The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, September 7, 1909. TAXING UNEARNED INCREMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 477, 7 September 1909, Page 2

The Manawatu Herald. Tuesday, September 7,1909. TAXING UNEARNED INCREMENT.

In reference to the intention of the Home Government to lax the unearned increment of land, a few facts may be mentioned to show what scare of the large landholders of Great Britain owe the country that has given them their wealth. The Portman estates, we are told, consisting of 220 acres, were rented in 1512 for ,£8 per annum. They let to-day lor £r,890,000. The Duke of Westminster draws ,£3,000,000 annually as rental on the 400 acres of land which lie owns in the city, and his Grice recently gave notice to the aged men on his estate to apply to the Government for old age pensions. Lord Howard de Walden is paid an annual rental of £2,900,000 for 292 acres ; Karl Cadogan draws £1,500,000 for 200 acres ; and the Duke of Norfolk, “who cannot afford to give his native land a picture,’' gets £1,500,000 for the rent of his extensive properties in the Strand. “At present,” says the Rotherham Advertiser, “these gentlemen don’t pay any land tax. The tax has been cunningly laid on ‘lands and properties,” and the tenant pays, generally speaking, what the State asks for in one sum.