THE INCOME TAX.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9339, 13 February 1896, Page 5

THE INCOME TAX.

The Press Association telegraphs that fourteen days' grace will be allowed for the payment of the income tax which expires on Friday, after which 10 per cent, additional will be demanded.

THE WELLINGTON CONSTITUENCY,

The Press Association telegraphs that Mr A. A. S. Meateath says he has never given anyone to understand that he would be a candidate for the Wellington city at the next geceral election, nor has he been approached upon the aubjaot.

ANGLING.

The Aehburtoa, Teinuka and Opibi rivers are just now ia splendid coudition for fishing. The numerous visitors to Winchester have been getting big baskets of very nice fish. The Rangifcita is still milky, but is lishable. Mr Fox, of Ashburton, went to tho incuth of the Kakaia on Monday aud succeeded in landing several heavy weights, each fish being ia excellent condition.

A HIGHLY-PRIZED DISTINCTION.

Count de Jouifray d'Abbans, French Consul at WellicgtoD. and Mons. £. de Montalk, 8.-eVL., Lecturer on French ia Auckland University College and formerly in Canterbury College, have beea elected Fellows of L'Alliauce Fraugaise. Thia Society ie a national association, recognised as an institution of public utility by the President of the Republic ia 1886, and to be elected a Fellow is a distinction highly prized by all those oa whom the honour is conferred.

REDUCTIONS IN PAY.

In view of the war scare now agitating the colonies, ssys the Wellington Pott, the rumoured reductions in the rate of pay to our Permanent Artillery com* ab a rather inopportune time. It is freely stated that the reductions proposed by tbe Defence Minister are such that., of the very large number of applicants previously anxious to join the force, very tew, if any, are now willing to do so, while the Department is besieged with applications iroin ar'itlerymeu to be transferred to the police. The present pay of the mou is said to rauge from 5j to 5s 6d par day, it having recently been reduced all round by 6d per Way. If auother 6d per day is now struck eff, as looks probable, the general opinion seems to be that it will be a rather difficult cask to fill any vacancies that may occur. The police ara also threatened with a reduction of 61 per day and the abolition of tue long service pay of Iβ per day.

LAND FOR SETTLEMENT.

Iα his place in the Assembly last session Mr Buddo, M.H.K. for Kaiapoi, who ie a warm supporter of the Government, gave the Hon. Minister for Lands a sound rating for not purchasing certain blocks of land in the Norlb Canterbury district, ue*r Kaiapoi and Rangiora,'for settlement. He pointed out that at the prices offered this land should have been snapped up by the Minister if he was in earnest. Aβ an instance of the value of the land near Kaiapoi we learn, on the authority of its present owner, who paid more for it than it was offered to the CSoyernaient at, that Mr llano WiUon pitffib>H in wheat, which ba« averaged a return of fint-clau grain of from 63 to 70 bushels pec aore. The peioeotage

of seconds was equal to about one sack out of one hundred, and the crop has bt>«n a marvellous success. From tiiia tha working men, who wan' a little land ou which they could live and bring up their families, will see that the profession*) of the Government oa their accouuo almost amount to a mockery.

HOW THE HON. MR WARD TRAVELS. An EDglish tourist, who encloses hie card, writes to us as follows :—" Sir, —I, in company with a gentleman and his wife, the latter more or less of an invalid, were passengers on the north-bound express yesterday, and would like to draw your attention to a state of things which, if it is allowed to go on, is bound to hurt New Zealand in the eyes of the world aud to considerably decrease the number of strangers who annually visit her shores. I and my friends arrived in Dunediu on Monday morning from the Sounds and wanting to go north on Tuesday immediately unou reaching Dunedin went; to che Tftfiio Mauit.-ec's office to try tind engage dv» f>t ths compartments iv the carriage known «•>> ilie birdcage. I was there told, the officer ftrat referring to a red book, that it would bo impossible to secure a carriage unless I cuudi positively state that the lady was a chronic invalid, and then only by paying four first-class fares. This I naturally refuaed to 60. Upon reaching the scat ion aexo morning we fouud thafc both compartments in the birdcage carriage were reserved, and we were obliged to take seats in one of the ordinary first-class carriages. You can well imagine our surprise to fiud in this democratic country that both compartments were reserved for the Colonial Treasurer, one for himself acd secretary, and the other for hie paper* and luggage. Wβ were, therefore obliged to travel under great discomfort, especially the lady, while the Colonial Treasurer was surrounded by as much luxury as a priuce of royal blood. Two facts struck mc at once as rather curious, that the railway should put the paying public to discomfort simply to a«3ure the comfort of one who travels at) the expense of the public, and that a member of a Radical Government should c*re to travel in such state.—Yours, &c, An English Visitor."