THE BURDEN OF THE RICH.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 216, 11 September 1911, Page 4

THE BURDEN OF THE RICH.

There is one feature of the Budge' speech, to which we fire inclined to take strong exception—the proposed remission of the gift duty. The Premier telb us that the condition of the revenue warrants this concession. But surely the justification for the death duties and gift duties is that they are levied upon the class best able to contribute to the support of the State, and this is not the section of the community that most urgently needs the remission of taxation. It Seems to us that the case in favour of gift duties is as strong to-day as it was nearly two years ago, when the Premier and the Attorney-General introduced the Dea.tli Duties Bill. Speaking to this question, Sir John Findlay declared:— "It has been positively scandalous that this' thing has been allowed to go on so long"; and in reference to one particular case he added: "The method of gifts 'inter vivos' was designedly followed for the purpose of evading the payment of duty, and though the total estate ran into a million pounds the total amount of duty the State got out of it was £3OOO of £4OOO, and -that was through some oversight oa the part of the testa-tor in connection with his gifts." In similar terms Sir Joseph Ward ih the Lower House pointed out that many large estates have escaped taxation altogether at death through gifts during the life of the donor, and he spoke strongly in favour of the principle laid down in the bill. This measure, as our readers may know, exempts from duty all gifts of not more than £SOO to any one person In six: months. This means that a man may hand over £ 1000 to every member of his family annually free of duty, and this seems to us to be a fairly liberal margin. The survivors of the* people who can afford to do that will not suffer seriously if the rest of the estate is taxed on the present scale. We cannot see that anything has happened recently to invalidate the arguments that the Premier used in 1909 in support of the bill, and we do not believe that the House or the country is likely to view with approval any step that suggests a desire to protect the interests of the relatively wealthy at the expense of the average taxpayer.

An infuriated jersey hull *, McDonald, who was moving about a pen of cattle at Mr? stock sale at East Tamaki on si j" 8 Mr. McDonald sustained sever* S about the legs, and hi 3 body bruised. He escaped further 23 jumping over a barbed-wire fenef * .Shortly before 10 p. m . on J, J night two men who had taken n«? ol a dinghy attempted to reach the yard Pier by paddling with ni,! ya " board, but they made little moS ° ! mg 10 the choppy sea running j °*' fore long the boat was caught by? bt ' and overturned. The me n ' a help attracted two passeri-by r, a S v° r son and Wallace, who immediSJ I' out to the rescue. Both unfnrt were pulled out of the water h hausted condition. It ls undorZS ~** one, who could not swim, was sunn by the other till help a nlZ mH ' 1 . Dudley Stackp -> O l, w l lo von th„ m in ISew Zealand in 1863, and nil C ' four other medals, one of which tho Crimea, died in Ware Workhmfi few days ago at th e age\f our London Correspondent). w P ; know, of course, what actually W n ,°f the gallant veteran to B forkh UgM Possibly, like so many been heroes ou the stricken fiel/T proved unfit for undisciplined dtil'lin and came to grief through hia om {3 Even so,-it is to England* shamet£ man with Dudley StackpOoi's roJLJ should end hi, day. in & and find burial m a pauper's grave nothing better than an iron number to mark his last resting place.

There is resident in Belfast to-dav „„ old lady, Mrs Maria Magee, who has had some stirr:ng experiences with the s"tk Middlesex Regiment--tho famous "jDi hards"—in various parts of the world and notably in New Zealand durin- tb Maori wars of half a century a"o °«h is the widow of the lat e Private" Charted Magee, who served twenty yean in n 67th, fought with it hi the Crimea !: badly wounded at the Storming of tk Redan, and died twenty-four years aso A son-in-la-w also served with th» 57 th in the Crimea, and di s tinguished himself by saving tie llfn of Colonel Weir, of th e 57th. A son alsj served in the 57th. In the fierce fightir in New Zealand during tM Maori nt Mrs Magee accompanied the 57th, ay was often under fire helping the and she was present at the Woody action which marked the storming and capture of the celebrated Kai-taka-turia Fa, the 57th covered itself with glory ij carrying that stubbornly defended stockade, and lost heavily in doing do. "I looking after the poor wounded fellows" said Mrs Magee to a pressman, in speaking of the action, "and everyone to calling upon his mother his ylife, or his children. That's what the Soldier ih ways cries for when he is dying, and ha always sends a message to those he loves."

