LONDON LETTER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 103, 2 May 1936, Page 19

LONDON LETTER.

A SIMPLICITY JOKE. KIPLING'S FORTUNE. TRADE AND THE LAW. ' i (From Our Own Correspondent.) , .LONDON. England is inclined to regard the report 011 the simplification of income tax as the joke of the week. Certainly very few people have made an attempt to wade through the 800 pages in which the "simplification" is explained. The present five taxation "schedules" are to be replaced by two "groups" and 15 "classes"; and we are to have a clear statement of all the frightful penalties that hang over our heads if we try to escape payment. That is about all the average taxpayer can understand.

He is' therefore all the more awestruck at the thought of the eight and a half years' labour which has gone to the making of this "simplification." The committee lias spent all that time, studying the welter of income tax law. It has just been solid brain-work, with not even the diversion of interviewing witnesses. The mere drafting of the new bill, after the reforms luid been decided upon, necessitated over 1000 meetings, some of them lasting a whole day. How Kipling Made His Money.

Though Rudyard Kipling's £1.15.000 fortune places him among the richest British authors who have pver lived, his estate is a good deal smaller than many people expected. Sums as high as £7:50,000 were forecast. Certainly Kipling would have left a colossal fortune had he not preferred to make many gifts during his lifetime. His royalties were enormous. Three and a half million copies of his books were sold in Britain alone, apart from hundreds of thousands in the Dominions and colonies. His royalties from America totalled over £350,000 —nearly three times the whole amount left in his will. Besides his books, Kipling could always command at least £100 for the shortest magazine story he eared to write. Now that death duties are so heavy, a will is seldom any guide to a .mail's fortune. Most rich men dispose of the bulk of their money by gift before they die.

Slack Time for the Law. It seems only yesterday that there was a general outcry over the law's delays, and more judges were being demanded to clear up the heavy arrears of cases waiting for the courts. Now the Hilary Term has with a positive dearth of litigants. C w e would like

to be able to ascribe this pleasant state of affairs to business-like s]*ed by judges and counsel. But the lawyers themselves say that the reason pies with the litigants.

Hundreds of cases that were down for hearing have been patched up out of court. It seems that when trade is good people either refrain from picking quarrels or settle their differences quickly so as to get on with their business. When trade is bad they are more inclined to take cases to court. Just now business is good—hence the slackness in the law courts. Quick Work on Flying Boats. The speed with which Britain's air rearmament programme is being carried out is reflected'in the building of the latest flying boats for the R.A.F. The job has been divided between two firms in order to get it done with the greatest speed. While Saunders-Eoe are building the hulls in the Isle of Wight, Boulton and Paul are making the wings inland at Norwich.

Though the new boats have a range of 1000 miles, they are mostly intended for home defence. They would, however, be ready for long-distance work in any part of the Empire should need arise. The crew of Ave could live 011 board almost indefinitely, for the boats contain sleeping bunks and even cooking stoves. They have a top speed of 117 m.p.li.

Finger-print Facts. A new manual 011 finger-print identification, just published, shows how futile it is for the criminal to try to mutilate his finger-tips in the hope of escaping the law. Two French criminals dipped their lingers in boiling water and hot oil, and then pressed them 011 redhot metal plates. But the prints came out just the same as soon as the skin began to heal.

Experts claim that it is now possible to make a fairly accurate estimate of a person's age by studying his fingerprints. The pattern of tiny lines shown on the print becomes more pronounced with age. A new science of "poroscopy" is coming to the detective's aid. It is based on the study of the pores on the finger-tips, and forms a check on any possible mistakes in finger-print identification. Just occasionally two fingerprints may be so alike as to make identification doubtful; but 110 two people, it is claimed, have the. same disposition of pores in their fingers.

Going by Road. There was a time when the coach was the only means of public transport hi England —and perhaps it may one day become so agAin. For while the railways are always bemoaning their difficulties, the motor coaeh companies are forging ahead. For the new coaching season, which has just begun, they have put 50,000, vehicles on the road. Few people have any idea of the huge amount of money in this growing transport industry. The coaches, alone have cost soTiethirg like £75,000,000 to buy.

Maintenance costs many millions a year. As for the travelling public, they spend over £60,000,000 a year on motor coach tickets. The State "benefits to the tune of £15,000,000 paid in licenses and petrol tax.

Poor Pay for Music. British composers are once again agitating for better fees when tlieir music and songs are broadcast. Higher fees were recommended in the recent Ullswater Report on the so this time the composers hope they will get them. At present the 8.8.C. pays out £100,000 every year in performing right fees. It sounds a handsome sum, but it is spread out among so many people that there is little enough for each. The average composer (who may have ■several of liis works broadcast a number of times) cannot expect to earn more than £50 a year from the 8.8.C. Threefigure incomes from broadcasting rights are very exceptional.