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Hokitika Guardian, 5 March 1927, Page 1

THE “ LANG.” HA'PENNY NEWSPAPER TAN. SYDNEY. February 24. A new name lias been coined in Sydney for the halfpenny. Jt is the “ Lang.” It- is a sly little tilt at the Premier /Mr Lang) for his imposition of the ha-penny newspaper tax. Among a strange assortment of relics and ancient coins, in n curio dealer’s window, in one of Sydney’s principal streets, is a lonely little ha’penny, which, if it is generally despised, and used mainly in drapers’ 19s ll)d advertisements, to make a pound appear less, is welcomed by the Government. Tagged to the ha’penny in the curio dealer’s shop are -esc words:—“New Australian Coinage : This is one Lang; Two Langs equal one penny ; Used for newspaper taxation purposes, 1926.” Just as the penny is known as a “Brown,” so this little coin of humbler denomination is now likely to be known in Sydney as the “ Lang.” The Government, by the way, is not quite certain even yet, whether this newspaper tax will last until it goes out of office, when it will probably be repealed, for tlie High Court may yet declare it unconstitutional. But Mr Lang is undismayed by any such prospect, for, if the tax is declared illegal, lie lias another tax up bis sleeve—a tax on newspaper advertisements. It is perhaps a case of tit for tat, for the Sydney Press as a whole is not altogether kindly disposed to Mr Lang and his Government.