CONSCRIPTION OF WEALTH.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1918, Page 7

CONSCRIPTION OF WEALTH.

SOME FALLACIES EXROSED. Wellington, Yesterday, lu tha course ot his address to the Bank of New Zealand to-day, Mr. Harold Beauchamp said:— The problem of adjusting the wa< debts of the countries concerned will, when hostilities cease, become one. of the most pressing importance. llow is the burden of debt to be lifted, and what are the steps to be taken iu order to make an equitable distribution of it! Already the glilb tongues of the unthinking are busy with the catch-phrasea "Conscription of Wealth'' and "Levy, on Capital"—terms which, to & certain, section of society accustomed to only superficial examination of complex problems, have a particularly alluring sound, and appear to be considered as affording an easy way to solution of the difficulty.. If by "conscription of wealth" is meant merely that the vast expense of the war must be met largely tiy those who are best able to pay for it, no one could raise any just or valid objection. But when the phrase is used merely as the anthithesis to "conscription of life," it implies that those without property have (been forced to give their lives, whereas the moneyed classes have not, and that, to make the sacrifice eqtlal, the latter should Ibe compelled to surrender their wealth, or else the former should refuse -to make further sacrifices. No imputation could be more unfair or unjust. As far as life is concerned, the rich have made sacrifices ill this war ott a scale, I believe, proportionately greater than the poor. When the call to arms came, the sons of the British, aristocracy; and of what are known as the "imper classes" of society, rushed voluntarily to the Colors, and it is well known that there is hardly a family of any distinction in Great Britain that does not now mourn tho loss of one or more of its male members. As a matter of fact, there are many ancient British houses that will become extinct as a consequence of this war, and many irthers that are threatened with extinction. And what applies in the Old Country applies equally here, although the differences are, oi course, less marked. But, supposing the imputation were true, which it is not, who would contend that the sacrifice of life on the one hand could be equalised by a cash payment on the other? Then, again, what would be the practical result of a ''levy on capital"? It would be nothing more than a penalty on thrift. The man who, by dint of care and'selfdenial, has laboriously built up a little capital out of his savings—and it must t>e understood that the phrase includes all degrees of capital and not merely largo accumulations —is to bo taxed, while the man who has spent, year after year, the whole of his income in perhaps riotous living, is to get off scot free. Could anything be more mischievous? Furthermore, how is such a tax to be assessed? Are a man's cash and investments only to be taken into account, or must all his possessions be included? Surely, it must be the latter, otherwise the man who puts his money into war loan would bo worse off titan the man who invested in pictures, pianos, o> pearls, which is unthinkable. If, for the purpose of this levy, houses and lands, "toaks, machinery, plants, works of art, ■rsonal jewellery, motor-cars, and the undred-and-one items which make up a man's estate have to be valued, when would the process be completed, and ■what would be the ultimate coat? Is the tax to fall only upon the present possessors of capital, and is the capitalist of to-morrow to get off scathless? The war is being waged not merely for the benefit of the people of to-day, but also for the generations yet tmlborn, and it cannot be held to ibe fair or just that the capitalist of to-day should bear the whole or even the larger proportion of the burden. Apropos of the subject, it inav be remarked that an income tax, which even In New Zealand rises to 7» fid in the £, may, in a sense, be regarded as something approaching "conscription of wealth." That we are living in albnormal times is undoubted, and that exceptional measures may. have to .he taken to cope with the situation is probable; but let u 9 determine that they shall, at any rate, be practicable and, as far as possible, fair to> all the interests concerned. Do not let us waste time in considering merely academic questions, selfishly searching for meaa sures which will pomliso one class whilst allowing t'ic o'ass to which we belong to escape scot free.