CORRESPONDENCE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10710, 2 September 1912, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE

PROTECTION AM) TAX All OX, PAST AND PKESKNT.

(To tho Editor Wairarapa Ago.)

Sir,—-"Ainu never is but always to bo blest," is as true to-day as »vh«u tho poet wroto it. Every generation has its panacea lor "all the ills that ilpsh.ia.heir to." Our salvation in another world is assured by our attendance at some, little Hot hoi or 1 articular Fbenozer here. At present we are led to believe that our political wrongs are to be righted and freedom from taxation accomplished by means j of tho United Labour Party or Taxcrs of Land Values of which Party the lion G. Eon-Ids is an accredited apostle doing his best for the faith that is in him. Whether or not they ore Ito bo successful remains to bo seen. Ono thing they deserve credit for is I their exposure of "Protection" that does not protect a« reported m the Liberator of July loth. According to it tho tariff on flour, boots and clothing exceeds tiio amount paid in wages in°all the abovo industries. Here is a c/rave charge, and .something for the, electors to think about. In tho same, journal is a report of Mr V» lthy s evidence before the Cost of Living Commissioners, showing how we are taxed from the cradle to the grave. Now as like causes produce like results every where it will bo seen that in spite of our boasted progress it is merelv a case of history repeating itself after the lapse of a. good part of •! century as Lord Brougham in support of 'a Bill for the Greater Freedom of Trad* said, "Permit me to inform you, mv friends, what are the inevitable consequences of being too fond of glorv: Taxes upon every articlewhich enters into the mouth or covers "tho back, or Is placed under the foot—taxes upon everything which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste—taxes upon war.nth, light,'and locomotion—taxes on everything on earth, and the waters under the earth, on everything that comes from abroad or is grown _ at J home—taxes upon the raw materialtaxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man —taxes on the sauce that pampers man's appetite, and the drug that restores him to health, on the ermine which decorates the judge, and tbt. ropo that lmigs the criminal—or. the ;>oor man's salt, and the rich man's spice—on tho brass nails of the cotfin, and the ribbons of the bride—at'bed or board wo must pay taxes. The schoolboy whips his taxed top—the beardless youth manages Ins taxed horse; with a taxed, bridle on a taxed road—and the dying Englishman, pouring his medicine which has paid seven per cent into a spoon that has paid fifteen per cent., flings himself upon hift chintz! bed which has paid twenty-two per cent., makes his will on an* eight pound stamp and expires in the arms of an apothecary, who lias paid a license of a hundred poundr. for "the privilege of putting him to •death. His whole property is then immediately taxed from two to ten per-cent. Besides tho probate large fees are demanded from burying him in the chancel, his virtues are handed down to posterity on taxed marble, and lib is then gathered to his fathers to be taxed no more." Now, at electioneering times when Protection is under discussion this aspect of tho question is for personal and political reasons kept in the background. Then tho Hon Bunkum or Plausible urges in its favour tho arguments our great-grandfathers were used to listen to. •Ho waxes eloquent over the injustice of expecting the operatives of this favoured kind to compete with the "pauper" labour of Europe, and with a good deal of "soft sawder" appeals to this'large-and intelligent audience to put him in power so that he may aid in taxing and taxing heavily any goods of foreign manufacture which wo ought to make , ourselves. Well, with the experience [ of the past before them it is to be | hoped that the same audience will use | their "intelligence" to place him at the bottom of the poll, and if they don't they deserve to suffer. —I am, etc. REFORMER. • Masierton, September Ist, 1912.