The Daily News. MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1919. BENEFICENT BEQUESTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 August 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1919. BENEFICENT BEQUESTS.

The bequests made by the late Sir S. McCaughey, who gave by his will £1,250,000 out of an estate valued at £1,500,000 to educational, religious and charitable purposes, afford material for conjecture as to why so few of the wealthy people fail to recognise that the country wherein they have amassed large fortunes has some claim for recognition when the owners pass to the Great Beyond. In Britain the custom of making bequests that will benefit educational, religious, charitable, and other organisations is fairly common, but in the Dominions all too rare. There are, of course, a far larger number of people of great wealth in the Motherland than in the Dominions, the value of deceased persons' estates being also far higher on the average, but that is a reason why the needs of the younger countries should be remembered by the wealthy when making a disposition of their earthly possessions. Australia is older in development than NewZealand, so that it might reasonably be expected that the number of rich people there is greatly in excess of that in New Zealand, and that the value of large estates is also much higher. Last in

Britain, there was only one deceased person's estate that equalled that of the Australian, Sir S. MeCaughey, but the British Chancellor had the benefit of death duties totalling £31,674,000, while the Dominion's Finance Minister only netted £805,511. An examination of the statement recently compiled by the Commissioner of Taxes for New Zealand shows the growth of wealth that is talcing place here. The fact that there are seventy-five landowners paying tax on incomes exceediug £IO,OOO a year, eighty-six between £7OOO and £IO,OOO, and 184 be-

tween £4OOO and £7OOO speaks for itself, especially when the capital value of their estates is taken into account, the estimated private wealth of the Dominion amounting to £376,332, 763, or an average of £343 per head of population. Amongst .the trades and manufacturers there were sixteen with incomes exceeding £IO,OOO a year, 13 between £7OOO and £IO,OOO, 64 between £4OOO and £7OOO, while among the professional men only one had an income of over £IO,OOO, and two received between £7OOO and £IO,OOO. If the companies are not taken into account there were altogether 114 incomes of over £IO,OOO a year, the bulk of tax- | payers (23,621) having incomes below £650. The number of taxpavers jumped last year from 14,000, in 1914-15 to 25,400, exclusive of landowners, who previous to 1915 were not taxed for income. Probably war profits are mostly I responsible for this advance, but it shows that the wealth of the |Dominion has materially increased, I and the question is whether those who have grown comparatively rich will recognise that they owe a duty to the Dominion as part" of the responsibility of their increased possessions. The bequests of Sir S. McCaughey come as a timely and fitting example which might well bear fruit, not, probably to the same extent, but in a lesser degree. It is, of course, only just that wealthy people should provide fittingly for their wives and children, but there are a fairly good number who have no dependents on them, only distant relatives who have no real claim to benefit under testamentary dispositions, and these might well consider the claims of the church, education, scientific research and the improvement of conditions of life for the community. A new country like New Zealand affords a large scope for those who have acquired wealth here to forward movements and objects that would have an appreciable influence in enabling the country to take its place as one of the best, most enlightened and progressive parts of the Empire. At the present time the majority of people find the cost of living renders it difficult to make both ends meet. Moreover, there is a feeling that the large incomes are not bearing their full share of the burdens, though they are heavily taxed. Judging by the way the heroic taxation in New Zealand has been met, and by the larger amount of capital at call in the banks, it is evident that the prosperity of recent years has been gratifyingly solid. The growth of incomes is a pleasing sign, but the growth of the altruistic spirit should be equally in evidence. It is worthy of remark that though the taxation of death duties'on amounts under £20,000 are very heavy in New Zealand, the big estates get off more lightly than should be the case. There has been no increase at all in the death duties on the latter during the war. _ It is a source of income that might very well be tapped by the Treasiurer, who could also reduce the taxation in other directions that press unduly on the people.