The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1883. THE PROPERTY TAX.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1447, 3 August 1883, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 1883. THE PROPERTY TAX.

Our local contemporary declares that the Property Tax is the " most selfish, unjust, iniquitous, pernicious tax that could be introduced into a country." Wc are not fond of this particular tax, but it certainly does not deserve such ill names. Taxes, like physic, are always nasty, but they have to be swallowed. It is very easy to point out that they are disagreeable, but it is very difficult to suggest any which are pleasant to the palate, The Property Tax, as a direct levy, spares the poor man. He is absolutely free from it, but then it must indirectly aflect him and so it is easy to make it appear harsh. The position is simply this, the Government require some two or three hundred thousand pounds per annum in addition to the ordinary revenue to balance the expenditure of the colony. Three courses are open to them:—lst, they may go into debt; 2nd, they may reduce expenditure; arid, thirdly, they may raise the money they require by direct'taxation, The first alternative is not a desirable one, The second one we would like to see tried, but the feeling of the colony is against it. It could be adopted, but it would involve an amount of self-denial and selfsacrifice to which no political party is prepared to Submit, The Governor's salary, the Ministerial stipends, the Legislative honorarium would have to be pared, and when this was accomplished further economies in every public department would follow as a matter, of course. Both ends could be made to meet just as easily as a man who has been spending £SOO a year manages to live on J5450 when he is compelled to do so. If the colony were not fairly prosperous,the second alternative would be adopted as a matter of course, The country, however, is doing fairly well, and it can afford to pay a special direct tax for luxuries. The feeling of the colony is in favor of raising the money necessary to keep things in statu quo, and also that the best way to raise the money required is a Property Tax. Some of the Opposition members have a wild idea that it is possible to make the rich men of the colony pay all the burdens of the state, but their theory is a difficult one to carry out. Their sympathies are of the Dick Turpin character, viz,, to rob the rich for the benefit of the poor, but unfortunately even this plan does not give ultimately the desired result, .' If rich men are unfairly treated, they will leave the colony and take with them the wealth that feeds labor. The last state of the poor man would then be infinitely worao than the first, Bis occupation would be gone, and lie would have killed the goose that laid the Golden Egg. Taxes in Now Zealand arc heavy enough. The Property Tax does net represent more than a tentli of the sura which the people of the colony have to pay. The rich man and %e poor man as members of one community must either directly or indirectly lake their share of the burden, The glory of this colony is that all olas3es are able to bear the load placed on their shoulders,. They may find other countries where taxation is lighter, but then wages iti them are lower. A working man might save ten pounds a year in taxation by changing his abode to another country, but if he lost twenty or thirty pounds

a year in wages by the change, what would ho gain? We can, as it were, afford to lire in New Zealand, and to do this we must pay the piper. If colonists were willing to retrench, the property tax might be done away with absolutely, but as they do not care to do this they must put up with it. A land and income tax in place of it would give no relief. If it is agreed that a certain sum of money must be paid annually in the current coin of the realm, it mattursvery little whether it comes out under the name of Property Tax,LandTax, orlncomeTax, Ifaman be ordered to lose two ounces of blood it is immaterial whether it be taken from his arm or his leg the blood hah to come, and every part of his body . feels tho loss. In the same way any direct tax is felt by the community as a whole, irrespective, whether it is derived from one class in it or another. The Property Tax is not " selfish, nnjust, iniquitous, and pernicious," though the luxuries it pays for may be. Its opponents for years past have been singularly unfortunate in their efforts to suggest a substitute for it, On the whole it is better " to bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not.of." If we desire to run amuck at taxes let us charge at some that are ten times as big. Overtrading and its inevitable result, a flood of bankruptcy, is a gigantic robber of the public compared with the property tax. The money we spend too on luxuries and self indulgence would pay the Property Tax a dozen times over. This tax is a stern monitor. Wo traded a little recklessly last year, and for our sins it rises fifty per cent this year, If we are more prudent this year, which we are not likely to be, as just now people are fairly well off, it will fall again next year, It is a sort of colonial barometer indicating both fair and foul weather, It is for the people of the. colony to decide whether it shall rise or fall.

