WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 18 June 1919, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS

TAXATION. SOME- SIGNIFICANT FIGURES. (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, June 1L The acting-Minister of Finance, ths Hon'. A. M. Myers, has a happy knack of presenting the salient features of the public accounts in a form that readily conveys their significance to the lay inind. Yesterday he issued a statement showing the growth of revenue from the land tax and from the income-tax, which ought to go. a long way towards correcting the popular notion that large incomes are not'bearing their fair share of the war expenditure. 'Between 1914 and 1919 the revenue from the land tax increased from £787,451 to £1,51*2,693. while the proportion it bore to the. total taxation declined from 12.97 per cent, to 11.30 per cent., approximately. The>| revenue from the income-tax, on the other hand, increased during the same period from £554,271 to £6,219,335, and | its proportion to the total taxation from 9.'1/ cent, to 46.36 per cent. Part of the growth is, of course, due to the transfer of the assessment of mortgages from' land tax 10 income tax, but the great bulk of it to raising the nrinimnm income tax from 6d in the, pound and the maximum from Ls 4d to respectively Is 3d and 7s fid.

THE PUBItfO DEBT. The-Dominion's during the war-period and the-enormous increase in the public debt are naturally causing much anxiety to thoughtful people. The loans raised daring the period amount approximately to £81,000,000, of which some £55,000,000 have :been raised in New Zealand and some £26,000,000 in London, bringing the country's total debt up to a sum representing, roughly, £l7O per head of the population. But Mr; Myers has no doubt of the Dominion's ability to bear this great :burden, provided all classes of the community unite in preserving stable economic conditions, nor is he an alarmist concerning the industrial unrest prevalent everywhere. He regards it ,indeed, as merely a manifestation. of the great internal struggle for improvement and advancement that is taking place in every section of society. It is the direction of the movement along right lines that concerns him. So far as we succeed in this respect, he says, 1 90 far shall we determine our place [among the nations and our future as a great democracy.

THE COAL CRISIS. The report of the Board of Trade upon coal production and distribution, for which the public has been waiting anxiously for some time past, was presented to the Minister of Mines two or three weeks ago, and was before the Cabinet on Monday, It is understood to be a very full review of the coal position and to contain recommendations of ft far-reaching character amounting, in effect, to the nationalisation of the mines and a material improvement in the miners' conditions. Its main features have been referred by cable to the party leaders, a, course Cabinet deemed desirable before making them public, but so far a reply has been received from Sir Joseph Ward oply, and no further infoifniaticm on the subject can be obtained. Meanwhile the authorities admit that the position is an extremely serious one. It i« even feared that reduced railway service may be forced upon, the country and that shipping and some of the primary industries may be seriously inconvenienced.

ELECTORAL REFORM. '

Wellington, Junel3. The promoters of the local movement in favor of proportional representation (eceived some unexpected assistance this morning frota the publication of the thief returning officer's report upon the recent municipal elections. "I feel," the returning officer states, presumably referring_ to the work of the election®, "that it has grown to an alarming exj tent, so much so that it has become unwieldy and requires the council's attention. I had to trust to the work of thirty or forty irresponsible officers gotafe top speed and working night and day. fot eight days to reach the result." The (remedy he suggests for this unsatisfactory state of affairs is tjert the city should be cut up into five electorates," that the Harbor' Board should be left to look after its pwn elections, and that the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board should be nominated by the City Council and not elected by the citizens,

THE REFORMERS,

All this, of course, is meat and drink to the advocates of proportional representation. It is a aonfessi#!, they contend, that the present systsjn 0 f election ! ias broken down badly, thit the counting of the votes occupies efeht times as long as it would under theirWn system, end that the result may fc may not represent the deliberate intention of the municipal voters.—- They pnfess to be Immensely cheered by tl l esa^ m i ßsion9) and are setting to work tcsor»anise a monstey , deputation to 'waU U m„ Mr' Masaey and Sir Joseph the return of the party leaders |t> the Doi tmmon .with a demand for i e imtnedi-' ftte redemtpion of their pled)) j„ f avor °* .proportional representaticj.

WOMEN'S RIGHTj ThefoiM, agitation for thefemoval of women s disability to ebter Wliament U 111 some measure akin to tli<^ o vement in fftvor hi- proportional reputation. The champions of electoral Jf o rm a ro not burdening their cause witpe other problem, but the>reat majoriT of them approve of the principle of eijity between the sexes in all mattT appertftwpg to the government of tiijountry Their attitude, however, is L e 0Be " aaopted'hy tlie Hon. A. M. M;j 8 w^n addressing the deputation thi3 wa itcd I upon him in Auckland the oL fa-,. I They take it for granted that iiatever [ other business maybo neglectf j n . tjje short session Waj. e]ec . turn Mr. Pa*Wnt an opportraiityjto<o|ien its pdrtolaT Wo w, en representatives. )

THE HOUSING PBOBIfy; The housing -problem; whic4 DDears to be ajl over the Bom%, w reached a p6iiit in Wellington j which it becomes a very grave natii con . eein. At the municipal reeejLj 0 Commissioner Howard yesterd Mayor mentioned the subject as that was calling aloud for the attei n 0 f social reformers. Unless the authorities removed the existing \j or _ aWe conditions, he said, they stand condemned for all time. WeL. stood in sore need of at least swt v houses, and unless it got them the cL troubles would go from bad to wot His Worship was referring only to \ needs of people who can afford to p from £2 to .£4 a week for homes wi reasonable convenienses. ; Modest six seven-room residences ore' as scarce workers' co&uus ...