The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1884. A PATENT WRONG.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1605, 9 February 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1884. A PATENT WRONG.

The wo alluded in ! bur last, issue refers ' to great bulk..orf r tho revenue;of:-the colony raised iron) customs taxation on the nacessarifes which; must necessarily, from their , npberSj be paid by. the jWage-earniiig-[classes "Jot., the .colony-H-revenue,: ithe vast bulk.of which is necessitated _by, and expended on the protection, and administration of the - property ;of the wealthy ";as % patentjwrong iwhich nobody [ questions." This sounds, very fine, but we'Ventui'e t'o affirm that •there are,vevy many- in Nqw, . Zealand: in common with ourselves who will 'question both ; .the premises,.ami ; tlio conclusion ,of, our (t ths first' place \vo that the great bulk if the revenue of ! the colony is raised :from ; customs .-• revenue, but -we deny tn tolo that it; israised.on.tlie necessaries; of. lifo. i\k reference 1 to'atiy recordjofpur colonial; statistics.proves indisputably: that the. major part of : the revenue is derived from luxuries, and- the- minor part from the necessaries of life, Alcoholic' liquors* and tooaccp ,%ure/up, ; for example,' io one-ha|f'o| J the whole of the customs duties,; Such things as these are emiphatic£(lly ' luxiMesj iaihd J cMot-/ be' oflife; We'do' not say that #6 ,r 'shoifa' not iiid^lge, ;; iny.- luxuries-^thifl! is,.'a matterjfofi themselves to decide—but we doj say that their new' organ, " shojiW ofjile. Wagecan, ffl if-.they>t:fthink'iproper/ spend r&oney on jewellery/silks, satins, and 'to««ties upon fiuch articles,, but we scarcely think they would call them necessaries

of lite. Our contemporary is not justified in assuming that tlie customs 'duties are raised-.mainly on tlie rie'ces-' sai'ifis of ■ liio-' r'| Tli 0 i : wage-eai'nei?'*who •: VCglHWjfo inccessaries 'of lift; only ' ; luxuries contributes j.but a'Tevy small isura'to the customs, and it is only right that he should be made aware of. the fact, The other assertion that the vast bulk of the | colonial revenue is : spent in the protection of the of the wealthy ,is [another statement which will not bear investigation. Aro not the schools, hospitals, and asylums of the colony maintained in the interest of the wageWrnersl ; Does iiot' the main portion of the vast; sumswhich are spent in tliis colony on public works go in the shape of wages to wage-earners, Property owners, whether large or small, complain equally with wage-earners of tl}?;burdens placed upon them. Wagecarhers can, if tliey think proper, dispense with one-half of the taxes theypay by abstaining from luxuries, but the owners of property have special charges such as property tax, road, rabbit, and sheep, rates laid upon tliera, which they cannot escape. A wage-earner may be a : lightly taxed man, but a property owner cannot be. The taxation of the colony is a, patent' wrong, but this is irremediable. Mistakes were made when Yogel, a man ot tko people, changed the destinies of the colony by his public woi'ks policy, which can now only be deplored, But the patent wrong ; then generated is'as applicable to property holders as to wage-earneis. The'additional taxation necessitated by the failure of our colonial public works has been put on the shoulders of property owners, and if (here has been a slight increase in the customs it has been more, than compensated for by tho wage-earneis"; being relieved from tho , .direct contributions they formerly paid towards schools, In this district the price of labor is as high or higher than it was when Sir Julius Vogel introduced his public works scheme, but the price of land 1 is lower. Land in any quantity- and of almost any quality can now be purchased as cheaply as it ever could be in this district. The burden of taxation is heavier on the land holder than bn the wage-earner, and the latter, cannot justly claim a monopoly of " a patent wrong." ~; ■