Tho Avon Licensing Committee refused to grant' a conditional license for the New Brighton Trotting Club's ttaj days' meeting this month. The president of the club, in placing tile position before the committee, stated that tin question ot whether an application for i conditional license was granted or not did not affect the amount of iiquof to sumed. A't present a drag ran betweb the hotel and the course between the races, and some of the infill landed back at the -.course half intoxicated. Large quantities of liquor were brought on to the grounds, and he knew of one instance in which 4, party of young men bad 'taken liquor into the stand, s:lt. the. presence of ladies, and had got 'Vastly drunk." Buck instances were frequent, and were due to the club not having a booth which it could properly contM. The mother reef of greenstone r(:6nt« ly discovered is high up in the momtains in the Arahura district, and is a vast outcrop, amounting to millions of tons. A syndic-ate has becii lortted to exploit it. The deposit has been inspected by Mr P. F. Danilil, FiG.S., and Mr. John .Hayes., i1.1.M.C., who confirm the discovery. Ths green•stone is of volcanic origin, and tie original fissure in which thii ; _ deposit occurs lias been discovered. .Lhis is tlifi lirst deposit of jade discovered-for 2W years. One runner from the crater ol the syndicate's property on actual measurement shows 370,000 tons of gritstone. This has been examined by Mt G. Shiltoii, who values the deposit at between 2/ and 6/ per lb on tie fie!. The syndicate's area is two and a-Jinll miles long, by half a mile in width, go as to include all possibility of bthifcf dfcpoati. from the same fissure.

The Tavanaki Petroleum Compaq having cabled, an inquiry to .Mr. J; ; Henry, as to whether his principals cfcj reserve 50,G00 additional slin-cs in lnew company for New Zealand, havefrj eeived a reply that it is intended w « ' 55,000 shares in New Zealund.. Thtt addition to the shares allotted m P»j payment to shareholders of the fsrati Petroleum Company. Two brothers, who arrived from H" land by till 6 Surrey last week, mj raither strange and unplelaailt Bf® ei.ee during their first d'ay ui t>ie pire city. They were miners, wo *■■ making for Grej-moutli to look for fffi and neither bad much capital to Bpafter the passage-money W wen p i As soon as they got clear of the iM ■, steamer 011 Tuesday, tihey / to the Mapourika for the final stag.' the journey. They siad ka-rdly go* board the latter Vessel When a W; struck up a. conversation with tntrni, -i after discovering that they were on way to Greymouth. he stated ' tha tvaij his destination Also. lie • ur . ~. formed them that he Was a : and, sulkequcntly, offered <&oh .. tion at £2 5/ a week, this offer Wgf . accompanied t>y a hint that the e . he further advancement in tie 1 As the boat was not leaVitlg . hour or so, the "storekeeper his two "employees" to come a . > a drink" at a city hotel, and u ; trio repaired. The "storekeepC, ing some excuse, presently vr. the Qvote] ftSone, and suteeq" 'A turned with the announcement was unable to cash a cheque > g ever, suggested that, if ®icn® ■, jj newcomers had a twenty-pouri j,i Won id assist him. Neither brothers had £2O, Ibllt one pr<\,, igt and another £5, and it i« «' the "storekeeper" took both presumably for the. purpose ? .ijrjji a further assault on the cas cheque. He did not- come W<*ml 0 ever, and for the past three . English miner has been wall l $ . ilowh Che city locking for the ~ ■ offered him that "petition' «' The final entries for the Society's spring flower shoj g in the Choral Hall on Friday next are 121. In all blooms are to be shown, and tots will stage daffodils only' wall be opened at 2.30 p.m. 0 r • j». and the Bavarian Band will tendance on both dajs. [it The entertainment fr , miisfcal plays, "Cups and "The Knave of Hearts, will in St. Sepulchre's Parish Hall, stret, on Thursday next.