MR MURRAY AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2077, 29 October 1885, Page 3

MR MURRA Y AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT REFORM.

TO THE UDITOK. Sir,— In myl^t lotter your printer read " formation" for "formalities' and you seem to have misunderstood me whoii m yoat louder you say that Mr Graham and I Uke opposite view* about co-op 'ration ; you will *cc tint I state "tint fanners tutiibt org.inwo and coinbmo and understand th.it in union h .strength" that fanners should form " a Farmcis' Alliance or Colonists' Union," " First to defend the rights and uhance theintciosts of the farming cks«, and second to arrange all Govern ment elections. You entirety misunderstand j mr- when you nupposo that in Government reform I ha\e found, " a panacea for the ] ill* of humanity," "That the action of Government would raiso pi ices ftU round and enrich the farmers while it w >uld eau«o you to Mng foi joy, I ho-vo nob'icji boliel, and if we becomo prosperous it will rather | ha although, and not bocause we ii^ve a. Government, for i " Of all the ilia which human hearts | endure , . , , , Small in the part which human laws may cause or cure.' But what I do say m that, though not enriched by Government, wo must see that it whall not further impoverish us by pund ing taxation to pay for wasteful expend) ture for c irrupting and capricious adminis tration, and for everlasMm,' and pernicious meddlesomeness. I cannot sympathise with your enmity to the provincial system, and your prefoienco to the present. It seems rather that we have repeated theold fable of " King Log and King Stoik, or out of the frjing pan into the fire. Agreeing with yon is to the danger of rash and extreme change*, we should have reformed instead of abolishing provincial government, and thereby might have neeured a far more useful and economical system of true local kov ernment. Instead, wh.it hay ewe ' The corinpt Upas tree of centialism, ticpi aving Parliament and people, emasculating independence and self-reliance, and degrading local government into a multiplicity .f selfish cliques and serwlo pensioner-*, jonstrained by law to waste much of their mean* in needles* expense-., lor instance, advertising and printing, which pervade* all our legislation, is a handsome- tuibsidy and endowment to newspaper M.H.R. s, and a bribe to them to peipetnato and increase over-government, uid to cry " Great is Di.ma of the Kphe»inns." You, however, fanly admit that there is room for reform, but that we must approach the subject gradually and deal rently with the official idol led the whole lotten fabric, built and sti-tamed by borrowing and bribery, should f.ill to rum It is haul to see how we can put "nc.v sloth on old garment, nnd I believe that nir platfoim of reform should be sweeping md systematic— if vve do not get all we want, to get all wo can. You suggest that " farmers, having honestly done their ■iuty to their land, what they want is a maiket for their produce," and \ntually leave politics to chance. But what will it proht the farmer, if all, and more than he wrnsgoc* to the iiMirer and Ux-gatheier. It is clear that you have not experienced the blessings of government in the Pnko Duuntyand Waitoa Road District, where the general government property ta\, two county rates, two road board ratestakenomr n»lly about 20 per cent, of a settler's income, while actually about half the net return for hit capital and toil are so ab-orbed. government taxes and interferes with our .<heep. The dog tax, instead of being as wan intended, a protection to nheep oh ners ig*inst cheep worriers and useless hounds, i* virtually a special tax on "tho shep herd's friend and broad-winner." The Slaughterhouses Act intended as a restraint upon cattle thievos, is used to perpetuate monoply as a further pretest for plunder, and unless the settler humbly petitions, adveitises, and besides much trouble, pays £o aa black mail to our local powct-s he must sell his stock to the butchers for lid per lb, while the consumer must pay double or three tunes, as much for it. For railway freights every eleventh sheep and twentieth bale of wool are Uken, while tho Railway Department claims the nght to damage it by caieloas neglect and with impunity. The freight on woo!, Morrinavillo to Auckland, 103 miles, is 7s 0d per bale, and unlo-s we pay an extoitionate charge to the railway department for loading it, thry let it get wrt and refuse to pay compensation. With that want of practical knowledge peculiar to tho railway authoutie-., tho trucks aie made too narrow for 2 bales and too nhort for 3, consequently, instead of loading 18 bales on one truck, they requite 2 trucks for 13 hale*, thus mci easing the cost of hauling 2 tuicks weighing 7 tons, instead of ouo weighing 3i tons. This i^ one cause ot our railways neither paying nor pleasing the public. If my memory *ei\e* me, in 1881 the New South Wales rulway charged 10s per bain from Albnry on the Murray to Sydney, 380 miles, and yet their railways pay handsomely. The Vojjel government prohibited distillation, and besides ruining thereby some promising industries such as that being established by Mr Tatton, of Nelson, do Htiojed a vast local market for giain, damaged or sound, and in-te.id of a gieat and increasing expoit of spirits, adding to our industries, occupations, commerce and wealth, the import is a heavy drain upon the already too limited capital of the colony. If farmers had been oiganised and united, would their inteicstshave been treated with such contemptuous injustice and disregard? Messrs Larnach, Stout, Uallance and Co., pandenng for popularity in populous places, remitted half tho Migar duties, and theieby prevented the completion of arrangements for the extensive and permanent establishment of sugar-beet factories in New Zealand, by which half a million pounds sterling was lost yearly and chiefly to the farmers, while a la-tiug benefit to labouiers and increase of colonial wealth-producing power, was lost to the community. Tiny, too, in tho face of the assurance, that the industry once fairly established could have dehed external competition, and supplied for as low n price as it would cost to import, sugar for domestic usen, for confectionery, jams, <fee. Backed by the powerful influence of :i "Fanner 1 ' Alliance," would I and others have been unsuccessful in Parliament in these and othei matteis affecting the rights and inteiests oi agriculturists ! Would the principle of my resolutions to Recurc tht rating of Giown and Native Landu hare been destroyed in Majoi Atkinson's Act ? Would my resolutions tr secure financial stability and pohtica mdependanco to Local Governments by s Local Public Works Advances Act haw resulted in Major Atkinsou's muddliiif and meritncious Roads and Bridges dm struction Act? Would my efforts to cheaper money to farmers for permanently mi proving their landn have been defeated b> tho power of the paraHitcs who play on th( credulity of tho people and prey on then industries? I hope that farmers wil organise, and that they will do more thai " their duty to their land, "—that they wil do thoir duty to themselves as met and coloni«ts identified with far and aw a' the most important occupation in tht colony. The resources of the State mnj wisely be isti etched to aid legitimate enter prise, but it must be under well dofiri<*t rules, and apart fioin party ond politica influences. I may "-how how Govcrnmen and people may Co-operate with mutua benefit.— l am, Sir, faithfully yours,, Wm. Arciio. Mckkai. Puko, October 20, lMtf.

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