INDIA'S SALT TAX.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 April 1923, Page 2

INDIA'S SALT TAX.

AUSTRALIAN ANI) N.Z. CABLE ASSOCIATION. DELHI, March 30. By a Gazette extraordinary tile Viceroy has a certificate cf the Salt TaJ^^k 1 which was rejected by the Legislative Assembly, and in a clear lengthy, unequivocal statement set out the reasons. He points out that wages are high and prices falling, and the salt tax will in no wise prove burdensome to the masses, whereas the Assembly was unable, after lengthy deliberations to suggest a feasible workable alternative to the tax which will hnlance the current budget nnd the Viceroy considers this essential if reforms are to prosper. The Viceroy states ho has not taken the step without intense deliberation anil examination of every alternative. IB- therefore eert : - fms to the Salt Tax for one year, when the Assembly will have power to reconsider the position.

BALANCING OF BUDGET.

(Received this day at 8 a.m.) DELHI, March 31. The Viceroy’s 'tatcinent accompanying the certificates of the Salt Tax, declares that the recurrence of another deficit, which a repetition of ihe tax would cause, making the sixth in succession, would he disastrous to India’s financial prestige it ml credit and that the balancing of the budget is of more , vital importance than the constitutional arguments regarding the Viceroy’s dealing with the outcry against the burdensomeness of the tax. The statement shows that alien throe rupees per maund, the tax was borne without causing distress or agitation than was now directed against the present 2f rupees tax. (A Maund: lOOlhs Troy, Government measure).