LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3163, 15 August 1917, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

THE FARMERS TAXES INFORMATION WANTED. Sir,—ln many e<Ktorials the statement is mado that notwithstanding the drastic nature of this year's Budget proposals, little or no comment is heard from country dislricts. I must confess that, without having the Budget before one, little can be gathored from newspapers, or financial debate speakers, as to tho real application of the taxes proposed. With your permission, Mr. Editor, I would like, for the benefit l of your many country readers, answers to tho following queries. The answering may possibly give an hour's amusement to one or other of your city readers:— (1) What land tax will a farmer pay who is the freeholder of land having a capital value of -^000; improvements, say, JIS000; mortgages, say, £14.000 at 6 per cent. ? A. What incomo tax will lie pay, assuming that , his net • income is .£2OOO after paying interest on mortgage? B. Wtot land tax and what income tax would the same farmer pay if he lind no mortgage, and his net income be increased by the amount of interest. on sCH.OOO at 6 per cent. ? (2) What land tax will a 999 yeaTS Crown tenant pay who occupies, say, 1500 acres of land, which was valued at .£3 per acre unimproved, and .£5 per acre capital at the time of taking up, and is now valued at £6 per acre unimproved and .£lO per acre capital? ; A. Assuming thi\t his net income is dfilOOO after paying rent, what wilt .Tie pay by way of income tax? (3) If a farmer leased, say, in 1910, a Native area of 1500 acres bush land at 2s. per acre for twenty-one jrears, having no compensation clause, during, say, the first two or three years, he expanded M per acre in improvements. This person may carry .£3OOO of a mortgage on his improvements. Under the old taxing method the Native paid land tax. How will this farmer now stand in comparison to the freeholder or the lease-in-perpetuity farmer, if he has, say, a £1000 net income after paying rent and interest?—l am, etc., , ALEX. D. M'LEOD. Mangr.pari, August 12, 1917.

THE AGE LIMIT Sir,—Allow me to write bravo, Second Division, all credit to you for doing the right thing. It seemed scarcely credible thnt strong men should wish to shelter behind lads of nineteen and - younger; and you have made it clear by actions that whoever is responsible for the suggestion, it does not come officially fromthe Second Division. Once more, bravo; and you havo my hearty co-operation in your desire to obtain reasonable aid fOT those you will leave behind. It is in this way your league should meet with success, and I, for one, hope the Government will make ample provision.— I am, ctc.. „ PAUSE AND THINK. Sir,—l read with much interest the letters'in your issue of the 18th, in which some of your correspondents deprecate the alleged intention of the Government to reduco the age . limit. Well, I admit thero is a little to be said against such a proposition, but,.under present circumstances, there is also a great deal to be said in its favour, so much in fact that 1 venture to say that the Government would be fully justified in adopting sucli a policy. We all know that the Imperial Government set the age limit at eighteen, therefore I naturally ask, "Is not tlio average Now Zealander as s'rong as the average man at Home?" In mv opinion he is a good deal stronger, and if we reduce the age limit to nineteen we will still havo the advantage of them by one year. There are also many other factors worth careful consideration, three of which I will 6et forth in this letter. Firstly, the Government would retain a significant amount of money in pensions, etc., by calling the youths. - Secondly, the men that .would remain in the place of the youths would be of more service to the country by virtue of experience. Lastly, the hardship and loss (which the capitalist is reluctant to alleviate) that is involved in calling the married nen would be deferred and a considerable amount avoided. I may state that I am just over nineteen, and I believe there are ttiree or four thousand in New Zealand like me, each one physically fit, and able to hold liis own with any average man that has left these shores, especially some of the men that went from the cities. It would be advisable, perhaps, to call those that married after the declaration of war first, but after that reduce the age limit.—l am, etc., E, C. V. PARKER. ORGANISATION OF INELIGIBLES Quito recently in the House of Representatives some controversy took place between two or three members regarding the, organisation and registration of all persons whose services could be best utiliteed lo help' win . the war. To my iniud the best method for the Government to adopt would be to establish a bureau where persons out of employment could, apply, stating their qualifications, etc., and their willingness to take up employment either in the Government service or other essential . businesses, thereby releasing men for service abroad. One has only to pick up the daily newspapers to read the number of applications, to see how -many .persons are looking for work and are at present out of employment. As a Class D man, and one who has been rejected for active serand enlisted - for home . service twelve months ago and never been called upon, I would recommend the idea to the Defence Minister or the' Efficiency Board. —I am, etc.,ORGANISE. PENSIONS

