WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 6 July 1916, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

FINANCE AND TAXATION. (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, July 3. The mortgage tax: continues to be the subject of much discussion about the lobbies and in the city and while waiting for the ministerial guidance which is promised for this evening speculation is as varied as it is uninstrueted The local newspapers are not throwing a great deal of light on the subject The Evening Po3t recognises the complexity of the problem which faces the Minister of Finance, but offers no useful suggestion for its solution It urges the need for readjustment, 11 sound practical lines, but confess s sk to be beyond its own iiigcniii, . , ■>, ""•'■ The New Zealand Times, whicli, n „ «areely necessary to say, in these iiiv. does not speak for the Minister, im» Jet the £170,0(10 contributed by the - rtgagees go and rely upon the big surplus it expects at the end of the year from "war profits." and the increased income tax to make up the lost revenue. This, of course, takes no acount of the fact that the repeal of the morLgage tax without putting some other impost in its place would free mortgaged land to the extent of the present tax from the land tax and so open the way to wholesale evasion as explained by Sir Joseph Ward last week when referring to the difficulty that has arisen. The general opinion here to-day is that the mortgage tax l will be left in its existing fo.rm till after the war. AN OVT'.r; TREASURY. The In-;:, rirphis of £2,1fifi,077 announced in .lie Budget could have been easily foreseen by Sir Joseph Ward's critics had they been less deeply engrossed in urging him to float a local war loan. They were so bent on his helping the Mather Country in their own way that they lost sight of the probability of there being any other way. The figures for the second quarter of the financial year led them astray, because they did not grasp their full significance, and the figures for the third quarter confirmed them in their confusion. The figures for the full year were delayed beyond all precedent, probably for the sake of the dramatic denouncement provided by the record surplus, and in the interval' the critics, with the very best of intentions, became more insistent than ever. Whether the critics' way or Sir Joseph Ward's way was the better it would be out of place to discuss here, and perhaps a little futile, but members of the House, whose opinions are entitled to respect, are predicting that the Minister will be able to provide £4,000,000 or £5,000,000 for the relief of the Mother Country during the current year by following the sinie methods as he followed last lear. This prediction contemplates * surplus nearly twice as large as the one that haV just been recorded and a continued inflow' of savings-bank deposits. The issue of war bonds may provide a further million or two and if this is the case the Dominion will have given a very good exhibition of the self-reli-ance by whim it is animated. SIX O'CLOCK CLOSING. The Petitions Committee has concluded taking evidence in connection with the earlier closing of kotels, has listened to the addresses of counsel and is now preparing its report. The War Regulations Amendment Bill has been delayed for the presentation of tlie report and the provisions of the measure in'regard to the ' liquor trade will depend to a very great extent upon the recommendation of the committee. They will not, however, in oiiv case go beyond "iving the Government power to exercise its discretion concerning early closing. It is still thought that the decision of the committee depends upon the casting vote of the chairman, hut nothing really definite is known on this point and speculation is receiving little assistance from the con. fidence of members. The general public is taking less interest in the question than might be expected and the soldiers at Trmtham scarcely any at all. Tf the licensed houses should be closed at six o'clock by the united wisdom of the committee ami the Cabinet the men in camp would stand sorely in need of some other places of entertainment during their visits to town. This is a problem which the people of Wellington have not yet faced in anything like a comprehensive way. j BOARD OF TRADE. The Prime Minister paid quite a gen-i-roils compliment to the Board of Trado on Saturday morning when he stated in Hie Rouse that it had saved the country some CiOO.OOO by extending for another vear the agreement with the Colonial Sugar Refining Company us to the price of sugar for the next twelve months. No doubt a great deal of the credit for this arrangement, which keeps sugai at a much lower price in New Zealand than in any of tlie other dominions than it otherwise might have been by the Company's verv natural ami proper desire to dissociate itself from certain trading method* that were under review in the Supreme Court a year or two ago. Mr. Massev also complimented the Boardiijiou its successful mission to Auckland in connection with Jie coal trade. But the Minister has not yet given any indication of his intentions m v gard to the first, interim report of the Hoard dealing with the prices of dour ' ''-cad which concern the average con even more intimately than do the pri.-es of sugar and coal, due very important feature of this interim report is the timely emphasis it places on the Heed for better statUti.ai] information. If the Prime Minister had been as well informed as several members of Parliament appear to have been as to the stocks of wheat on hand in I!M4 the country would have made a much hiraer saving than the one resulting from the Board's negotiations with the Sugar Company.