The Masterton Road Board meets tomorrow.

The Masterton Town Lands Trustees meet this evening. Messrs Lowes & lorns' great salo of unredeemed pawnbroker's pledges takes place at 2 p.m. to-morrow afternoon.

We romind settlers in the southern part of the Wairarapa of the meeting to be held at Fenlherston in connection with the Wellington Moat Export Company,

The Wairarapa sheep returns in May, 1882, amounted to 747,589, At ihe Bhmo date there were in this district 37,882 head of cattle, 8.9G6 horses, and 5,510 pigs,

We direct attention to Mr W. Bell's advertisement on our front pago of his great clearing sale at Denison House.

Mr F. H, Wood held a successful sale at the Pastoral Show yards on Thursday, the first under his now regulations, at 12 o'clock, noon, The terms were cash at the fall of tho hammer, and the following prices were realised: Sheep—A (lock of 22 wethers two to four tooth, and3oewe3 six tooth and full mouth, Mr Hume, 12s 3d per head. Cattle-G cowb at £i, a poor lot; 20 heifers £3 to 14 7s Gd; some very nice steers, 13 2s 6d to £4 10a, good all round; G two-year olds at 12 10s. The attendance was limited,

At the fortnightly parade of the Cartel'' ton Volunteer Rifle Corps on Wednesday ovening, Capfc. Bennett, Lieut, Crawford, and twenty-five rank and file were present, Lieut. Reid having leave of absence. After drill a general meeting was held, when it was decided that n match should be fired on the 11th inst. for the Hon, Chaplain, the Rev W. T. Western's prize, at 200, 300, mid 500 yards, the handicaps to be fixed l>? the senior officer, Jfc was further •!■ t-ided that next Sunday being the last on which the chaplain would officiate at St. Mark's Church, there should be a general church parade of the Corps. It was also resolved that the request of the band should be acceded to that the ball given by them should be under the auspices of the officers nod members of the Corps.

The Preobytpry of Melbourne have been considering the action of iho JJef Charles Strong in connection with the Sunday movement in this city. A communication wa6 read from the Rev Charles Strong acknowledging the receipt of the resolution previously arrived at, regretting that he should be in opposition to the Presbytery, and expressing a wish that his error had been pointed out, as ho could not see that anything he had said or done was inconsistent with his duty as a Christian minister, On the contrary, he had done, he said, what he thought was best in the intorest of religion, and he felt compelled to adhere to his views, Ho only wished that he could have induced the Presbytery to take the lead in the Sunday movoment, so as to prevent it getting into other hands. It was eventually decided to take no furl her action in the matter.

At a Trinity House banquet held on May 8, His Royal Highness the Dnko of Edinburgh, Master of the • Corporation, said thatan important'experiment was shortly to be tried which''had been loudly called for from f roajriy quarters, and that was the ■ attempt "ito." establish electric telegraph communication between lightships and the shore. This was thought and very properly so, as' of especial importance in regard to the.: mouth of the river Thamos, where sO many wrecks occurred." A wine-taster is employed in the oldest, and largest wine-vault in London who is said to be the most expert judge of beverages in the world. He is fond of exhibiting, his skill for the amusement of visitors. He blindfolds himself, and four 'different kinds of sherry are poured into the : same glass. He takes a mouthful and declares the component parts of the mixture, usually without a mistake. . Then he experiments with port, and is wonderfully successful. He identifies numerous champagnes, even to the year of vintage. When a glass of an American brand was submitted, however, he hesitated, never having tasted it before, but said it was a pretty good wine, with more brandy in it than it ought to have, and probably made for some northern grapes, A sample of apple-jack completely nonplussed him. The . delicacy of palate possesed by this man is all the more remarkable is that any ordinary person is quite at a loss to distinguish between even the. commonest of wines. Blindfold a man, place three or four glasses of port and sherry before him, and he will be" totally at a at a loss to tell which is which from tho taste. He may happen '.fe bit on the right distinction, but!tha"chanoes are equal that he will give his yerdict wrongly.

