The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1885. A NICE LITTLE SCHEME.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2041, 14 July 1885, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. TUESDAY, JULY 14, 1885. A NICE LITTLE SCHEME.

Tiif extravagance which has characterised the administration of tho present Governrrfint is, of course, well-known to have led it into a comer, from which nothing Initincreased taxation or more borrowing could extricate it, By some mysterious means a report lias cot nn the air that the Colonial Treasurer had quite an elaborate scheme worked out by means of which he proposed to keep the hanking account of the colony in a healthy state, and that what was unfolded in the Financial Statement was only about one half of it, Perhaps the information that has reached us is not entirely correct, indeed, it can scarcely be expected to he more than a bare outline of the Colonial Treasurer's ideas. But to obtain oven a slight inkling of his aim is a matter of some importance, Tt is now a matter of history that the Colonial Treasurer proposed to increase the Customs duties on various articles, that, among others, an extra five per cent was to be put oh clothing, and

that the whole scheme ignominiously failed, because the House would not hear of it. Had the extra five per cent on clothing been carried, nothing further would haye been doue thiu session, At the first favorable opportunity, however, Sin Julius Vogel would have proposed an excise duty on woollens, and in doing so he jvcinjd have said to;tho 'manufacturers,. "We gave you additional protection in ,1885 to the extent of five per cent, The Government must have more money,, pd 1 see nothing unreasonable' in asking you to pay us half as much as we put in your way, Besides, the money would not come out of your pockets, but out of those .of your customers." This would' have been the thin end of the; wedge) and the creation of an extensive inland revenue would have been only a matter of time, Whether jinv. feelers were; thrown out before the Financial:! Statement was made, we arC'not in a position to say; but seeing that an energetic protest against increased Customs duties came from the manager of the Mosgiel Woollen Mills Company, it is not altogether improbable that an effort was made in that direction, and that the astute manager of the Mosgiel Company smelt a rat, The first part of the scheme having failed, the second will, as a matter of course have to lie abandoned, for a time, at least, As we have said, we cannot vouch for the truth of the report; we simply give it for what it is worth. It certainly has the Vogel ring about it, and is, therefore, like everything about the Colonial Treasurer, worth watching for fear mischief comes of it.