UNKNOWN

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2966, 18 July 1891, Page 4

UNKNOWN

hi it.,: K1.IT"::. ' .-,, . '|'i ■!, | >;,.,■. ', :,l '.1.-"nt. I! , liki'-i o ' . il "I tie |.i.-iti'.n r.'./.iiniiiL' p'uvit, 14 :..,.,. „ ~til: !...,.I", are..l inii".i-t,.nee. „ „ ,i... ~i,.„i ~t In., I. ■! miimr Premier. , t., ■ , ~■.; ■„.- i-i I ilevii in In. lee.-nt elec- | :,.„, ...|.|,,-. r will, it e. T.i tie pivuini'-l. : 1 ■ 11,.' M,ni-.1e,-i,l poiirv. A«f:o'a-l ,-.., - ler ti..n, his m ehes, Mr Hryc , i i,.' I'lmk in hi< |i'litieil plath.rm, ami . .ii'.y i,o til .V. i«, retrenchment. \ ll • uKieh (ipi.-.neiit of reform of every kiml. IJ I. ■. I rou'-Ktii-i'M Hie fact, that things as t tin-v aie, aie. not ju..t, what they should he, | ami 1.1 i! inly rum. dy In ha. to .-lfer for the ~ evil.- ii"in which lini cinniMiinity i- suffer- ~ in" i = "ilelrrmiiieil economy." ft is re- j peded in all his iul,lni-ses, and if removed ( f,.,,ni lie-in, all that would lie left would be, | determined oi,|M,-iiioii to prnfr'-s-i, and a . bitter antii'oiiMiii to Mr liaManeP. I Jut. thoiui-h Mr iii-vee talks veiy loudly about the necessity'for retrenchment, I do not ' lind Unit, he has menti med a single depart-in.-lit ill which it can ho elfocted, with the 1 e.',c"ptiou of education, which should he \ the last, direction in which to use the t pr-miiiL'-hoolc, iiiKtead of the first and only , nne. IJnt, ill spite of his oft-ropoatrd \ nsscili m that tho colnny is poinc to ruin, | nnd reti-eiiehment alone can save it, it is a , noteworthy faet that Mr Uryce has all ' along boon a strong and consistent sup- ' p.irter of Sir Harry Atkinson, who has j been guilty of more extravagance than any other of our politicians, with the exception < perhaps of Sir .lulitis Vogel. Sir Harry ; Atkinson borrowed largely, and when { borrowing was popular he stoutly defended it, and up to tho last ho continued to work largely on borrowed money : yet T am not aware that Mr Bryce ever differed from or censured him, though, on more than one occasion, he passed warm euloginms on his career and character. As for retrenchment it has along been conspicuous for its. absenco in the Atkinson policy, and oven in the last Parliament, when retrenchment had becomo an election cry from one end of the colony to tho other, it was only owing to the strenuous exertions of the "skinflints" (among whom Mr Bryce was not numbered) that he was prevailed on to reduce tho ostimates by the paltry trifle of fifty thousand. Speaking on the land question, Mr Bryce said, "ho could not cmceive, why land should bo singled out for taxation and made to boar tho burden of the whole community," and a littlo further on ho speaks of the single tax as •' monstrous in its absurdity," and expresses himself ashcing " astonished at any person of common sense or common honesty concurring with such a proposal.'' The reason why land should be made to bear tho burden'of the " whole community "is simply that its value has been created by the whole community, and no has the slightest claim to it but the wholo community, and I defy Mr Bryce or any other man to prove the contrary "It is monstrous in its absurdity," ho says. Well, what is his proposal? He would allow the lucky few to anpropi.ate over and above t'.ieir own earnings a large slici of the earnings of the community in the shape of unearned increment, and having thus allowed the few to monopolize the common birthright of all, he would carefully exempt those few from taxation, and levy il solely on the labour of the remainder ; yet such a proposal does not strike him as monstrous hi its absurdity," nor is he in the least surpiiseil at persons of eo ion sense or common ln.ne.sty.(?)supporting it. Land is a free, gift from tho Creator bequeathed to Adam and his posterity, and what right has Mr IJrycti t.) stand between man anil his Creator, and say, "these shall have, and these shall not?" And 1 would like Mr Bryce or any other iiiuii to say from whom men get the i',,;lil lo appropriate tho birfliright of his fellow man and charge him toll for the privilege of using it. The aim of the single i, r< supporters is to secure to all what is mmife-tly the birthright of all—that each in iv enjoy the full product of his own induslry. And thun;;h Mr Bryce. may scull' at it, as " monstrous m its absurdity," it is H'eadily growing in popular favour, and tho ih.v is not far distant when every civilised u ii'tutry will adopt it, in spite of Conserva-ti.-e.i and thsir quibbles. But tho land question is not the only one in which ho is opposed to reform. Vaile's system also c lines in for its share of criticism. His reason for opposing it is .simply beautiful in its simplicity; he does not "understand it," and, what is more, ho does not believe that Mr Vaile himself understands it! .Meanwhile other countries ono by ono are adopting it; but we in New Zealand (where it was first proposed) must wait until Mr Bryce " understands it." If Mr Bryce should over hocoine .Premier, there can be no doubt that he will resume the policy of Sir Hany Atkinson, ami what the results of that policy are the whole country knows to its bitter cost. To continue it for another ten years would bring disastrous ruin to tho wholo colony.—l am, &c, Julian. Kiiikiriroa, 11th July, 18(11.