Mr M. W. Green, M.H.R., will shortly deliver a lecture in the Masterton- Wealeyan Church and we understand the subjeot will be "Some of the Free thinker's objections to the Bible,". %.. In spite of a little factious opposition the Masterton and Greytown Trust Lands Amendment Bill has passed its' third reading in tliß House of Representatives without any substantial alteration, The Premier takes charge of the Bill in the Upper House, Messrs Kapp and Hare have intimated that they will offer a prize of £1 at the next horticultural show in Masterton for the best collection of vegetables grown from Sutton's Beeds and obtained'from their establishment,

We are glad to notice the directors of the Theatre Royal oompany aro improving the seating accommodation of the theatre. They have purchased an additional supply of chairs and are in treaty for a number of conveniens seats with comfortable backs ■ The usual drill of the Masterton Rifles was held last evening, L ; eut. Williams being in command, A meeting was held subsequently, when several new members were proposed, The next fortnightly drill will be held on tho 10th, which will he the last of them, as the attendance has not been sufficient to warrant them being held so often; consequently they will take place monthly. ; ... . "' Dora, alias Annie Taylor, the if asterton chambermaid, was-oharged before Mr Hardcaatle, E.M.,at Wellington yealerday with stealing a puree, containing lOs, and various articles of clothing, of the value of £'i Bs, from her omployor, Thomas. King, whoso domestic servant she was. Mr Shaw appeared for the accused,Jand asked that tho oharge should be taken under soction 177 of the Justices of the' Peace Act, which would admit of the infliotion of a fine. Tho request was refused, Accused is unber the a-je of 16, Evidence was led at length to show that the accused, who was in receipt of 13s weekly, only stayed with the proseru'm' one week, and when she left various articles of clothing were missed, aa well as a purse containing half-a-sovereign, which bad been opened by Mrs King in the presence of the accused , Cross examined by Mr Shaw, Mrs King swore to a chemise and pair of drawers, though the articles were slopmade, and not made in any way. For tho defence, evidence was called to show that the accused was only 15 years of age, and Mr Shaw urged that the accused should not be sent to a common gaol for any lengthened period, to be contaminated, Prisoner was sentenced to hard labor for 14 days. Mesars Lowes & lorns will sell at their rooms to-morrow a large quantity of jewellery, clothing, &c , by order of Mr laen, of the city pawn office. The goods hive arrived from Wellington, and will be on view this evening, and will repay a visit of inspection, The Commissioners appointed to enquira into, complaints of the steerage passengeu in the Catalonia have handed in their report to the Government. They are of the opinion that the provisions were of good quality and plentiful, but that the cooking was decidedly faulty, and further that the general supervision was not so good as might have been, They mention that they have advised any private passengers,' who have complaint, to communicate with the collector of customs.-. The Commissioners went off to Spamejj' Island to take evidence as to outbreak of typhoid fever on board the ship Oxford,' Wo loam by telegram that i|je preniis.es of A Orr, produce merchant in Gladstone road, Gisborne, were completely destroyed by fire last night. It was a great conflagration and caused much excitement, The fire by great exertions was confined to the building destroyed, Tho owner allowed a policy of £SOO to lapse a few days ago. Olayson, oopfeotioner, is a loser to the extent of about £2OO, uninsured, through damage to goods and stook on removal from the adjacent premises

A letter was received from Mr 6. B.' Williamson, the legal manager of the Golden Crown Company, yesterday, from a Director of the Company who is at present at Terawhiti, statin? that it is absolutely necessary to take the amalgam out of the boxes to prevent its running over, and to send qut a safe wherein to keep it.. This certainly looks encouraging; and it need scarcely he added that the safe will be forwarded to-day. Court Marquis of Norman by A.O.F, met at the Foresters' Hall, Carterton, onThursday evoning. It was resolved that a cjjurph parade be held on Sunday next, the brethren to aoseinble at 10 a.m., and a committee was appointed to engape the co-operation of Lodge Loyal Heart of 0$; I 0.0. F., M.IL A committee was also appointed to make arrangements for carrying out the ball to be given in the Public Hnll on the night of the pastoral show, and the next meeting directed, to be a summoned one.

