ORCHARDS REGISTRATION.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2916, 31 October 1916, Page 8

ORCHARDS REGISTRATION.

j needless alarm f departmental statement | The following Departmental state-.. f . rrmnt regarding the registration of' : - orchards has been issued by tho Minis- \ I'i-jter of Agriculture (the Hon. W. D. S. j - kMacDonald): — ' 5 ' "A great deal of misapprehension ""'and needless alarm soemß to havo arisen m ; ' tfoe-orchard tax and orchard t ~ "registration reoently brought into p. t .It should be clearly underv 'stood iii tho first plaoe:that the whole . .. -iprooeeds of the tax (less the chargo. ; -..made by tho Postal department for - -cofleoting it) will bo handed over to tile . j : ••• fPruitOTowera'! to bo ?x- --- -'ipanded in organising the industry and !: ""extending and developing its markets. K " The federation's broad proposals for {• " "the expenditure of the money raised by r.tho tax will, however, bo auly'cct to _ approval by the. Hon. W. D. S. Mae.....J)onaW) Minister of Agriculture and of ~... Jndusfcries. and Commerce. Tho tax . [•was imposed by the Government at the ••■ express desire of tho fruitgrowers i themselves, and tho amount of it Is., "per aore witli a minimum of 2s. 6d. . r " bs too small to press hardly upon any " [individual, grower. No tax is payable _ty those growers who have not been 'Veiling fruit, except in the case of '.those who havo commercial ■ yet in bearing, and these have been ,-Jinolttded at their own wish. - "In tho second place the registration. - - -or orohards does not foreshadow any ■ ■ diastio ohange in oonneotion with the ' ' inspection and cleansing of small fruit '.''"gardens. Dosrr&blo as such a move- ' "mont undoubtedly is, the Department i- Agriculture, Induatrioß, and Com..",'linorce is not in a position to undertake ._jit duiiag tho continuance 9f the war. . . Indeed the . Department will be hard ; —=-j-j)irb to it to maintain even its present - - «t»ndard of inspection in the face of v -.- tho. actual and impending —of many of its officers. - ."The wholo matter may be summed ' '" ■np 'as Mows:—All occupiers of gar"""idens containing fijuit tress (other than gooseberries, currants, raspberries, r; IXleto.), must sign a registration form .. ...without delay if they have not already C'done so, and all • commercial orchard- .. .ists, together with the occupiers of ■Y. —" -gardens from which fruit was sold last •• -'season, should pay the tax at a money- '. • ■ ' " order post offico before November -22, —from which date the tax cannot be re- ' ' ceived without an addition of 10 per •'lucent.. "Registration forms can now be ob- . at the offices of the Department ' . -throughout the Dominion, also at • post offices. Forms of • "-.-demand for the tax are.being issued "- las rapidly as possible to all who are at : • J known to tho Department to '' 'bo liable to pay it, but it must bo dis- .; 'j tirictly understood that it is the duty

of those concerned to tender payment before tho above-mentioned date at a. money-order office whether a 1 demand form has been received or..not. .