116
balance available to
from leaving any fresh burdens was
wholly imaginary
and occasioned by a difference in the
mode of keeping the Postal accounts as
well
as by
an increase in the Police
and other rates which are an
annually
leviable for special objects and are not
available for other purposes.
In fact
I
proved that having regard to these
the only
measure that
was a
like this could have been
without
striking
a
free
Port
imposed
a blow at the root of
the prosperity of the colony, a tax
moreover
the
fairest of all in its incidence
and the most
lightly
borne
self adjusting in amount, because the latter must always be proportioned to
the number and
magnitude of the
transactions on which the tax falls.
considerations there was actually left
£49,
available Revenue in 1866 by nearly £10,000 than in 1863.
48.
The
argument therefore in favor
of some increase of taxation
was
irresistible and I think
unanswered.
was
by those who
were
wholly Memorialized
against the Stamp Ordinance which is
Unavoidable
delays, as Your
Lordship is aware, prevented the Stamp Ordinance from coming into
operation till the 10th instant and judging
from the present receipts I think
an increase to the Revenue,
to $120,000
may
be expected from that