A TAX ON BACHELORS.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXV, Issue 38, 21 May 1909, Page 8

A TAX ON BACHELORS.

At the annual ladies' night debate of the Union Society of London some amusing suggestions were made for taxing bachelors. One speaker stated that the census showed 30.5 bachelors in England, 36.9 in Scotland, and 47.8 in Ireland. These figures indicated that the Englishman rushes headlong into matrimony; tho Scotsman was more cautious; but in the case of the Irishman statistics were fallacious, the reason he did not marry being that he could not afford it. The bachelor was selfishness incarnate. He was content with what he had got, having no matrimonial troubles. A tax on bachelors would be a consolation to the married man and would give him some reflection of a pleasant nature when parading the room in night attire hushing a bundle of vociferous malignity. He looked forward to the day when bachelorhood should be brought into great contempt in every European country, in every civilised country, and in Ireland. Miss Woods opposed the proposal on the ground that the most eligible bachelors Had no incomes to tax. Her experience had been that her bachelor friends when they 'married became crimped, narrow and disagreeable, and were far more objectionable than in their bachelor days. She questioned whether it was cheaper to tax the bachelor than to marry him. A man should bo taxed according to his character. A subsequent speaker said that there was more peril at present from bachelor women than lrom bachelor men. There was far more of the coldblooded calculating commercial spirit among the girls of this day than there used to be. Miss Constance Williams said every man should marry between thirty and thirty-five. Another speakei suggested that the proper corollary on the motion should be a stamp duty on refusals.