DISTRIBUTING THE BURDEN.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 4 December 1916, Page 4

DISTRIBUTING THE BURDEN.

WELLINGTON, Dec 1 The dairymen who have been sending deputations to Ministers to protest against the butter tax, and who have been receiving little lectures from the Acting Prime Minister and the Minister for Agriculture on the privileges and duties of citizenship, still have a lingering suspicion at the back of their minds that they are not being quite fairly treated. Their case is that any sacrifice involved in keeping down tho. cost of living should ho equitably distributed over the whole community, just as the cost of maintaining public services and providing for defence is distributed. Tho argument is plausible enough, and on the face of it not unsound. Its spirit has been given weight

in the settlement with the Australian miners by the provision that any loss arising out of the concession of the bank to bank clause shall be borne by the State. But in wan time -it is impossible to distribute taxation with tho mathematical precision that .would be the aim of the perfect system. The necessary end may have to be reached through a rough and ready compromise. Sir Joseph Ward was careful to stress thi s point when introducing his first War Budget, and if compromise was unavoidable when Parliament was sittino- it is obviously more unavoidable now. Perhaps the outcome of the present controversy over the matter will be. the application of a sliding scale of duties to both exports and imports of primary products with the object of regulating prices without springing stn> prise taxation upon the farmcrs.jpka the meantime dairymen at least have, the consolation of doing uncommonly well in spite of the butter tax