DOUBTFUL ECONOMY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 563, 19 July 1909, Page 8

DOUBTFUL ECONOMY.

OHANCEB IN STAMP DEPARTMENT.

'', • PANGER TOVREVENDI!.'

AN ILL-CONSIDERED', SCHEME.

, -■>~ "Stamps;'!)■;; : ;'' J,.-'']y. ':'. Quietest and.most rotiring. of .Government. .Departments/is ..the .Stamp-■ Office*;,;.lt;,-col-, lects a very large proportion..of the.revenue, of., tho State, and does so .cheaplvj. and without : fuss. ~The,, work .of Department, "so .. far ; as Wellington': is .'concerned, is done in a-Jittle, antiquated, inconvenientbuilding which is separated from,.the:main Departmental pile.;. It has often been tho feeling of its staff, and.of other Civil- Ser- • vants, when; they thought about • the ■ Stamp Department, at all,, that,' corresponding with the segregation of its/premises,' tho patient officers of this .Department''toiled .beyond the,- ken. of possibly auspicious '.-.•. authority.' When:, the writer, ; now:' a.: member ;of The.Dominion staff, was appointed;'to-a position in the : Stamp Department some j years ago, he received not a -few condolences-i I from experienced Civil. Servants; on the fact that was not-.attached to some more conspicuous Department, with (ledges for aspiring feet, and the.prospect of-something-more than an annual £10 "rise" in early years-,-toi encourage zeal, 'He was advised fc> get himself transferred immediately to the Customs Department or the Post Office, for example -For it is welUinown that all who are: called- Civil Servants; oven though they have passed thosamo examinations, cannot hy ,any means look .forward to' the same prospects. In some Departments, officers holding certain ,positions will draw far higher salaries than officers of corresponding services-and status- in-another Depart ment, and, any Civil Servant can give immediate reasons why ho would be'in one of Sir Joseph Ward's Departments than a Department,: say, -of :-Mr'.- Carroll-Sunder Mr. X——, as Under-Secretary, sooner than under Mr.: ¥-—.:. ... >■-■■■

An Unhappy Prominence. ,•■;' The Stamp Department, however, has at last- come under the; eyo of authority, and can derive - tho same amount. of satisfaction from so doingas the humble officer'of Frcd-enck-!the Great;, .who boasted that the King had • spoken to him. . When pressed to,tell the nature of the flattering, communication,' he replied:'"Ho bade me-get out of the way.'.'; The. Stamp Department- is to get out of the way. 'Part ot,its,work, the' creation and issuing of stamps, will bo done in future, Cabinet has decided, by .the- General Post Office. 'Another portion, the: assessment and cbllection'of duties on-deceased' persons' estates, will.be transferred.to,the Land and Income Tax, Department. .The'assessment ofstamp duty oh; deeds andall other instruments will v bo.made-,by 'the-district land! registrars,,instead,of, as. at present, by -the deputy-commissioners of stamps.•.: CcrtainV other .functions will remain with ,the Stamp Officer and : it: is Ministerially expected that tho object of" these changes will be attained in a considerable saving to be caused by; the retirements of certain officers.

Safeguarding .tho Rovenuo., ; But.,the Stamrj. Department has a staff of less than 40. officers, throughout New ■ Zealand. .To those who do Dr. Findlay may seem'to forecast; .a-very real economy whenhe.says that, "the; assessment of .stamp duty on deeds and all other instruments, wjll, .be.- made, by, the; district land registrars,,".fhstead. of, as at,-present, :b> ■the of;;sfSmps."-.: ; The; fact is, however, that this .work; is done already by. the. districted registrars,.except in, tho four cities, and-in Wellington it. is difficult to distinguish, between, the two Dop'artme'hts, 'since, the. Secretary,,-for. Stamps' has. also been the, Secretary for landiand Deeds.. ; ". In, practice, - this' change of ; systems. will affect simply the.three centres, Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin. Butthodistrirf land registrars, will be. quite incapable, from lack of training,of carry- . ing out this,-, addition to their,w,p.rk themselves.; ■ So: much (is'[ pbVipus, to t anyone ■ who.-, has been a member of the Department; or has the slightest knowledge, of its work. Tnall three i c.entresj!. officers p.fc y the. ; Stamp -.Department; will" require' to land registrars to perform those assessments, the subtleties of which are only' known to. Stamp: Departments officers. It will, be exceedingly imprudent,_ moreover, to ■> attach junior .officers for this work, since the- provisions of the Stamp Act-are numerous and intricate,, • precedents and judicial - opinions, the results of appeal cases, are equally important to assessment 1 as the .mere wording of the.Act, and ignorance of.fine.points might,easily result in the loss of, thousands of pounds ' a year to, the ".revenue. And,.if the change resolved upon wilLonly affect; three centres, and the knowledge and experience of senior stamp officers-in those centres will.still be needed under the new system,.where is any-.substantial saving to bo made? Even if senior officers were sacrificed,and, the assessment of important duties* left to the inexperience of juniors, the 'senior' officers who might be retired are so few, and •the • salaries, to which; they have painfully climbed in. a never , over-paid _ Department are so'moderate, that tie immediate economy would bo bat small. ■'•'■;., . .>■..: v I

