WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 September 1920, Page 4

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

NEW TAXATION

CONFLICTING VIEWS. (Qur Special Correspondent). ■ WELLINGTON, Sept. 10. While the members of the Liberal and Labour parties are declaiming against Mr Massey’s failure in his Land and Income Tax Amendment Bill to place a fair share of tho country’s burdens upon lug estates and big incomes, iiis political friends are coniplaiping that the Prime Minister has conceded! far too much to the persistent cjeinand of the “socialistic” element in the community. “It is,” tjie “Dominion” says, “a measure very severe ip its c]cnumd! on persons of substantial income ape} large holders of land. It no| only perpetuates, but it aggravates the ipjpg-. tice done to shareholders of joint stopk companies. It seems likely in some cases to prove Ijftle slioft of confiscation of the .whole income. The outstanding feature of the Bill is its direct appeal to popularity.” These isolated paragraphs do no injustice to the general tenor of the Reform organ’s Renunciation of the party leader’s proposals. A. BUSINESS i\IAN’S VIEW.

Mr Harold Beauchamp, who, as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of New Zealand, finds it desirable to keep his eye upon the political drift of the country, as well as upon its financial and commercial affairs, speaks with oven a greater sense of responsibility than does the average newspaper. Ho is restrained in his expressions of opinion, but lie evidently does pot like Mr Massey’s proposals. He confesses be was unpleasantly surprised by the manner in which the Minister of Finance proposed to obtain his additional revenue. The Minister did not appear to be entirely conversant with the effect his previous taxation was having. The mercantile community was being laden with charges it could not pass on to the public anil no one could foresee how grave the result might bo. Mr Beauchamp still thinks the import and export tax he proposed at the beginning of the war would have brought about a much more equitable distribution of the country’s burdens than has any scheme that has been adopted. THE LICENSING POLL.

Last night the Licensing Amendment Bill sent down from the Legislative Council produced a long discussion on licensing matters in general. The Bill itself is intended merely to prevent an evasion of the spirit of tho existing law by. making it impossible to transfer a license beyond the limits subscribed by tho Licensing Act of 1008, but the motion for the second reading opened up the whole subject of liquor for debate. The most notable contribution .to the discussion came from tho Prime Minister, who, while supporting rhe Bib before the Hou,se, said it was unlikely there would be any important amendments to the Licensing Act prior to the next licensing poll, which probably wool cl take place at the time of the next general election. If the liquor trade survived the next poll, however, it would be the duty of' Parliament to deal with it as it had not been dealt with for the last twenty yc;ars. Mr Massey’s statement was received with approval by the Prohibition element in the House and later on it may attempt to get the fqrm of the ballot paper amended.

TOWN AND COUNTRY. Taranaki and its small farmers are finding a very ready champion in the House of Representatives in Mr Robert. Masters, the new member for Stratford. Mr Masters, though, a clear and logical speaker, wastes no time in superfluous talk and is not parochial in his views. But when the small farmer is attacked from tho Labour benches or from any other quarter, Mr Masters is all attention and hits back without delay. On Wednesday night, while stone-walling the scheme for apprenticing English lads to farmer, the Labour members had a lotto say about “child slavery” in the milking districts and when lie got his opportunity Mr Masters countered very effectively. He showed from official reports that the children of Taranaki,instead of being stunted in body and intellect as had been alleged, were among the most robust and intelligent in the Dominion, and ,he thought an inquiry among any considerable community of small farmers would reveal similar conditions. It was the big towns, lie insisted, that required earnest attention in this respect.