CHAPTER XX. WANTS OF THE COLONY--THE NEW TARIFF.
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CHAPTER XX.
WANTS OF THE COLONY--THE NEW TARIFF.
AMONGST the most important public matters for the consideration of colonists, and in which it behoves all to interest themselves, are the founding good schools; the acquirement of a sufficiency of land from the natives; the rendering of the land available for purchase, by having it at once surveyed and opened up by roads and bridges; and the furtherance of improved postal arrangements by increased steam communication with the neighbouring colonies, and interprovincial communication with the inland districts.
Main roads for the transit of stock should be formed from Auckland to the Bay of Islands, New Plymouth, and Wellington, in the Northern Island; and from Wellington, through the provinces of Canterbury and Otago, in the Middle Island; as has already been stated, these roads can only be carried out with the assistance of the native population.
The acquirement of sufficient land in each province, and a like minimum price of land, would conduce to the welfare of the colony. People who return to the
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neighbouring colonies, unable readily to obtain land at a reasonable price in any one province, give a bad name to New Zealand. On this account its progress has been impeded, and it will take much careful and federal legislation to retrieve the errors of the past.
No set of men in the colony are more likely to advance its interests in these matters than the members of the present Government, whose leader, Mr. Stafford, has done so much for Nelson, his own province, and the members of whose Government unite the collective talent of Auckland, Canterbury, and New Plymouth. By late accounts from Auckland, the present Government has passed a bill to sanction half a million of money being borrowed, 1 with which to pay off the Company's debt, and to buy land for the province of Auckland.
The new customs' tariff will be found to offer every inducement to those engaged in agricultural pursuits. This tariff fully evinces the liberal spirit in which Mr. Stafford desires to govern the colony.
The following articles are admitted duty free, viz. --
1. All articles for the supply of Her Majesty's Forces.
2. Animals, living.
3. Bricks, Slates, and Stones for building purposes and Mill-stones.
4. Boats.
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5. Books printed, not being account-books.
6. Bottles full of an article subject to duty.
7. Bullion and Coin.
8. Casks empty.
9. Coal.
10. Corn, grain, meal, flour, bread and biscuit.
11. Gunpowder, fit only for blasting purposes.
12. Iron, pig.
13. Machinery, viz.--Brick and tile-making machines, draining, flax and hay, and wool-pressing, straw and turnip cutting, reaping, thrashing and winnowing machines, steam engines and apparatus for ditto, and machinery for mills including hand flour-mills.
14. Manure.
15. Oil, blubber and bone, the produce of fish, or marine animals.
16. Plants, bulbs, trees and seeds.
17. Passengers' personal baggage.
18. Ploughs and harrows.
19. Specimens illustrative of natural history.
20. Tobacco for sheepwash, subject to its being rendered unfit for human consumption, and to such regulations as the Governor shall from time to time prescribe on that head; on the following, the duty is as stated, viz.:--
1. Ale, beer, cider and perry in wood, at s. d. the gallon.........0 6
Cigars, and snuff at the lb. . . . . . . . .3 0
3. Coffee, chicory and chocolate at the lb. 0 2
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4. Iron, rod, bar, bolt, hoop and sheet iron, not otherwise manufactured, the cwt........1 0
5. Salt at the cwt........ 1 0
6. Spirits and strong waters of every kind, sweetened or otherwise, of any strength not exceeding the strength of proof by Sykes' Hydrometer, and so on in proportion for any greater or less strength than the strength of proof, the gallon........8 0
7. Sugar; raw and refined of all sorts, treacle and molasses, at the lb........0 0 1/2
8. Tea, at the lb........0 3
9. Tobacco, at the lb........1 3
10. Wine, the gallon, in wood and bottle . .3 0
11. Wood, not manufactured, the cubic foot 0 2
12. Boots, shoes, hats, apparel, jewellery, cutlery, clocks, watches, plated ware, silk, woollen, cotton, linen bags manufactured (except corn and gunny bags and woolpacks) sperm, stearine and wax candles, (measuring outside the packages) at the cubic foot........3 0
13. All other goods, wares and merchandise, measuring outside the packages, the cubic foot........2 0