The'Most-Surprising Change. V But the most surprising decision at which' Cabinet-has. arrived, is. that 'respecting .the assessment ■ of death duties,. whioh work is 1 to be carried--out'.by the Land ;and Income Tax Department' in future/.with/ a provision that; all work in connection with deceased persons' estates is to be centralised in Wei-' lington.- The Death Duties Act,-as it appears in .the Consolidated Statutes, consists of '52 clauses; most of' which are of a > very intricate and doubtful nature. Not one of- them, possibly, is' familiar 1 to Mr. P.Heyes, head of the Land and Income Tax Department, who is going to take over this responsibility. The death duties work of the Department is draught with, pitfalls for the inexperienced 1 or careless officer. 'The assessment ; of these duties has alw'jj's been kept,in expert senior hands, dp account of its peculiar*difficulty and, importance.. Hundreds-.of people are. substantially interested - in .evading the full requirements of the Death Duties. Act. To do so, oven in\ the-opinion, or-at least the practice, .of. lawyers of good standing, is not dishonesty; it.-is simply- beating the Government, ; and .if the Government does not know its rights where questions of taxation are concerned, it does not deserve/ to get them. Rich men who have not'Jo-neto live,; frequently attempt to dispose of their property beforehand Dy means which will ovade the heavy, fees of the. Death Duties. Act,. Awhile securing the same ends as-.if tho estate wero;leftby will. Thelaw. has clauses which are intended to frustrate .such objects, but'unless the officer who assesses duty has considerable local knowledge upon which. ■to base his suspicions, and has learned by long experience to.read between the.lines, ho is liablo to overlook occasions when these frustrating clauses should be applied.

A Stamp o(tica;Drania,v ,: A''deed cornea into the'office" when there is a rush of business. ; The man Via brings'" it hands it carelessly to a clerk; Ho remarks .that it is quite simple;' possibly' he 'has marked a trifling duty on the . stamping corner,/ and toys with ■ that amount. '"En, what's that?" asks the Deputy •Commissioner, occupied-with. a ; press of other deeds/ He snatches the document from - his subordinate,; oareless. of• the ■ latter'a ruffled' dignity, glances N-at: it, • and decides that he must ' it at ■ lcisuro: l Is' it a deed of; settlement or 'd. deed of giftP Local knowledge of the parties' prompts some awkward'questions. --No;uso to take the , bringer' s word; the difference in ■: duty is £1000. The clerk has a. flushed look-as ho counts' out: £50 worth oft' stampsi' toi; ; the next customer,' or attaches beautiful family ofystamps,, littlo ones, grouped about the feet of .big, ones, a; total value of £687 14s. ,'lld.j (to. a parchment probate .which, he; did not assess*.... In another minute : he would have put 10s.> lies, for future reference, on', ttio-'.'Deputy's"-' tables Arid the Stamp Act i.would; have seemed to' justify him,iibut-nwhat if'.tieitrained mind ■knew? ;.!.,:•■.,■ v.:' 1 ' .■:, : : .■!:;/..•■.';i-..- '>--...-7-.".-'-A Need for .j*i -■■-...-. ■ A 1 valuable proportion of'an estate' isieft to thO'deceased's widow. —SoHho deed declares; and 'bequwte made- to' a : widow are

exempt from duty. But was a certain party tho deceased's-, widow? -It-does--not -seem oharitablo to, raiso ; tic. question, but .theno may bo hints•■' of -circumstances which 1 re- : quire it to bo raised.;.: Hero, obviously, local knowledge is of importance. But all this work, from all parts..of-Now Zealand, is to be sent to Wellington' jrifuture, where local knowledge will be 1 impossible in ,: the"great 1 majority of cases.-; Ostensibly it will ,' be done by Mr. Heyeß... But that, clearly, is impossible in, practice., Mr., Heye-s might, without disgrace, have less knowledge of the' intricacies of the' Death Duties Act' than ;a .cadet in the Stamp Department, which has zbqen accustomed to deal with':that Act. Obviously ho\ will .require; an. officer of tiio Stamp Department to undertake "tho. workof assessment. Mr. •.Hoyes.i-asaii officer: high, in favour of the ■Government, '•■ who is going to help them in effecting the economies) wo havo. shown may follow from breaking-, up the Stamp Department, will pre--sumably draw.-£IOO or so a year; sooner or later* for- appending his''signature to. documents which bis junior will assess; ..

