The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1905. ABOUT TAXES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7997, 7 December 1905, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1905. ABOUT TAXES

China ami Chinamen, potatoes and IHTambulators are all taxed in Nt»iv /caland with that delightful inconsequence that makes our tariff so uirljuauliful a thing. In the political affray that had its t<tnrm;i!irui yesterday it was that thv candidates altack. <1 with a good deal ol reason son:<» oi the extraordinary ni».*thiKls of raising- revenue. A small amount of duty is to be taken off tobacco, the price of which to tha consumer will not be made, smaller, but the duty on the iucomufg potato which is urgently ixftuired at thu

present time increases automatically according to the market value. The simliny of a ship-lead of food to /.he English unemployed is less kiml than ,the admitting of a duty-free fleet of po!a!r-Uuk'nf ships to New Zealand, where people want them badly. We tax incoming flour for fear that the poor sufteriTs who run the (lourmilling businesses in the <Mintry lnay not lose work. They thank the (.loverninent for this pro-

taction hy "cornering" ami keeping She price up until a loaf is liMy to to' Come a Itixurv. Local industry inufst he protected, and the said industry is protected with thy taxes of the bri'ad-eatars ; r that is to say, the whole pay huge sums in taxation to the State in order that the minority may not lie rubbed out by foi* eign competition. It is pretty hard lines, say, for a man to be cut of work and to still be hit <1 in taxes on his food ur.<l the food hjs fomily.eats, but the smoker is guing to get a slight j vduLttioii in the prict} of hid weed ! "A free breakfast table" "didn't someone promise ? Fro- ham and eggs, colliv, t.ea, ami sugar, bread. crockery, j knives, forks, /ami 'spoons. table ! linen and beniwoi.-d eh airs? Not | quite, but one will )>e content with i what is really speciliid, jK-rlvaps—a | red net ion Id (Ik* retailer on sugar,

and a reduction to the housewife on cheap calico !' The latter will be Ablo to hiw the tuvakfast cloth at least three per yatxl cheaper, tfam she usvd to. Wagw* go up eight »>r nine jjvr cent., cost -of living Ut'iis.iip lifty per eent. The taxes the whole <>f the people pay are ieviefl because it is just and fair to .»e\rral people who wajil t<> get on in the manufacturing i business. iind Uwhoran't gvi on if a lirm from * jvhfpad dare* to rompet". It is a t*jjf)us Ihimj that we don't get fobbed hy ihes't* foivign sharks. The f«'»'eign sharks are h-Id olf with the

i!"i» t nrilY so that th<> liltl.• local can a snap. j 1 *«» x "U think it would teach \r«w Z«'.»lmd }>"oplr a wholesome lesson if an American jinn dumpt*d n million barn-Is Mbt-v us»* banvls, not >ack.M of Hour into tlie count r;. ? And don't you I+iink that Colonial '-m-s would with nslonixhurmt if anyone -dan-d to say that U" in NVw Zi-alan*;! should In 1 ahli- to. I»»i\ otir products at as ch»-ap a rnl«» as the London people art* alih» to? The politicians of thi« • country are extremely an«iry when the foivign trust shows a now aluw a Pacific wave. hut tin* politicians do not say a word about the colonial hri "uity of making hup' profits out of thi* 1 leavings of our meat and other stable articles. Many people in liritain affect 'to <lrspi*e j prim..' Nisw /calami mutton. Wo iiv Xcw Zoaluml cannot afford to ikspisfi it. Remember »Ihat ll»c tax»i»j» of one food that is scam* is thj) means ui raisim^Uie

substitutes. Thus while sound potatoes are ,so great a novelty that they will soon ;be used as chain pendants, the humble carrot, and other sorts, rise in price simply because the tfc'mfml increases; The Chinese are having booming times with the banana business. We lax the Chinaman—he taxes the banana. Vou pay three times I it.' price for the cup you are drinking out of than it is worth. It comesj say, from Staffordshire, and is made specially for export to the colonies. Why do

you pay 7d for a cup that is sold at ljd or 2d in England ? Just because some colonial manufacturer may at some time burst forth into the cup-making trade. You must protect him before he conies—and he isn't here yet. .V beautifully simple system is carried on /by colonial manufacturers who have had the temerity to start • making something. Take that simple cup again as an example—at Stafford 3d ; in New Zealand 7<l. A colonial begins making cups. His price "is fkl. Ho wants that extra penny for trouble he has 'been Jto in ' being protected into existence by the Government. If the duties on the necessaries of life were entirely removed, wages would go down a lit tie of! course, but people wouldn t need .so much wages. Workers can demand a fair wage. They Can also demand a free breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper table. The man uhr has a hundred thou-

santl acres and 1,(100 prize merino shwp might not .see eye to eyi? vvfth ihv worker, init if hr had "six h j( a day, \wl -days stopprtl," hi* would not like to pay tax for food ho ato on the uvt days. A htingry man is an Rngry man. Ho haven't many hungry men or women in Xew Zealamt, but that isn't the result of uy benefit arising out, of our s.vs!etn of ta.xinjf if>o<[-stu!Ts. If Nature shot down on lis to-monow, a lot of men niui women woukl he angry because Californian potatoes were threepence a pouiid. especially if they hadn't got the threepence.

TilK I'AIi.VNAIvI SEA'J'.

I o those who were in touch with the real political feeling- in the Turanaßi electorate, the re-elect iui of Mr K. -M. Smith will bo mreivod with equi.uunity. Hh-v were never for a moment in doubt a« to the result'of the poll, and their conli-dence in the election oi the (Jovernnient notnijieo was absolute. This ieeling was not, however, shared by those who were to a certain exUnt Irewikiered by the plethora of candidate* plulgvd to sup- ' port Liberalism, not by those whose interests were pledged in Liberalism plus No License, but the majority oi ihe people have recognlsul their indebtcdmss to the (iovetmnviit for the benefits the colony has received l»y means of that progressive legislation which has been such a marked ■ eatureof the Seddon administration, and they have metaphorically rallied rour.-d the (Jovernmenl ilag, thereby ensuring the return of Mr K. M. Smith—one of the staunchest adherents that the Ministry numbers among its adherents. The victory all the more creditable to the meiik Ijer elect by reason v»i the excellent <pial ficatious possessed by tHo other candidates, both Liberal ami Conservative. The fight has been r, strenurus one, but it has been conducted by the contestants with a fairness that prows they possess the essentials (or the performance of the highest public da tics with which they may be entrusted. Mr Smith has, in the past, worked well for the public; ami has proved that he (has the best interests of the colony and of his district at heart. He may well be proud of the recognition of these ef"ortsbv his constituency, while at the same time he may justly regard his re-election as being primarily intended to show the continuedconfidence of his constituents in the policy of the Government. Wo congratulate him on his success, and trust that it will induce him to redouble his efforts for the furtherance of the Welfare oi the district. To the other candidates we also extend our hearty Congratulations on the excellent way in which they have gone through a very trying oixleai. Th.it they will take I heir defeat in the same spirit is a matter of certainty. They have all mode many Dew friends, and raised themselves in the esteem of their >llow men. Though defeated, they have all done creditably, and some of them ma\ on a future occasion have the good fortune to be on the winning side.