WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 13 October 1922, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE TAXATION BILL. FURTHER RELIEF WANTED. ' SPECIAL TO GUARDIAN. WELLINGTON, Oct. 11. There is n growing feeling in financial circles here that the concessions proposed in Mr, Massey’s Taxation Bill will not afford the relief needed by many sorely tried companies, firms and individuals that have just managed to keep their heads above water during the last year or so in expectation of better tilings from the Prime Minister. The reduction of the maximum income tax by the amount of the super-tax is

acceptable, of course, to tbe big companies, but it is not going to help them materially in securing the new capital they require, nor in extending the assistance they are giving to their customers. 'Hie necessity for charging very high rates of interest remains, and the prospect of paying remunerative dividends has not improved. The representatives of several companies, and associations have been interviewing Mr Massey during the last few days with various suggestions and it is just possible he may yet see his way to further revise his proposals.

THE EXTREME LABOUR VIEW, hi the midst of his difficulties the Prime Minister is being harrassed by the extreme and irresponsible section of Labour that would have the public believe a still larger proportion of the necessary taxation should fall upon the shoulders of the financial and commercial man and a much smaller proportion upon the shoulders of the workers. The Minister's critics in this respect do not explain how this should be dose, in view of the fact that many of the “big men” are unable to manage their present burdens; but they j arc insistent in their contention that j “private wealth,” as they call it, is i receiving more attention from the Goveminent than is the public welfare. In j dealing with criticism of this kind both Mr Massey and his newspaper allies have the fairness to distinguish between “Extreme Labour” and “Sane Labour,” and probably Mr Holland , and his followers inside and outside the j House are unwittingly doing more to j create a- sound public opinion on fin- j ance than they arc to advance their, own designs upon the constituencies at the approaching election. HYDRO-ELECTRIC POWER. j Members of the House are just beginning to realise that the various hydro-electric power undertakings now in hand are going to cost very much j more than was anticipated. The big' work at Mangahno, which is going to : supply most of the Wellington pro- ■ vinee with power, is a particularly “horrid example” of miscalculation and has formed the subject of several questions in tho House lately. Last night the Minister of Public Works in admitting tlie accuracy of a statement made by Dr Newman, the member for Wellington East, said the work was costing far more than had beou estimated because it had been carried through at peak prices. The demand for current, however, already insured that at the “standard rate” tliei-under-taking would pay. The "standard rale” is to be applied to all the hydroelectric works in the country and the eagerness of the Christchurch City Council to acquire the Lake Coleridge supply at cost price is easily understood.

THE LICENSING CAMPAIGN. The licensing campaign is now in full swing and Wellington as the centre of the organisations of the actively contending parties is being kept fully alive to the fact. At the iiioinent Prohibition Stuck appears to have an upward tendency, owing perhaps to the favourable impression made by several of the visitAig advocates from America, hut friends of the Trade, in close touch with what is going oil express confidence in "Continuance” again being confirmed. The public interest in the campaign is more general than it has been on any previous occasion and the vote in December is sure to he the largest ever recorded both in actual number and mi proportion to enrolment.. Of course such contests never

can he entirely dissociated from party politics, a politician’s own views on

the vital issue counting for smoothing with the electors, hut so far the leaders on both sides have carefully avoided the introduction of the party element.