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Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2445, 13 March 1888, Page 2

We have received copies of a manifest* issued by what is styled the New Zealani Radical Reform League, The subject o the paper is "A Land tax, what its effect arc, ,, and the object is to show the neces sity fnr substituting a land t:ix in plac of a property tax. The leaflet enter briefly into certain statements and figure in order to remove the great " ignoranc and misapprehension on thr> part c the public as to the real mean ing and .significance" of the ques tion why the land should h taxed, and as to what are the leadin principles of a fair system of tasatioi These are great economic theses we worthy of thoughtful eonsideratio and calm discussion by men who have tli welfare of their country at heart, and w am not by any means unprepared or an willing to share in the deliberation < them ; indeed wn havf given many year

ttcntion to the advantages of an equit- a 1 , , blc land tax snitabl; to the conditions ol ™ he colony. Bat we will not enter upon lm he matter here, for we ohject to " eriotis questions like these, being handled n the spirit displayed in this «" o-called manifesto which breathes j e hroiiLjhout the temper of the political ( '' lumaßOKue. Iu the first place the query it once arises. Whence does this mani- y { esto ena.rn.ite, who are its authors ? We f () snow nothing of the New ZaSland j s iadical Reform League, of its character, sli >r of the personnel of those who con- sn sfcitute the association. People who pi indertake the onerous work of solving iifiit problems of state and aeek ,Ti to carry out social and poli- K tical reforms, must have a status M if soniß sort in the community. J a ind the public have a just right to know *J who they are are, so as to judge whether |j they cau be looked upon as authorities on jj the questions at issue, ami are men to be rp trusted and followed as leaders of public [„ thought aud opinion. The documeut w before us affords us not the slightest di information on these important points, w tliere is not a single name attached to it, tj and it is only from the imprint showing " it was printed by H. Brett, at the w office of the Star, that we can presume the New Zealand Radical Re- P form League has its being in Auckland. S The manifesto starts with fallacious prem- " ises. It declares that " it is contended * by Liberal reformers, and the Radical "' Reform League endorses the contention, C( that the primary cause of the poverty y and misery in Great Britain, and the q appalling inequality in the distribution of s | wealth, is almost entirely tine to land C monopoly, and to the manifestly unfair t! prevailing system of taxation, whereby d landowners especially do not con- " tribute to the revenue in proportion ® to the priveleges enjoyed by them." & It is a small matter whether thcßadicil j Reform League endorses thi3 rigmarole or not, but we are compelled to ask who and where are the Liberal reformers they o refer to? It is not true that the primary () cause of the poverty and misery, &c, in „ Great Britain, is due to anything of the 'J sort ascribed by the League. In the p concluding paragraphs of the " mani- y festo" we have the usual cant of the r frothy demagogue, for it asserts that * the Customs duties are •' nothing more nor less than a mean and cunning device for abstracting from the thousands of j little hoards of the poor, huge t aggregate sums that ought to be drawn f, from the treasuries of the rich." I It is curious to hear that people f, with hoards, whether large or 'J small, can be called " poor." At 1 the same time we believe the identical o persons who form the League are those * who claminer for the imposition of ahigh Protective Tariff "to encourage local industry," The " manifesto " concludes with this exhortation ; " It, therefore, t behoves all those who wish well to this ,; country, and who wish to see true happi- ° ness aud contentment the lot of all, and not only of a privileged few, fl to spread far and wide the principles g advocated in this manifesto, so that at the t next elections the public will be able to v make its voice unmistakably heard and f felt, and members will be returned. 