THE WAR

Horowhenua Chronicle, 6 April 1916, Page 3

THE WAR

i IiLKtmUC TiiLKOUAl'tl-- coi-i uiuux.j fIUUB iMaO.IAI'ION. j THE iiliiliisH iiOiiUifil. Lonuon, Apriit j. CoilLimiiiig his speech on the -Budget the IU. lion. I{. .UcKenna, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that Great JSriUUii'a total iiuleutedness now wa.s XJ, 14(1,000,(JOu. whereoi £308,000.UOU was udvmuvu to our Allies and Dominions. Itelief would come to us m the luLure in regard to these items, but we were responsible now and had to bear the whole die ad weight. lie (stimated the revenue lor the year at £500,000,000 whereoi permanent taxation wa» about £123,000,000. leaving <i deficit of £1,323.000.000. In addition, they would also have to meet a new charge for interest and sinking fund, which wa.-, calculated at- £79,000.000.

Regarding new taxes, the object h would be to get revenue to' meet the t obligations and pay as large a propor--11 tion of the -war ct.st as possible, and distribute fairip? the burden of taxa- " tion. It was, therefore, proposed to impose taxes to bring in £509.000.000. There would be a small increase in tile - income tAx on small incomes, rising to a maximum of 5s on earned in- • comes. Up to £500 of income 2* 3d i would be paid ; £500 to £1000 2s 6cl; 5 and successive stages to 6s* The new 1 scale on unearned incomes would commence at 3s in the £1 on incomes not exceeding £300, rising by sixpenny 1 stages to 5s on incomes exceedling £2000. It wars estimated that the in- : c\.ines would produce £43,000,0C0. The ' super tax would be unchanged. Tiie new Customs and excise taxes - were estimated to bring in £21,800,- • 000. i They would tax amusement ticKets, . including \football and horse racing, 1 rising from a halfpenny io one 'shilling according to the cost oi the seat up 1 to 12« (3d, with an additional shil'ing tor seats above that amount. IX was estimated this worild realize 5 millions, l'hey would also impose a tax on railway tickets, yielding three millions. An additional one penny in the i. duty would be imposed on sugar, yielding £7,000,000. The duty on cocoa, coffee aiifl, chicory wou!l be increased to (3d in the :c, producing £2,000,000. There would be an in ; - ei'cnse on matches of 3s 6d Customs duty and 3s 4id excise duty on every ten thousand matches and on mineral waters an increase* of is per gallon, yielding £2,000,000. Douibi. 1 the present duty was proposed on motor cars up to eighteen horsepower and treble that amount on higher powered machines. On motor cycles not exceeding four horse-power the duty would be increased to two guineas, and on higher powered machines to three-quarters of the duty on motor cars. Motor duties woulcl realize £800,000. The excess profit tax would he increased to CO per cent. THE VERDUN REGION. Paris, April 1. A communique states :—The Germans bombarded the Douaumont-Vaux front with great violence. The infantry strdngly attacked south of JDouauniont in successive waves, followed by coiumn.s. Our artillery, machinegun and rifle fire mowed the enemy down, causing a retreat' in disorder to Chauffour wood, where our artillery inflicted further considerable losses. We progressed north of Cailstte wood. THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. Petrograd, April 4. A communique states: —The floods are still rising. We fired on Germans south of Dvinsk while evacuating their flooded trenches. We repulsed an enemy offensive on the railway west of Tarnopol. We are advancing in n south-wester-ly' direction from Mush and Bit!is.