Sir,—We are'told that within the.next few days the pensions sclieme is to lie revised, ,and all round increases to- bemade. Now, sir, would it not be an act of philanthropy before increasing the pensions to present beneficiaries, to include among the list of pensions the blind, who are impecunious. ' For some years the blind have received pensions in Australia, but up to the present no serious attempt, has been made "here to give the afflicted any assistance wliaV ever. Nc* doubt lack of funds will be the cry, but I mainfctlll that sixpence less to every pensioner at present receiving aid would return ample to give a pension 'to every blind person in the Dominion.—l am. etc., EQUITY. August 11, 1917. ■ "waste paper . Sir,—"L.J.P." daily burns much paper. Robbie gives "L..T.F." a. wrinkle, viz., give said paper io Salvation Army. _ The Army has a .depot for dealing with waste matter—human and material.—l am, etc., ' • STUKROCK ROBBIE. , THE EXEMPTION OF MARIST BROTHERS

Sir,—Juduins by the tone of several of your correspondents, the appeals made by the Catholic Church against the conscription of the Marist Brothers 6eem to be regarded as unpatriotic acts on the part of the Church. We are told that one of the principal reasons for fighting this war to a successful end is for the sake of our children, and we knowthat after the war is over an industrial war will comraencc in which the children of to-dav will be called upon to play a part. Unless these boys have a good elementary education they will have a verypoor chance in this industrial war, and vet an olTort to safeguard that education is stigmatised as being unpatriotic. I think that tho term could lie applied more justly to tho Education Department for failure to safeguard the interests of the children •by allowing so many of the best of the State school tcacjiers to leave tho clnss-room for the battlefield.

Great, credit is due to the teachers themselves for setting such a fine example; and 110 part Gf the blame attaches to them, but all to those who have undertaken the task of providing for the education of the child. I believe it is a fact that at present nearly a thousand of our State school teachers are not fully qualified, and over 75 per cent, of that number possess 110 examination status nt all, and yet those responsible have allowed many of the best <,f the teachers to enlist. T maintain, sir, that no teacher should have been allowed to ■enlist until a fully-oualifiod nerson wag

found to take his place. There vasnever greater need for efficiency in our school rooms than at present, ard- yet we are trying to reduce it to a very low level. 'Our police jnust remain at their duties, our miners, our seamen, our: ruihvaymen, and somfe othera must remain at their work, and still no effort is made to' retain those upon whom .tha future well-being of the nation largely depends. 1 think, sir, that instead of: finding fault with the Catholic Church, foi doing its obvious duty, we should, thank it for making apparent to us thovery serious wrong being clone to the. State school-children. Thanking you for. your courtesy,—l am, etc., ( NOT A CATHOLIC. August 11, 1917.

THE FISHING INDUSTRY PROPOSALS FOE ASSISTANCE. The Chief Inspector of Fisheries, in h'ia annual report, expresses the opinion tha'i the Government should encourage and ae-' sist the municipal councils of the principal cities in the erection of suitable fish markets and in the adoption of as. system of distribution of fish from thesa markets, and in supplying inland town and country districts with a regular supply of fresh and cured fish. For the purpose of assisting the present fishermen and encouraging more fishermen to engago in fishing, the insnector makes the. following recommendations:— (1) That the Government advance money to fishermen for the purchase of suitable boats and fishing outfit. (21 The insurance of fishermen's boats by the State Fire Insurance Office. "(3) The erection of fish-chilline and icemaking plants in outlying parts of the coast so as to ensure all fish reaching market in a perfectly fresh condition. (4) Encourage fishermen to go in, for purse-seining by a practical demonstration of the use of this net on the various? fishing erounds around the coast. By this method fish' can be taken in verylarge quantities and at small cost in comparison to trawling. (5) Giving a bonils en fish tanned and 1 cured for export, and also on the pro-; Mnction of fertiliser manufactured from fish-offal and unmarketable fish. At pvpepnt. fisherman are wHdng Tinder great difficulties, and unless they can get either a better nrice from the wholesale merchant for their fish or rt-ceive seme assistance from the Government there is: a risk that numbers may have to seekother employment from which they can' receive- a higher and steadier income toenable them to meet the increased cost: of living. .