increasing the Law's Delays. v

But can his'junior assess at all tho probates of the whole; Dominion, which have hitherto been assessed, in the first instance at any rate, by a dozen district officers, with tho advantage of local' knowledge?- Even with.a system under which the bulk;of this perplexing > work was. done by i local officers, there were continual complaints on the part .of lawyers and the general public, of -• the slowness:wit'h which probates were< dealt with; by the Stamp Department;. Only' on Saturday last a correspondent of The Dominion wrote '.-complaining.'' of inconvenience, and oven financial loss; suffered,on this.acj.count.' It is a fact that,'under-the,system, which is now being.altered for the worse,' a-' probate might ho' six months in .■tho: handa of; the Department. What will tho delays ,be like when all the probates: that, are at present dealt .with by a, dozen ;mon' have. to. come, to Wellmcton. and bo dealt with hero by one man? They.'como to ,the head office, now,,but..not until the back of tho work in connection. with the, probates has been broken by. the'.local officers. -•.■•.; ..

', The creation and issuing of ,«tampß will be :transferred to; the General. Post Office, but the .stamps.-, .will : still be.'made and; issued. The Printing Department will print.-the. adhosive stamps as heretofore; and charge the bill to the. Postal instead, of.-to tho/Stamp Department. ■';. Half-a-dozen ■. men /.who : now •twirl' dies in ■ tho stamp office, for; a; meagre wage,: affixing; impressed•-: .-stamps,to- thou-, ! sands of white forms, will twirl the self-B3mo : dies, under another roof, at the same fneagre salaries. v lf tho.-Post Office is to sell-all the -stamps that are now sold by;the Stamp' Department presumably it will, need .more men to sell them; at all events,- no one. is.'(or, was) omploycd I iii: the Stamp. Department exclusively in' selling .stamps....-.. And a-pro-portion of the Stamp Department's present work- is still,to be' doneLby. that Department; together, - probably, ,we are-told,' with, other work which may.be transferred .to: it. v, : ,■'

Where Is the Retrenchment? ,-J. .-..,'■ ; '; is The question, that arises is; where does the retrenchment come in P What salaries', 'are,there which the Government ban' afford ,to, "Bave" P About three men might be dis- '-'■ pensed with;.' their salaries might: total £1000 a year; the loss which could result - from the transference 'of' J their- ordinary functions to cheaper, inexperienced bands ■•-., is quite incalculable. ; The loss and. inoon-.v. venionce which' could result from; transfer-, ■ ring their and other officers' functions under the'Death,Duties Act to one over-burdened ' office in Wellinston is, .enormous. Tho -' officers' who might possibly be retired: are not old men; they are just too old to start - now work!. they have never been overpaid,their Department has. never _ been - accused of careless or extravagant administration. It is \:■ true economy ts break ,up r and disorganise ~ a whole Department for the 6ako.of saving ~ three men's salaries at a;-disproportionato, • financial risk ?■■'. A past connection withthis ■ particular Department,' which ;he was- glad -.-» and fortunate to leave,: but which, for many" reasons, -ho respects', has enabled;the. writer , to throw some, light on- the i value, of.. the,' GovWnmehfcV'"retrenchment'' in this instance. While - officers. are tongue-tied by the rogulatib'nsj'dt isi difficult'to get; the .deV - '- there:-is "every -reason.'for;?:i,; believing that' hastily-planned • amalgama- < tions : and''alterations- that';■ have been hiado in: other!'directions aro'.'asi'worthless:. from' ■■)>) i* practical -point,of view. " A'good deal; of -.:'. the' Government's retrenchment- at the pre- - • sent juncture; will-be .real; no doubtJ.but:a •>-, largo proportion of it, so far as- Departmental ohanges are concerned, it: quite illusory.. There will be now divisions of ■ control, caU6ed'by amalgamation,-but the ex> ■,-'. •/lenses will continue as" before. •■ -''.-' ■■'.-■-- >■■ '■■■• • ■