the matter decided, and was very strongly of opinion that the threeeighths should be permanently given to the provinces, the Government of which voted away money on the strength of receiving them. The Provincial Councils met generally before the meeting of the Assembly, and voted away money in anticipation of receiving the tlireeeighths, and unless they received them they must naturally be very much embarrassed. In fact, they were reduced to the position of mere beggars*, feeding on the crumfcs that might be thrown to them, and the opinions that had been given utterance to in a late debate showed that the members of the House did not wish them to be reduced to 3uch a position^ In resisting the motion of Mr Yogel, the Premier adopted a very high tone, declaring that his Government would accept no hint or guidance in their financial policy, from whatever quartet 1 it came, but would brin£ in their measures und stand &r fall by them. Probably even this off-hand style ojf dealing with the important question raised by Mr Yogel, left the House little ■prepared fer the Scheme that appears to have been since propounded. Not only are the accustomed three-eighths of the customs not to be secured to the provinces by statute, but they ate not to be alldcated to them at all. The " surplus " remaining tobe disposed of, after the necessities of the General Government have been iftet. is estima^d to amqunt toj L 45,115 only 4 ; and this sum will enable tile Government to appropriate one-eighth only of provincial revenues to provimcial purposes, the remainder being swallowed up in the general service of the colony — such as the maintenance of a Defence Force, the administration of the Native Dejiart- | inent-, hti; i •. ■ . .• ■ • It "may, we think, be very safely assumed that if this revelation of the fiscal policj'of Ministers had boen made before the division Was Called Tor on the Sepa- | ration resolutions, a considerably larger minority than twenty-two have been found to vote for Mr Dick's fesolii-ttott-=BtLtostituted for Mr Whittak'er's— that " It is expedient that better provision should be made for the Government of the colony of New Zealand •'' and that Ministers pursued a wise and prudent policy in forcing the Separation division into the foreground, and holding back their own policy until it had been disposed of. "We are without the materials necessary for a general review of Mr Jollies budget. We gather from our telegram that an expenditure has to be provided for of upwards of a million sterling, during the year, including £33,000 standing over as surplus expenditure from last year's account. To meet these liabilities, and other contingencies not foreseen, a million and fifty thousand pounds are to be provided. This is to be done, first by imposing, additional taxation in the shape of a stamp duty, and secondly, by robbing the provinces of two thirds of the Customs revenue? hitherto remitted to them. Any scheme more unsatisfactory, on the face of it, could not well be devised or imagined. As a special form of taxation, we see no valid reasons against the imposition of a stamp duty. It does not operate unequally or oppressively, and if judiciously levied, is a very prolific source of revenue. But it is extremely unsatisfactory to find that, at a time when the commercial prosperity of the colony, and* the development of its great industrial interests are in advance of all its former experience, any increase of taxation should be found necessary at all. The most objectionable part of Mr Jollies scheme, however, is the gross injustice it proposes to inflict upon the trading provinces, by swallowing, up all but a nominal pro-

portion of the revenue contributed by their commerce and enterprise to the colonial chest. We can hardly suppose that this measure will fail to encounter such an opposition at the hands, especially* of tHe southern representatives, as will necessitate its withdrawal, even if the consequence should be the resignation of Ministers.

The General Government "Gazette of the 27th ult, publishes a return of the Customs HeVenUes received at the several ports of New Zealand during the quarter ending the 30th June, 1866. The tdtal amount p^asSirig into the colonial chest from this source was L 207,866. Of this gross amount Auckland contributed the sum of L 41,316, and Otago, represented by the single port of Dunedin, L 44,097 ; Wellington, stands rated at L 18,365; Nelson, at L 9292 ; Southland, including the three ports of tnvercargill, Bluff Harbor, and Riverton^ at L 9213. The other reiurils 1 ai*e comparatively small, with the exception of the Canterbury ports. These! contributed in the aggregate no less than L 56,345, or L 15,000 more than Auckland, L 12,000 more than Otago, and L 38,000 more than Wellington, the capital port of tile colony, the Scat of Government, and the grand terminus of the ocean mail service, f hese returns, be it remembered, are for one quarter of the year only.

Let us see now to what extent Westland haa contiribiited to this proiid preeminence of Canterbury — a pre-emi-nenGe to wliich ehe o^eS vefy mtich o* her weight in the (General Assembly as a leading province. Of the grand total of L 56,000 by Canterbury to the General Customs Revenue} tiyttelton and Christchiirch yielded only L 24,433, and the lesser eastern ports between L4OOO and LSOOO more, whilst the contributions from this side of the province are set down as follow* — Hokitika, {&6*?§§ • . jGteymouth, LI i, 053; arid Ok&rita, L 342 ; in allj L36,3'88 &r 'vVestland. Not a " province," but a mere outlying district of a province, we thus contributed to the colonial chest, in the shape ©f customs revenue alone, fe'r tllei Quarter ending the Soth June last, only about LSOOO less than the rich province of Otngo, about L3OOO less than the province of Auckland, and nearly twice and a half times as much a 8 the empire province of: Wellington. As regards the Canterbury contributions, Westland supplied two-thirds of the whole amount-. But for the diseoVery^f '"gol^elcte;; and the enormbui development they haye 1 given to commerce, Canterbury would at this moment have stood, instead of first, a bad third in the comparative revenue table. The powerful influence exercised by the Westland goldftelds in advancing the prestige of the Canterbury proA'ince may be inferred froni the fact tfiat \te eontributioA to the general revenue has been, as ,it were, suddenly thrown into the scale. During the June quarter of 1865, Hokitika yielded only L 3162' to the customs chest, and the two ports of Greymouth and Okarita nothing whatever. In the course pf a single year the Quarter's prOpdrlion of revenue had swollen to L 26,900 for Hokitika alone, whilst the Grey yielded LI 1,000. All wese are surely instructive facts.