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Press, Volume LV, Issue 16516, 7 May 1919, Page 6

AVe referred yesterday to the fact that the accumulated "surplus" of 15 1 millions was contributed almost entirp- ' ly by the payers of land tax and in- '> come tax% The growth of these taxes is worth contrasting with the movement of the figures representing the , receipts from Customs and Excise [ duties: • ' Year ended Land' and Customs March 31st. Income Tax. and Excise. Jg J0 1914 ... 1,321,722 3,553,785 1915 ... 1,339.059 3.294.943 . 1916 ... 2,440,473 3,524,063 1917 ... 4,975,244 4,037.62S 1918 ... 7,005,269 3,601,383 1919 ... 7,732,029 4,134,015 If from the total revenue wo subtract the receipts for services (railways and post and telegraphs) and the revenue from Crown lands, we find that of the balance the land tax and income tax yielded one-fifth in 1913-14. Growing from £1,321,722 in that year to £7,732,029 in 1918-19, the land tax and income tax yielded about half the total taxation. The receipts from Customs amounted to 29.06 per cent, of the total revenue in 1913-14. In 1918-19 the percentage was only 18.49. ■— In one of his speeches in Dunedin last week Sir James Allen spoke very plainly concerning Japan's insistence upon the occupation of certain islands in the Pacific. Ho proclaimed his deep dislike of Japanese expansion in this direction, and he did not conceal his feat* that it was a menace to AusI tralia and New Zealand. Sir James's opinion will not Want a Very wideI spread endorsement, but the subject is one that had better be discussed, at present at least, very Cautiously if it is discussed at all. Our purpose here is not to discuss it, but merely to point out that Sir James Allen has | apparently committed a breach of the War Regulations of December 4th, 1916, in which "seditious utterances" ore defined as including amongst others utterances having a tendency "to prejudice his Majesty's relations with foreign Powers.'* It would be ridiculous to put Sir James in gaol for breaking this regulation, which we fancy everybody has broken scores of times. The unwise people who have written foolish things about America since the armistice was signed,, the sensible oeople who have spoken of the immorality of Italy's Adriatic claims and everybody who has discussed the faults of various neutral countries—all have offended against the regulation quoted. And this means that it is time these war regulations were revised, if they ate not to be abolished at once. « There will be general satisfaction if the "Daily Express's" statement that Princess Mary has been betrothed to j the Earl of Dalkeith proves to bo accurate, largely because it will afford fresh evidence of the innate democracy of the King and Queen. There are. very few, if any, eligible foreign royalties of any degree with whom the Princess could have contracted a marriage that would have been popular with the British nation, and there has been ft good deal of speculation as to whom the Princess would accept as a husband. Rumour has mentioned one or two possible suitors in the ranks of the peerage, but the King's daughter, who was only twenty-two last month, had given no cause to the public to believe that any of them was specially favoured, and today's announcement comes as a decided surprise. * It is difficult for the only daughter of the King to live as private a life as sho might wish, but as far as possible Princess Mary appears to have had the bringing-up that the strong commonsense of her parents would have led one to expect. She has never aspired, and certainly has never been pushed into, the position of a leader of the fashionable world. From all accounts she preferred as a girl to join her brothers in. their sports, and her tastes, from what one has read of her, have always been simple and wholesome. She did a great deal pf nursing and V.A.D. work during the war, and is reported to have< nevor allowed her social pleasures to interfere with her work. Of the Earl of Dalkeith, little is known except that he is the eldest son .of the Duke of Buceleuch, and has been a lieutenant in the Ist Grenadier Guards for the past four years, his present age being 25. V Some old S<;ot is reported to have remarked, when the Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's fourth daughter, and now Duchess of Argyll, became engaged to the Marquess of Lome, "The Queen'll be a proud woman the day." He could imagine no greater distinction befalling even a Princess of the reigning house than an alliance with the ancient family of MacCallum Mhor, The family of Ruccleuch is, perhaps, hardly so renowned in Scottish history as that of Argyll, but its antiquity is unquestionable, and for the last three hundred years various holders of the title have distinguished it. One of them, by the way. was executed for rebellion, but that is a fato which many great •Scottish nobles have suffered in bygone days.

The Scotts, from whom the presen i houso of Buccleuch descend, were ! , nototl Border family at least fire, and possibly, eight centuries ago. Thi title comes from Buccleuch, a loneh glen in Selkirkshire, and one branci ' of the family ig immortalised for al ' timo by boing able to claim Sir "Waltei I ( Scott as one of its descendants. Th( , j marriage, if it takes placo, will link th< , j Royal house of "Windsor with sucl j ancient Scottish houses as those o: Montrose and Cameron of Lochiol. H is noteworthy that this will be th( third alliance between the reigninj family of Great Britain and Scottish families. We have mentioned one— ■ that of Princess Mary's great-auni with the Marquess of Lome, and it wil! bo remembered that her aunt, the present Princess Royal, married another Scottish peer, the Duke of Fife.