The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1887. REDUCTION OF TAXATION.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume IX, Issue 2548, 14 March 1887, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MARCH 14, 1887. REDUCTION OF TAXATION.

SirJlobebt Stout, wMe, another epeeoh,, this .time- at Marlon..; -He 'discourses freely in 'public, but' says very'little which commits eitlieV-HlSi-seif|Qr the•Mimsry ) ;of whichivhe,is the head. On w present occasion he made one remarkable statement, wiiob is a fair sample of bis peeuliar'style of

political preaching. He told his Bangitikei audience that the object of his Government would be to. reduce, taxation. While crediting Sir Robert Stout with good intentions on this and every-,ot|;er question, it is impossible j tpregawHiim as a practical reformer in the _direoti^'"of.'reducing teftsr His,dbject;aay be this, but if.so/it is quite certain that his Ministry have missed.'and'that they are" quite incapable attaining the consuama' ■tion-'ivlufii deairesJ If 'ieduotioii of taxation has been Sir'Mart'Stout's object, •why did. Ms Government increase the Property Tax ? - Why did they' Strain every nerve to inorease the Customs duties'?'* Why did they institute a poor rate? We have every evidence to prove that they; have increased' taxation, and nothing to show in the shape of a reduction. Their own salaries, house allowances,.and. travelUng .exponses are,' as a whole; an inoreaso on the Ministerial charges of their .predßoessors, and under the thinveneor of travelling expenses, they have lavished small annual irioomes upon scores of their friends. The ColonialTreasurer is, always tfas, and always will be an extravagant administrator. It is as natural for him to be so,, as it .is for the Premier to proacli economy. But Sir Robert Stout, while he states that reduction of taxation is the object of his ministry does notindicats in the i slightest degree how he proposes to v effeot suoh a reduction or in what direotiori it is to be made. He commits theMinistryto nothing he pledges himself to nothing; all he apparently wants is to be credited with the intention to do what he ought to do, but which he must know there is not the remotest chance of any colleague of Sir Julius over accomplishing. The special forte of the present Ministry is spending not economising. So long as there is money loft in the public purße, they will use it freoly for securing political support in these'towns of; the colony upon which their position depends. While anxious to reduce taxation they can findafew thousands for an unnecessary insurance office in one town ora railway station in aether. In one form or another public money is still freely frittered away in favored localities, while Sir Robert Stout preaches economy and professes to be anxious for reduction. The Ministry are still in clover and any intelligent supporter of their regime can still make hay. !