The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1909. THE CASE OF PETER WRIGHT.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2594, 31 August 1909, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1909. THE CASE OF PETER WRIGHT.

In April lastr we drew attention to the legitimate grievance of Mr Peter Wright. This hardworking Motu farmer represents a type which is not at all uncommon," in many parts of New Zealand. These settlers hie themselves to the backblocks and, isolated from the rest of the community, are socially speaking, buried alive for many of the best years of their lives. With their horizon bounded on all sides by the native bush they are perforce compelled to live the simple life, and with ample work as the only solace in a monotonous existence, they go through the daily round. Once or twice a year, sometimes bftener, they make a trip to the nearest town, get a fresh stock of supplies, become for a few days a unit, if a somewhat incongruous one, in the general community, and then laden with many innocent luxuries hasten with pack horses hack to the hush.. It is little that the Government can do to ameliorate the lot of these wayback settlers, for the development of the country has not yet progressed sufficiently to enable metalled roads, much less railways, to traverse the country where our pioneers choose to stake their fortunes. So they learn by stern necessity the deadly lesson of the simple life; how many things can he done without—even such things as schooling for their children and medical attention for their womenfolk. But with it all these people—like those of every other sphere —persist sometimes in dreaming dreams, and to these their castles in the air are always associated with the belief that some day two lines of steel will be laid through the bush tracks and the shrill whistle of a locomotive steam engine will wake the echoes through the valleys, bringing them into direct touch with civilisation, with cherished comforts, and, maybe, with fortune. From that day the x>ioneer will commence to accumulate wealth; for the timber on the hillsides and the grazing on the flats will all be gold and silver that will compensate hi in for the weary years of waiting. ’ So much for the ideal; how much for the actual fact? Long ere the' settler has been able to reap the slightest benefit from .public expenditure, the tax-gatherer has sought him out, and year aft<?<r yrear so increases the tithe he must pay to the State that the man’s interest in the future . is mortgaged beyond all reasrin. The case of Peter Wright is but an instance of the manner in which our so-called Liberal Governments have developed a policy which is as discouraging as can possibly he conceived for those who are able and willing to turn into profitable farms areas that have in the past been virtual wilderness. ' It is over; eight years since Peter Wright went to the Motu and purchased the interest of another settler in a 2000 acres block. Since, then he has been playing the ordinary part of these back-block workers in developing his property along the only lines that are possible in such localities. In 1905 he was taxed on a capital value of £3390. Upon this amount lie

paid his dues without grumbling hut when, six months ago, he rejeived notice that his taxable value haul been raised to £10,510, ho winced, and asked his friends to glance over tho Government paper and make sure that he was not mistaken. The figures were plain enough, and none the less appalling. Wright knew well enough that his property had not trebled in value in three years. There was but the same acreage as in 1906; it was still the same 2000 acres, the only difference being that a portion had been cleared of bush in the meantime, and made available for grazing purjioses. If this reclamation work was to produce such an effect, then, obviously, it would he better that he should remain idle than add to his financial load at such an unheard of rate. The Government had done nothing for him, for although rumors occasionally came of the future approach of the railway, he was still in actual effect as isolated as ever. An acre of his land could produce no more in 1908 that it could in 1905, and tho actual value of the product was considerably less because of tlie depression then existent. A closer investigation, however, showed that of the £7120 additional rating, the sum of £3600 was imposed because of the alleged value of timber growing on bis' ground. Thid imposition struck Peter Wright as decidedly iniquitous, and he became a man with a grievance. He knew that the timber was worse than useless, because he could not graze sheep or cattle until it was removed, and the cutting was alwaj's an expensive matter. Of course, if the Government by road and rail could give him communication with Gisborne, the situation would he altered, hut that “if” was to him the biggest word in the dictionary. He knew that, with other settlers, lie had long ago become sick at heart with waiting for the advent of the “iron horse,” and to he taxed on £3600 for timber that must be idle and restrict the area available for grazing, until railway communication gave it value, was an injustice not to be borne. "Wherefore Peter Wright set his teeth and grimly declared that if he was compelled to pay this tax he would cast the dust of New Zealand from his shoes and would never come near tlie country again. In all probability he would have repented of this resolution long before the time came to give it effect — for home ties are very strong when a man has spent 40 odd years in a country—but the fact that it was ever made constitutes a reflection upon those whose duty it is to make the settlement of the land an honorable and profitable occupation. This case came before tlie Assessment Court on Saturday, and to the credit of that body, be it said, they wiped out with one stroke of the pen the entire amount of ■6OO at whioh Wright’s timber was assessed. The whole circumstances of the case are illuminating as an instance of Governmental methods, for in these matters we blame not the individual valuer, but the Government whose policy he is expected to carry out. We are accustomed to hear our optimistic Premier—when he is not hob-nobbing with titled dignitaries in the Old Country —meandering up and down our own little Dominion with pleasing speeches anent the prosperity of the country. Pessimists he rebukes with righteous wrath, and when anyone persists in asking awkward questions, he hurls at them a mass of statistics which show how amazingly the capital value of New Zealand has grown during the past ten years. And when we remember by what means it was attempted to show that Peter Wright’s property v T as worth three times as much in 1908 as it was in 1905, we can understand how much credit should be given to the utterances of a “Liberal” Premier.