The Waikato Times.

Waikato Times, Issue 660, 12 August 1876, Page 2

The Waikato Times.

Equal and exact jinhcc tn all mci. 01 whatever sute 01 persuasion, roligi< vi o<political ***** Here shall the Preti tha People's right maintain. Unawod by influence and unbribed by Rain

SAT U It )AY AUGUnI 12 lsai

The Counties Bill is meeting with approbation in no c-.se where tbe settlers of the country have made it matter for public diaoassion. At a public meeting in the north it has bpen condemned asan agravateri form of Provincialism car riedoutby County Councils in place of Provincial Councils, as heretofore. There is no doubt but that ti.o provisions of the Bill are cambevue ue »nd that the act would prove expensive in its working, aud but that it is almost premature to discuss the matter at

present, when there is no telling J w.i it new combination of p.uties . and another turn in the political kaleidoscope may produce, we should before this have entered fully iuto tlm discussion of the Hieri s and domerits of the Bill ia our leading columns. That it will need -i v<i o .t amount of aUei in? in committee is beyond doubt. The moat unpopular portion of the scheme is the constitution of the County (Journals with their salaried members, appointed for the purpose of carrying on works of a larger eh ijacter and tor the management of police edncition and hospital aff.iirs. There is a growing- conviction rhat these ure all matters that should be left in ihe hands of the Central Government and that, all that ia needed is the constitution of existing Highnay Boards into corporate bodies, capable of holding property in trust ami mmaging it, with increased power for the recovery of rate?, and the power of making their own bye-laws for the internal control of their several districts which boronghs corporate at present possess. If foi> nothing else than its expensiveness and cumber onie chnrajter theCoun ties Bill will meet with strong opposition, in the Ifouse, and we shall not be surprised, in the absence of a really clear concise and workable njeiisuie-*, to find, after the throwing outof the Separation resolutions, that Mr Wood's proposal to defer the coming into operation of the Abolition Bill, will be acceded to by a large majority of the House. If Ministers, with ail the recess to do it in, and with all the material to hand cf every kind in, official pigeon holes, have been nnableto produce a likelier looking scheme than the Bill before the House, members in a seHfioi more that half spent, will hesitate at entering on the tusk of licking such a huge monster into shape. But, as we have said, speculation oa the matter is almost as yet preniKt'ure. Parliament has still u windy debate in hand, and the financial policy of the Government, against which the whole forces ol the Opposition will ba hurled, promises to i lead us yet further towards the close of the session, before the pi'actical business of the country shall have been commenced.

Accompanying the Financial Statemont are some papers attached containing matter of considerable importance, to which we propose to refer as more than usually inlei'e-it-inaf'to the reader at a time when political questions so much affected by them, are almost daily cropping up. And first of these is the Oastoms Return for the years ending June 30th, 1875 aud 1876. We find that in the latter year Auckland contributed to tho gro»8 amount raised, £1,225,31 2, a sum of .£240,008 as against £254,870 in 1875 ; that Wellington produced \\\ 187J6 £189,569 as against £163,861' in the previous year. Canterbury contributed in 1876, £201,430 against £193,218 in 1875, and Otago shows a decrease to £412,521 in 1876 from £414,180 in 1875. Woiking out the figures in another way we find that of the gross hum of £1,225,312 collected in 1876, the North Island contributed the sum oj £484,408 against £740,904 furnished by the Middle Island. In speaking of the years 1875 and 1876, the twelve months preceding the 30th of June is meant. In the case of imports and exports we find the following figares for 1876 : Imports — Auckland, £1,433,8 J3 ; Wellington, £1,249,526; Canterbury, £1,331,876 and Otago, £2,654,892. Exports— Auckland, £735,020 ; Wellington, i' 764,557 ; Canterbury, £1,477,281 j Otago, £1,9b7,044. A return of the quantity aud value of wool exported by the several Provinces for the year ending 30th June, 1876, may not be uninteresting. Auckland, 1,543,9251b5, valued at £94,290; Tarauaki, 25,9441b* at £1,644; Wellington, 7,736,3151bs afc £465,652 ; Hawkes Bay, 6,166,7211b 9 at £350,486; Marlborough, 796,H9ibs at £37,389 ; Nelson, 122,5191bs at £7,026 ; Canterbury, 15,056,6971b5at£1,004, 404; Westland, 118,9941bs afc £5,798 and Otago, 22,861,2761b50fw00l valued at £1,431,471. This gives a total weight of wool for Niw Zealand of 54,401,5401bs of the value of £3,^98,155. The general reader cau now understand what a matter of importance to the incomes of the Colon ists is conveyed in such telegram as " further induction in price of wool." The drop of only a penny in the lb means a loss of £226,673 or nearly a quarter of a million sterling on the year's inoonio of our wool growers. Iv a future issue we propose to follow out these remarks iv the direction of the acreage, sale of land, and territorial finance of the several provinces.