WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 July 1916, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MORTGAGE TAX. PRICE OF BREAD. . (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, June 30. The House was not greatly astonished yesterday when the Minister of Finance innounced that difficulties had arisen in connection with the repeal of the mortgage tax which might result in the proposal contained in the Budget being abandoned for the present. Members who understood the operation of the tax were naturally sceptical about the ability of the Government i.o carry out its promise without seriously impairing its revenue, and even those who did'not, wondered why Mr. Massey arte 1 his friends during their three years of office lad made no attempt to give effect to their iterated and reiterated election pledges in this direction. Sir Joseph Ward was perfectly" frank about the matter. He did not like the mortgage ta:j. He never had liked it. The tax inevitably was passed on to the farmers in the shape of an increase in their rate of interest and so became a special burden upon the producers . But a closer investigation had satisfied him that the repeal of the tax would mean a loss of revenue amounting to fully £340,000 and that the income fax it was proposed to substitute would yield only £170,000, so that there would'be a net loss of at least £170,000, a much larger sum than lie could spare at the present time.

THE HOUSE OOXCUES. Tlie debate that followed the Ministor's statement, stimulated no doubt by the fact that for the first time within a dozen years the committee proceedings were bc-nji reported in Hansard, was one of the most animated that has taken place this session. Mr. l'oarce could not believe the Minister's figures wore, correct and built up a ease for the repeal of the tax, whatever it might cost, which Mr. Hir.dmarsh with a rather better understanding of economies demolished with all the logic and common-sense he could compress into a ten-minutes speech. M.v. Anderson took the committee back to tin! spacious days when he was a ''Xnight of Labor." standing shoulder to shoulder with John Ballance in an heroic effort to save the masses from the rapacious clutch of the classes, and quoted from a speech delivered by Mr. John Bryce to show that in even those times 'there was an awakening conscience among the Tories which recognised the inherent justice of the mortgage tax. There, were repeated appeals during the debate for a general readjustment of the burden of taxation, Mr YVilford, Mr. Veitcli, and Mr. Ell dealing with this subject particularly well, and the Government cannot complain of any lack of the criticism it has invited. But the House practically agreed that the mortgage tax must remain. THE STAFF OF LIFE. The production of the first, interim report of the Board of Trade, which bears internal evidence of having been in the bands of the Minister of Industries and Commerce, for some weeks, has not aroused a. great deal of interest bore. The members of the Board have done their part of the business well enough, showing that the bakers could sell the 41b loaf over the counter with a good margin of profit at li'-d. and recommending that price should be fixed by proclamation, but apparently the Minister is not to be hustled into -i renunciation of his free-trade ideas. The figures compiled by flic Board, prcumablj after the closest investigation, seem to leave no doubt about the cost of manufacture with wheat at given prices, but tlie millers representatives' ai»l the bakers are protesting that incidental expenses which vary from time to time have not been taken into account, ar.d that the adoptior of the Board's recommendations would leave them without a living wage. Protests of this kind were expected, as the silent acceptance of tlie recommendations would have been a confession of exorbitant profits, but if Mr. Massey took his courage in both hands and stood by the Board doubtless the milliner and baking trades would go on much as usual.

*VAR NEWS. None tno soon a voice has boon raised in Parliament against tlio quality and character of ihe war news being supplied to the Now Zealand public through the agency of the Press Association. When Mr. Wilford asked the Prime Minister to "convey to those responsible for the nauseating pill'le cabled out to New Zealand about the An/aos an intimation that this is not the sort of news we want in this country." several members jumped to the conclusion that the oilieial correspondent ought to be blamed for what was occurring. But neither Hie oilieial correspondent nor the Press Association, as both Mr Wilford and Mr. Massey made plain, is responsible for the rubbishy news with which the newspapers (re deluged. It is the news agencies in London, trading in trivialities and sensations largely For political purposes, that provide the' Now Zealand press with the sort of stuff Mr. Wilford described as "nauseating pill'le." These agencies are controlled by great uows-inoiigoring magnates who have as little acquaintance with, the requirements of the people of this country as they have respect for the best traditions of'journalism. But their financial position is so strong and their influence is so widespread that no crganisation like the Press Association eov.ld free itself from the taint of their method--. No doubt the Association does its best, nut through no fault of its own its best, as in the ease mentioned by the member for Hutt, is very bad indeeu.