The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1891.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 2978, 15 August 1891, Page 2

The Waikato Times AND THAMES VALLEY GAZETTE. Equal and exact justice to all men. Of whatsoever state or persuasion, religious or political. SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 1891.

Tiie amendment moved by Mr Shera to exempt improvements from taxation has been rejected by a majority of twelve. No other result was to be anticipated, as the fact has been long palpable that the Ministry and their followers are prepared to sacrifice the principles on which thoy sought and socurod election in order to retain the privilege and advantage of sitting on the right baud of the Speaker. Almost to a man thoy were pledged to secure the abolition of the Property Tax; notwithstanding this, on Tuesday night they marched into the division lobby in oi-der to perpetrate the most objectionable feature in the Act which they were distinctly deputed to expunge from the statute book. The Premier appealed to the House for morcy, or rather, as Sir George Grey puts it, to his followers to join him iu breaking faith with the voters who roturnod them. As one momber pointed out, the man who has spent £5000 in improvements is a greater beuefaetor to the country than ho who has only spent a lesser suui. He is to be punished nevertheless for his enterprise. Surely the working men of the colony are not to be cajoled into believing that a measure is to their advantage which makes employing and paying them for their work a penal offence. They must not overlook tho fact that improvements moan work for them, and that to tax tho capital so invested can but have the effect of lessening omployrnont and lowering wages. Tho Opposition members are assumed by tho other side to represent land-owners and capitalists only, and so long as they can benefit thet<o classes to be totally

• lilluiis :is to the future of tho couuiry or tho fate of those who are less favourably placocl. Tho vote which they recorded on Tuesday givos the lie to this calumny. It is a foregone conclusion that Land and Income Taxes are to bo features in the fiscal policy of the colony. It is manifest that the interest on the debt of the colony cannot be paid and the administration of its affairs carried on for a much smaller sum than is asked by the Treasurer. It is equally so that tho capability of tho Custom Mouse to yield revenue is tried to the utmost. The sum necessary must be raised, and must bo contributed by the capitalists and land owners to an equal degree to that which will be the case now that tho bastard Land-Property Tax is to be enforced. This vote cannot, therefore, be interpreted as an attempt to escape taxation. -.If improvements were not to be taxed, the scale of tax on unimproved value of i r k d and income would have to'be raised—as we wrote above the Customs can yield no more. The motto inscribed on the Liberal banner ia

" The greatest jjooJ for tilt* greatest number.'' That 110 attempt lias been made by Mr Dallance to deal with the. Customs tariff for the relief of the many must cause the reflecting earner of wa«es to ask himself the question—" Have I not been instrumental in placing in power a wolf in sheep's clothing 1" A policy to burst up large estates will most certainly not enable the waire earner to save sufficient money to take up any portion of tho land after the bursting-up has boen accomplished, and the tax on improvements by lessening enterprise and consequent payment of wages will most assuredly not help him. The Premier has aslced from his seat in Parliament that his followers will pay no attention to the protests of Chambers of Commerce against his policy, because " those bodies are always Conservative." It must be noted that every Chamber has protested. These bodies are composed almost entirely of commercial men whose success in business depends more absolutely than that of any other on the prosperity of the colony. This being the case, snlf-interest makes them the natural watchdogs of Ministries and politicians, and their experience and knowledge of affairs entitles their opinion to, perhaps, greater respect than any other bodies, Parliament included. Surely the protests of these Chambers should command consideration by all reasonable members of the community, even if ignored by Premiers and politicians mounted on the most unreliable of all horses—Fad. All classes must bear in mind that if commerce is to flourish they must flourish with it— or it would be more correct,'perhaps, to reverse the'order of the sentence. It is an absolute necessity to successful commerce that employment shall be plentiful, the working classes may, therefore —although the members do not take off their coats—rely upon it that their selfinterest, aside from any other consideration, makes members of Chambers their natural friends, and their experience gives value to their opinions. The Premier knows all this perfectly well, and his remark was, to use a mild term, most disingenuous, and proves that he fears criticism of his policy by the men best able to judge of its merits. When the time comes round for another election we fancy that the working men will have something to say to their representatives which will not be particularly complimentary. They will have two sins to answer for. One positive—lessening demand for labour by taxing its results; and the other negative—not having forced the Government to give them some relief from Customs duties. In tho meantime Parliament has decreed that the country shall suffer, in order that a Miuistry and party may retain power.