A NOVEL TAX.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 242, 23 October 1879, Page 4

A NOVEL TAX.

The Chancellor of the Eschfqaer ■wben presenting or about to present, his Budget, is annually inundated with eoegestionß »nd advice as (o what article should have a tax imposed upon it ; each would-be legislator of course being equally confident that his is the only right and proper way for diminishing the National Debt, or possibly producing a balance on the credit Bide j The list of articles when read onuses much laughter, and, if the Budget is not bo Batisfactory as it micht be, the Chancellor of the Exetquer benefits by this hilarity, inasmuch as, by the time he is ready to proceed to the lusiness part of bis speech, " the House " is in 8 good humor. Amongst other gratui toos cooosel there was one eu'rg^stion at the last " presentation " that struck OB as being decidedly good. That wes the proposal to tax photographs. The enormous increase of late years in this branch of pictorial art fully justifies the supposition lh*t a small imposition would b8 a great so.vice of revenue ; and as fhe main olject and aim of a Government is to tax luxuries only, leaving intact the noctu. ary commodities of every-day life, it would seem to answer this requirement completely. It cannot be said that photography, especially portraiture, is a necessity, therefore it must come under the head of a luxury. It ia ova of 11 Mary Ann's " chief delights to be "took" with her "young man," and the effigy, costing from sixpence to a Bhilling, will remain in her possession long after the " young man " has transferred his powers of fiSMnation to others; or it may be that Mary Ann herself is somewhat changeable, in which ewe her box will contain a perfect gallery of her own portrait, with the protecting arms of various "youn? men" encircling her waist. Again, sorely it is not a necesssity that photographs of reigning benuties, or eocalled beauties should fill our Bbop windows aide by side with actresses, leaders of the demimonde, malefactors, and murderers, all labelled and ticketed — "Mrs A., 2s 8i"; "Mrs 8., 2a"; " Maud C, 3s "; and " Putney Bill, in great demand 2s 3d "? No, The vanity of human nature, whether displayed, as in the case of Mary Ann, or by the love of publicity, as in the other instances (save and except, perhaps, " Putney Bill"), is fair game for taxation, and well worthy of consideration. At first Bight it would eeem somewhat difficult to collect the tax, or to obtain even an approximate idea of bow many photographs were taken in the year by the various "galleries,' 1 "studios," and " companies " now extant. There are, however, many waya by which this difficulty might be overcome. Either by compelling each artist to take out a license, cosbMJgj B *y> £15 per annum, or by having every card on which the photograph is mounted stamped at so much apiece, as is done abroad with bills and advertisements ; or perhaps the best method of all would be — a fair impost on every lens or apparatus in the studio. It would, of course, increaee the price of photography in a small degree, but that cannot be held up as a disadvantage, or one that the pnblic would feel very strongly about. We doubt if it would diminish the production by so much as one " carte." For a short space certainly the " young men " and " followers " might grumble at having to pay a penny or so extra for Mary Ann's picture, and the contractors for malefactors and beauties might raise the cuckco cry of " injury to trade." Bat that would not cause a revolution or civil war. Even if their trade were alightly damaged by reason of the increased prices, the pandering to human vanity is not an article of commerce that iB essential for the welfare of the country, but rather the reverse. Indeed, it will be a healthy sign when the public are tired of portraits of celebrities themselves, or their husbands perceive how execrable iB the taste which allows of the practice being carried on.

The writer of " Odd Notes" in the Forbes Times tells the following story : — " Corkscrew was the proprietor of a roadside public-house and the owner of a free selection to boot, which he was anxious to get cleared on as good terms as posßible, for himself. He was a

Bplendid financier, and in telling me the following story his eyes sparkled as he remembered how he had paid four men he bad engaged at £1 a week each with a pound's worth of silver. Said he, ' I had four fellows employed in grabbing trees, and each man was to get £1 a week and his rations. This ia how I paid them. On a Saturday night they would all come up to the bar for their wages. I had a pound's worth of silver to work on, and after paying the first man, I kept the others banging about, telling them that I would attend to them in a minute, or excusing myself that I had nothing but some big cheques, but would have Borne notes in presently. In about a quarter of an hour the first man would have got through his silver in "shouting" for his mates, or perhaps lending them a "bob " to drink with until they got their own money. At all events, it all came back to my till, and when the twenty shillings were there I paid the second man. I went through the same 0 ceremony until they were all paid, but after the second was disposed of it be cam* more easy, as they were all pretty well fuddled and couldn't keep count correctly." How rapidly (says the Burlington Hawkey*)% man losses all interest in politics and natiomd finance when he shuts a door on his own thumb.

The reports issued by qhe Treasury Department Bhow ? that for the year ending June 30 the exports from the United States reached the value of 710,000,000d015., and the imports 445.000.000d013. About 100 peasants are exploring for the treasure of Ivan the Terrible, buried, according to an old document, in a wood between Solowivy and Borzy, in the Province of Smolensk. Two gold horse shoes have been found, but a gold cross weighing 33 kilogrammes, and sacks full of coin to the value of 49,000,000 roubles, have yet to be discovered.