1 pledged to carry these great and vitally fi necessary reforms." It certainly behoves c us to know who the men are that offer j; us this counsel, and if they are ou a par g with the errors and misstatements con- j tained iu their manifesto, the public will s not bu slow to judge whether to c place any value on their appeal, t which is nothing more than a repetition t of class antagonisms and prejudices from i irresponsible individuals with which the 1 country is full, and who usually adopt the ail captaiultan tactics of distributing t illogical and badly-constructed strings of t generalities under the high-sounding * designation of a " manifesto " < Owing to the lines on the West | Coast beinjr interrupted, we did not receive ( our usual European and Australian cable . news last night. < Heavy rain continues to fall, and i seems to bo very general throughout the i colony. „ ! The Cambridge Library Com- \ mittee meet at 4 p.m. today (Tuesday,) to i appoint a librarian. • William Doyle, of Kihikihi, has ] bean sentenced to two years imprisonment i for horse-stealing. ] There have been heavy floods on the West Coast of the South Island, Westport being under water, and cut otf from i communications with the outer world. : Lord Salisbury described the in- '■ cessant obstruction by the Parnellites to J the passage of the Crime'" Act last year, as " the dreary drip of dilatory declamation.' The Te Aroha and Ohinemuri News has announced its intention of coming out a bi-weekly, commencing to-mor-row, us a twelve page paper. There was a large number of friends at the funeral of the late Mrs Aitken, whose remains wore brought by train on Saturday for interment in the Hamilton Cemetery. A numerously-signed petition will be presented to the Cambridge Highway Board at their next meeting, praying thorn to open a road that runs between the Feueourt and Hautapu .stations. A son of Mr Murray, headmaster of the Hamilton West School, fell otf a horse on Sunday and broke his arm. He is a boy of about 15, and better known by the soubriquet of " Paddy Murray." Major Minnitt, of Huntly, received a severe w mnd from an axe on the buck of the hand on Saturday, whilst cutting titree. He came to Hamilton, and had the injury attended to by Dr. Kenny. There was a change of pulpits on Sunday evening between the Wesleyan and Presbyterian Churches. The Rev. Mr Dellow preached in the latter to a very attentive congregation, and the Rev. Mr Connie took the service in the former. Capt. McPherson has procured a patent Hutchinson cider mill with which he proposes to manufacture apple wine, rather than cider to any great extent. The machine, which is one of the latest improved kind, has been obtained very much with the object of introducing it to the notice of orchardists. A labourer named John David Gray, aged t!5, made a determined attempt to cut his tin oat in the open street, Parnell, on Saturday morning, in tho presence of a constable and several others. Domestic troubles are the reasons assigned for the aC The Misses Grey and Cussen opened their school at Cambridge yesterday. Fourteen children attended, which may be considered very good for a beginning, especially as there have been several postponements, and parents were not sure if the date had finally been fixed. There is not so large an aggregate number of entries for tho Horticultural Show on Saturday next as last year. The falling otf is in flowers and garden produce, which is owing, no doubt, to the dry weather experienced lately. The show of npples and farm produce will be quite equal to former exhibition?. It will be observed that entries for the special prizes, and late entries for all classes, at the Horticultural Show, will be received up to ~> o'clock to-morrow afternoon. I A bold act of incendiarism was attempted in Auckland on Sunday morning, when the premises in Queen-street, lately occupied by the Norwich Insurance Company, and the Mutual Life Association of Australia, were discovered to have been fired iu three placee. Fortunately the fire was noticed early, and suppressed before any damage was done. The Dunedin Herald says:— " Rumour has it that a gentleman well known in Dunedin, Mr Hugh McNeill, of A. Briscoe and Co., recently netted a profit of £14,000 on the sale of an iron yard in Melbourne, which he purchased only about a week previously. Mr Kitchen, of the Bumside Soap Works, is reported to have realised the handsome profit of £10,000 on the sale of a section of land in Melbourne. Mr Thomas Jones, who had his hands severely injured by a dynamite explosion at Wniteti some weeks ago, and has since been an inmate of tho Waikato Hospital, was discharged from that institution yesterday. Mr Jones wishes us to express his deep sense of gratitude to the medical officer, Uγ. Kenny, for his attention and skill whilst he won in his care, and also to tho nurses for their kind treatment gener*

