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The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1890.

No thoughtful person can watcli tho proceedings of Parliament, from day to day, without feeling that there ia a great screw loose somewhore. The country has come to a gravo crisis. The burdens upon tho peoplo aro almost insupportsibly heavy and we are officially told that they cannot be materially reduced. Our local governing bodies depend moro or loss upon aid from the Goneral Government, and that aid cau only bo adequately given from borrowed money. The borrowed uiouey available was reduced to a paltry balance of £119,000 on the 31st March last. Much of it has been already spent. Nearly the whole must necessarily be spent before the end of the current financial year. The new Parliament is then to meet, and find itself face to face with urgent demands only to be satisfied by a new loan, the very name of which we are lenrniug to dotest. The constitution of the Local Bodies confines them to ono source only of revenue, tho taxation of the laud and improvements —whether payable or non-payable—to which their jurisdiction is practically limited. The same land and the same improvements aro. at the same time, taxed directly and heavily by the General Government, and tho candle is thus burnt at both ends. The credit of tho colony, which ought to be a sacred reserve for emergencies, has been strained for purposes often, premature and as often wasteful. The new elections are at hand, and in this crisis what aro the people to do ? In what direction are they to turn? What policy are they to support and how are they to make sure that tho pooplo in whom they confide will seriously rosolvo to carry out that policy ? If old members, they will be dragged into tho Maelstrom of worn out parties and a worn out system. If new, they will have to go into battle untried, botli in political knowledge, and in the qualities that make that knowledge of practical use.

In the Nortli we aro crying out far retrenchment, and the Opposition is certainly doing its best on that scoro. But we have yet to see how far that bust will go. The Government limited it to £50,000, to be taken, loss from current admimstrativo expenditure than from objects useful and therefore likely, in withdrawal, to excite "discontent" among tins people. The £50,000, when saved, will after all only ronder it possible to dispense with the primage duty. It will not relieve our other burdens one jot, nor allow of any expenditure, from the general revenue, to aid the material progress of the country. In this light for retrenchment we have all parts of the colony more or less vigorously assisting. But there the unanimity ends. We cry out loudly for the abolition of the Property Tax. Other provinces desire the abolition also, but make it "ntirelysubservieiit to tin , laud question, in which our interest is not so immediate and direct. We cry out for Railway Reform, and are glad to see that the cry is gradually rising from other parts of the Country, but with them it is still too weak to influence the next elections. We are directly and deeply concerned in Native Laud legislation, in which, out ofthe Auckland province, the interest is ofthe most languid character. The Single Tax party among us is loud, if not strong. It is almost silent elsewhere, and even the old unimproved Land Tax, of IS7K excites little feeling. Labour questions are forcing themselves everywhere to the front, but beyond them there is unfortunately little community of feeling on any large political subject, little concentrated public interest, and no sound reasonable proposal that looks like an earnest effort to extricate the country from the financial pressure which is, nnci must be, the first step towards a permanently better and healthier public life. So long as wool, and frozen meat, and wheat, maintain their prices in the London market, the greater portion of the country, dependent chiefly on these resources, puts its shoulder to the wheel, develops the enormous latent producing powers of the country with marvellous results, and cares apparently but little for questions that are not in some way connected with tliu.se interests. Of course, so long as these high prices continue, this condition of iillairs is quite intelligible. But in the ordinary course of atlairs they cannot be expected to last, .Markets iluctuate, and with our burdens unreduced, and our local governing bodies over-weighted and helpless, the fall would iind us still in difficulties which ordinary foresight and reasonable statesmanship might easily avoid. Parliament is doing very good work in the vigour with ' sviuuU'it is suiting itself to rotiouoh,

and whatever they give us in that way wili be thankfully acknowledge! But they must not stop then , . The Government or the Opposition, if the confinVncu of tin: country is to be .secured to either of them, must, conic forward with ;i reasonable policy, clear and ot" definite scope, and calculated to back the energy with which the people are doing their part in extricating the country from the ditHculties into which it lias been cast by the reckless policy of the past. The local bodies must be made stronger, and larger duties confided to them. We take that to be one of the first steps, perhaps the key, to any policy that can be regarded as permanent, and not a mere make-shift to suit the purposes of a. day. The experience of the last fifteen years has shown that scrambles for bonowed money raised on the security of the whole colony, must be rendered impossible for the future. That is the first necessity. If Parliament is too much occupied with the details of its daily work to develop a policy in this direction, the natural resource' is an association of tho people, broad in character, reasonable in aims, and patriotic in spirit. Is it net possible to form such an Association? If the central towns will not try, why should not the country districts begin 1 We have seen liow the railway movement, first taken up in this district, has spread, and we are satisfied that there are men amongst us equally fitted to found an Association such as we now have in our mind. If done at all, it must be done quickly. The elections will soon be upon us, and if the opportunity be neglected another three years of weary waiting is the only prospect to which we can look.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT18900828.2.10

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2828, 28 August 1890, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,108

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1890. Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2828, 28 August 1890, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men, Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. THURSDAY, AUGUST 28, 1890. Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2828, 28 August 1890, Page 2

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