WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3580, 16 September 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE GIFT AEROPLANES.

THEIR DISPOSITION.

(Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Sept 15. The general impression that a syndicate farmed in Timaru for the promotion of an air service between the South Canterbury capital and Mount Cook has' been receiving undue favours in the distribution of the gift aeroplanes was voiced in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. Witty/the member fo,r Bicearton, and Mr. Howard the member for Christchurch South. Mr. Witty asked the Minister of Defence if the report that the Gov? e'rnment had presented several aeroplanes to the Timaru syndicate was true and if so would the Canterbury Aviation Company, with head-quar-ters at Stockburn, be equally well treated. Sir Heaton Khodes replied that

the machines had not been given or ev>n Tent to the syndicate. They had merely been, s'nt to Timpru pending an agreement between the syndicate and the Air Board. Later in the day, replying to a similar question from Mr. Howard, the Minister reiterated his former statement. CONFLICTING AUTHORITIES. It seems now that the disposal of the gift aeroplanes has been a matter of discussion between the Canterbury Company, and Timaru Syndicate and the Air Board for some time past and that during the progress of the discussion the question of authority has become a little confused. Last night, some time after Sir Heaton Rhodes had answered the questions in the House, the Hon. J. G. Coates, the Minister in charge of the Air Board, stated to a reporter that the aeroplanes had been consigned to Timaru without .his knowledge and that he had asked the Board for a report upon their disposition: When he received this report he would confer with Sir Heaton Rhodes, the Minister of Defence, on the subject. Meanwhile he could promise the machines would not be handed over to the Timaru syndicate till' the whole position had been fully considered. ' LAND AND INCOME TAX.

Yesterday the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, which of late has been raising a loud remonstrating voice, in the criticism of public finance, unanimously adopted a motioa demanding .that the Government should set up a Commission to report upon the incidence of taxation in the Dominion before proceeding further with the Land and Income Tax Amendment Bill. Several of the speakers denounced the general tenor of the Bill,-while others protested against individual clauses declaring, they were inequitable and a. breach of faith with investors and traders. It is expected that Mr. Massey will not be adverse to the appointment of a commission of inquiry, but that he will insist upon getting the amount of revenue he has estimated and will listen to no appeal for substantial reductions. THE TENURE BATTLE. The report of the Lands Committee on tbe Te Aroha Crown Leases Bill' again was "talked out" in the House of Representatives yesterday. The Opposition, of course, came from the Liberal, Labour and Independent benches, Mr. Lysnar, a semi-independent, being the ouly speaker among the Reformers. The contention of the member for GisborneNvas that the conversion of the Te Aroha' leaseholds "into freeholds, while freeing the State of a bad asset would not necessarily imperil the national' endowments. But the combined Opposition stigmatised the proposal as the thin end of the wedge that was going to shatter the last fragments of the Ballance-Seddon land policy, and announced its determination to exhaust evei'y form of the House in its effort to avert this catastrophe. Wo doubt Mr. Massey will discover some means of overcoming this obstruction, but meanwhile the lease-holders are putting up a- sturdy fight.