y. Mr Jones thinks himself foHunato it he has had the entire use of his injured lids preserved whole. He leaves shortly the Broken Hills. It is a matter of considerable rprise that not a sin-jlo entry has been joivrd by the committee of tho Hortieulral Society for the special prizes offered Mr W. Sonter, of Cambridge, for the st collection of grain, and by tho New inland Frozen Meat and Storage Company • the best collection of farm produce. It hardly creditable that such little interest ould be shown by farmers, and it offers iall encouragement to givers of special i/.es. The privileges of the Waikato ickey Club race meeting, to be held at idwixid on tho 17th inst., were sold by essrs Buckland and Co., ou Saturday it. The following were the prices rej 5 n,] : _(Jates, J. Brockelsby, £11 10s; iblican's booth, £8, and temperance booth, is, C. H. White ; crds, £2 12s fid, J. rockelsby ; horse paddock, 30s, J. Allwdl. tie acceptances closed last night, too late, nvover, tr> appear in this issue. If the eather proves fine the meeting will iiumbtedly be n success, as special trains ill be run, and the course being close to in Hrtiitapn station, visitors will be spared ie expense of coach hire, as was tho case hen the races were held at Gwynnlands. A funny story was told by the ev. Mr Pitt, who lectured on the ' Life of rederick Douglas' at Wellington last eek. The lecturer remarked that the [ethodist Church had not been particularly inipcilous in its early days. Before tho jiilition of the slave laws of America, a irtain well-to-do old lady in the Southern Lates died, and left all her property to tho hurch. Amongst this property were two aves, a negro inan and his wife. The hurch was of opinion that it would not be ie correct thing to give them their free>in, so a meeting was called, and it was p.cided to sell them. This was done, the mple being sold to different owners, and ith the proceeds tho Church actually eent missionary to preach the Gospel in apan. In addressing a meeting at Aylesnry, Professor Long pointed out that in 10 year England imported 2;17,- r )OO,O0Olbs f butter, requiring from the ordinary estilate 773,000,000 gallons of milk to make it. 'he milk in its turn would require fur its reduction 1,717,000 cows. Iu the same ear England imported cheese which would :quire 488,813 cows to make, or, in all, ie<e cows were one-third more in number ian the actual milking cows in Great i-itain. At the same time butterine was iipurted at the rate of 140,000,0001b a yew. 11 a word, t<. maintain this rate of prodncon abroad Great Britain employs 3,000,000 ireign cows, which would keep 100,000 Iritish farmers at 30 cows apiece, or 200,000 ireign fanners with half tho number, 'hu-s provided thac they have families, Ingland perhaps supports for butter and leese alone 1,000,000 foreign people, low Denmark is supported is shown by io fact that, while England has 0.2 people or cow, Denmark has 2.2. Itwasarguod in the R.M- Court iat " a shilling in, and the winner shouts," i a game to be recommended on the grounds [ economy and policy. A man going into public room could hardly, it was argued, e expected to treat all hands, and would ot like to exclude any, but under tho :heme of each man putting in his shilling :ie interesting difficulty is removed. Tho 'inner takes all the shillings, and provides >r each of the parties a sixpenny drink, a roceeding at once easy and pleasant. A ame more in accordance with the spirit of lie time counsel could not imagine, espeially when it was the custom, he said, for he winner to do the handsome by immeditely spending the balance in treating the ompany. It is a game that none of our tatf understand, for newspaper men's cduation is probably defective- iu these maters, due, perhaps, to the circum»tance that hey can seldom rind the necessary shilling a purchasing experience. The Court exiresaed no opinion.—HaweraStar. Wβ hear a great deal of vituperaion aimed at the great land-grabber but, he man who grabs tracts of land where no ettlement is, is a benefactor to his species ompared to the little plodding acquisitive inarter-aore section grabber in our cities, fhi) builds three or four ahunties where one muse only should be, claps on comparaively enormous rents, is a terror to his ten,nts, but a burning light in Ilia own pet anctuary, and always puts threepence in lie collection platter, and is deemed thrifty ,nd highly respectable. Government interetes in a great many tilings in which ts inteiference is unnecessary, but I can magine no matter which should bo of jreator importance to Government than tho iroper laying out of young cities. Men ihoiild not be allowed to-build these hutches. Clio soldier and the preacher are each alowed so many cubic feet of space, and Government sees that they get it, but tho G'Jrernment recks little that honest men are :ooped mi in fietid lanes and so-called itrocts. Land values and rents aro simply ibsurdly high—would be high if wo had ;old mines in our back gardens. This infla;ed state of affairs cannot last. " Something nuet go," as sailors say, and it is devoutly ;o bo hoped t hat the small land-grabbere ivill go.—Wairarapa Daily.