The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1885. BROKEN PROMISES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2024, 24 June 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 1885. BROKEN PROMISES.

In noticing the Financial Statement * we gave the Colonial Treasurer credit \ for the ability he displayed, and also appioved of the proposal to cjrant subsidies to local bodies for a period of twenty-five years, with powers to anticipate them. But there are many points in the Statement which are disappointing, and which would be disappointing if they had been made by the most erudite and astute statesman in t|io world, because they'do not bear out the promises ',vhich were made by Sir Julius Vogel when the present Governu-ent took office, It was a clever , stroke to obtain the sinking fund with- ! out injuring the credit of the colony, and we give the Colonial Treasurer ! credit for it, But in his Financial Statement last year he professed to show us the way into a far more pleasant financial position, and as a beginning, he reduced the Property Tax by ope-half, tho amount being made more than . good out of tho ' Sinking Fund. The people found their burdens lightened, and were naturally ! pleased. But the Statement delivered ' last Friday puts matters in a very . different light, for not only is the Pro- [ perty Tax raised to three farthings in the pound, but it is also proposed to raise £125,000 more by an increase in. the distorts duties, and £II,OOO iu stamp duties, in all £262,000, making, with the amount taken from the Sinking Fund, £520,000. That is j the additional amount required to carry on the Government of the colony, over and above what the Atkinson Government foundsufficient, Tjiere is, of course, an excuse in the fact that the defence works of the colony cost money \ but as the sum of £250,000 is expected to meet the expenditure on them, there is still an increase of £270,000 to be accounted for, which, we feel assured, no other Government, except, perhaps, one with Sir George Grey at the helm, would require, To raise the by means of taxation, means an increase on something over ten shillings per head of the population. Sir Julius Jogel stated last year that he was going to make the Colony progress by "leapsand bounds," Well, we have a leap or a bound here that is in. the wrong direction, and that will, if repeated, scatter ruin far and wide. The sooner Parliament caii stay this crab-like progress, the sooner ' will the finances of tho ■ Colony regain

their equilibrium. Wo do not believe that Sir Julius Vogel means to make the Customs tariff a protective' ono, because many of the duties which he proposes-to raise are on articles which cannot be produced iu the Colony, There is, for instance, an increase of fifty per cent' on tea, which'-could never be grown at a profit in ' New Zealand until its inhabitants were prepared to accept Chinamen's wages, or until the duty equalled the value of the article in bond. He must further he aware that there are several woollen mills in the Colony, which have, .flourished under 'the old tariff, to whom the additional five per cant would' not do a bit of good. It is significant that the directors of the Mosgiel Company have actually entered a protest against the increase, on the ground that they do not require it, The fact really tend to show that the Government is thoroughly hard up and only desires to raise additional revenue. The result of the debate upon the. Statement will be looked for with anxiety as well as curiosity.