Bags of all sorts are collected, sorted) and shipped to London, from nearly every coptpy in tlje worjd, Tjjus Hamburg, {Bremen, Rostock, and Sicily are centres of the trade in. woollen rags, while thoujsaniis of tons of linon and other rags are' imported from Turkey, Egypt, India., Australia, and Japan,-' A Chinaman ma'dfi'abet'of.3dol with one of bis fellows that- he could swim across the Sacramento at Rekding a'n'd return, He crossed over,; but in coming back sunk in; the irmldle. of the. stream to rise no more.''•'•His opponent seeing him go down, clapped his hands ■in glee and proceeded to put the stakes in his pocket.' : '

General JRobert C, Sohenck, formerly American Minister to England, is now enjoying excellent health', A year ago, it'is said, the doctors. declared him to be dying from Bright's disease, " You have been tdo high a liver," they said; " but if you will come down to a prescribed diet, we may possibly savo yon." " What is the diet?" he asked, " Milk and tomatoes; and you mustn't touch anything else for a year." He agreed to it, so the story goes, and is now perfectly well, and able to eat and drink whatever his appetite craves,'

Tho extraordinary saloof Surplus Winto Stook at Te Aro House, Wellington should be a matter of some interest to all readers of the Wairaiupa Dailt for theso speoial roaaonc, Ist, because of the largeness of the stook, 2nd, because of the short duration of the sale, Iff ■days only, 3rd, beoause of the unprecedentedly low prices. Our price list, issued with this paper, should, we think, astonish everybody, and very certain it ib that a trip to the sale would be money in pocket to every Wairarapa resident tha(; should try it. If not able to come, their orders, accompanied with, cash, would be as well executed as though 1 selected personally. It simply means 20s for 10s, or even less in many cases, thorefore try it, 0 ye residents, and that right early. Bear in mind that we have no country businesses whatever, ho branches .in any township, aud no one is authorised to Bell for us, either regularly or irregularly. We have only one place of business in the province] and the- public would do well to keep this fact in mind when sending their orders, or visiting Wellington,'that our sole establishment in the colony is that known as James Smithes Te Aro House, Wellington.—Advt,

.Thei Wakatip'u.arrived at Wollingtpni at 8 a,m. to daylroiii Sydney. ; 7jf At a raeetinK of thl Masterton Volunteer Band tfeld last evening, Mr Papworth resigned'tho leadership, and A, de la Roche was elected to fill the vaoanoy. Mr G, Bentley was elected Treasurer, and Mr O'Connor Secretary. Messrs J. Bentley and Papworth were elected members of the ciimrnittee. r A Roman villa, situated on the southern-slope of a MIL, has been discovered near.Furschweiier, in Germany The walls arasfandirif to' a height of partly covered with . fresco" paintings, As yet two rooms have been laid bare. Several coins, IromiProlms to Cpnatanfcine 11., were found; .also broken pottery and numerous iron implements. Those in position to know say that while the sale of the revised New Testament has not altogether ceased, the demand is light, < About 2,000,000 copies were : disposed of before the sale slackened. The' Book had the largest sale of any ever published, and even yet its sale is about equal to that of any other book, The falling ofi in demand is ascribed to the fact that if was not provided with a concordance. , A' peculiar kind offish has been caught in a dip net in Oorio Bay. .It is not unlike a sun fish, and the- fins, tail,-and-snout, are of a reddish tint, The snout of the fish is about 3in in length, arid resembles that of a pig. It is funnel shaped, and forms a portion of the mouth of the finny visitor, and when closed it draws back under the head of the fish, - -

.In tho annual report'of" Mr' 6. T Wilkinson, Native Officer, Auckland he describes'the condition of the Waikato, natives as being at ; a;very low ebb. He says they arepoor in pocket, poor in possession, and, worse than all, they are poor in health. The diseases from which the elderly people suffer are principally asthma, lumbago, and inflaumtion of the lungs. The children are afflicted with all tho sickness that childhood is heir to, and which, on account of poor food and scanty clothing to protect them from the cold, frequently'carries them off, when under'more favorable circumstances they might have been saved. A great many in middle life are not by any .means-strong, as-shewn by the hacking cough with which they are afflicted, ; _.