The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, JUL 3, 1888.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 2493, 3 July 1888, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE.

TUESDAY, JUL 3, 1888.

Equal and ex.vt justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political.

In every quarter of the colony, so far as wo have been able to ascertain, excepting to some extent the scat of Government itself, there is one universal feeling in the direction of further retrenchment. The public meetings held in Auckland last week, in Hamilton on Saturday, at Cambridge yesterday, and the one convened for Thursday at Te Awamntu, are indications of the mind of the people, which has been roused to action by the very unsatisfactory state of the country. We have no doubt that the popular agitation begun in the North will be followed by many other districts in the several provincial districts. The fact cannot be disguised that the colonists are thoroughly disgusted with the unjustifiable extravagance of the whole system of Government, and will no longer tolerate with patient equanimity the perpetual recourse to taxation indulged in by successive Governments. When we received the blessings of a Constitution of our own, prematurely as many people think, it never entered the imagination of the greatest optimists amongst the colonists of that day, that the Civil Service, the machinery which has been invented for the conduct of our simple affairs, would swell up to the present enormous dimensions and costliness. We showed our readers, in a previous article, how the public expenditure had been increasing yea,r by year, until it now reaches the huge total of over £1,800,000 per annum. This figure is so outrageous, that the people, who have been driven to their sober senses by the acts of the present Ministry, cannot be satisfied until a complete.reform in tlieadiniuistrative system has been alfected. The assurances of the. Premier that more retrenchment to any considerable extent is not possible will not meet with the approval of the country districts particularly. Neither are the sanguine expectations of Sir H. Atkinson shared in by them that he will realise an accession of revenue from the Customs under his new tariff. In this respect, Mr A. Swarbriek, the mover of the first resolution at the Hamilton meeting, spoke the sentiments of the settlers when he expressed his firm conviction that the estimated revenue would not be obtained. He !>ave as an illustration the attempt made by the British Government after the Peninsular War to raise additional revenue hy increasing the Customs duties, which ended in failure and depression of trade. How true this is can be discovered by casting outeyes back over the past decade in our own history. We shall see how the imposition of the 15 per cent, duties on certain imports has affected the commerce and carrying trade of the colony, which have been steadily decreasing. During this period we have added one disaster upon another, for we also .-stopped increasing our population by failing to attract a constant flow of immigration.

In 1878 tho total value of all im ports was i5,875,GG3, made up as follows: From the United Kingdom, £5,333,170; the Australian colonics, £2,912,498, and from foreign countries, £509,995. But mark the (HObrencfi in ISB7, which had been reached hy successive stages ol decadence. In that year our total imports were valued at ,£6,245,515, made up as follows: From the United Kingdom, £4,173,497; Australian colonies, .£1,378,207, and foreign countries, .£093,811 (the only one in which there was an improvement). Tho falling off is equal to two and a half millions, or from £20 13s 6d per head of the population in 1878 to £10 9s 5d per head in 1887. t'Our exports show a record very nearly as bad during the same period, but the greatest disparity is between the years 1883 and 1887. In the former year the exports attained the total value of £7,095,999, in the following proportions :—To the United Kingdom, £5,346,893 ; to the Australian colonies, £1,231,431, and to foreign countries, £517,675. In 1887 they were, respectively, to the United Kingdom, ±'1,847,413; the Australian colonics, £ 1,521/JS4, and to foreign countries, £196,772, a total of only £6,866,169, or a decrease of twenty per cent on the former period. If we take a glance at the shipping returns wo will observe the same retrogressive action in our commerce. In ISBI 852 vessels, of a gross tonnage of 529.15S tons entered New Zealand ports, being 174 British and 625 Colonial. In 1887 there were 653 vessels, of 489,754 tons, that entered our ports, of which only 109 were British and 472 Colonial. In 1884, the number of

vessels that cleared from New Zealand ports was 872, whose gross tonnage was 534,242; 176 of those being British and 637 Colonial. But 1887, the clearances had fallen in down to 675 vessels of 493,583 tons, of which 113 were British and 494 were Colonial.

If the foregoing is not convincing enough of the loss in the tax-bearing power of the colony, that has been taking place during the last few years, sapping its prosperity, it may he given as a further illustration of the fact to quotetlio Customs revenue for each year since 1877, at which time it amounted to JE 1,207,759. The receipts fluctuated above and below that figure till in 1882 they reached the highest sum obtained, namely, £1,515,906. But, from then they have been steadily falling, being £1,:311,808 in 1880, and i 1,280,585 in 18S7. In 1877 the duties per head of the population averaged .£2 19s 2d ; but in 1887, they averaged only .£2 9s lid per head. It is, therefore, clearly seen that a high taiiff, of a prohibitive character, is not beneficial to the trade and commerce of New Zealand, and does not provide a reliable source of revenue. If such results have ensued during a long experiment of a semi-protective policy, what can we expect will follow the intensification cf such a policy in place of its relaxation 1 Past experience of its operations, however teaches us one thing, and that is, that the country cannot feel assured that the new tariff of the present Government will yield the revenue it anticipate", merely because a masterful Colonial Treasurer is pleased to say it will.