The Dominion WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1907. VICIOUS PRINCIPLES.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 18, 16 October 1907, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1907. VICIOUS PRINCIPLES.

Although the committee procedureon the Land and Income Assessment Bill in the Legislative Council is shorn of almost all its possibilities by the rule that places " money bills" beyond the power of the Upper Chamber's revising functions, the debate upon the second reading, which concluded yesterday, gives promise of some highly interesting discussion later on. Opon the whole, the Council follows public opinion in favour of the general principle that it is economically disadvantageous that the land of . a country should be permitted to coagulate into enormous single holdings. This principle is now generally conceded, 'uie debate showed, however, that there is a strong body of opposition to several leading proposals in the Bill, and upon some of them the honours of debate rested with the " objectors," in point of number as well as in strength of argument. It would have been surprising had it been otherwise, for the Bill contains clauses so glaringly unjust that they guaranteed sharp criticism from legislators whose concern for the public good need not take account of the requirements of party loyalty or election expediency. Not a single good word was said for Clause 16, except by the Attorney-General, and every member who gave serious attention to it had no hesitation in condemning it.

The clause, it will be recollected, provides that no. future sale of land shall be effective for the purpose of securing exemption from the graduated tax unless the purchaser pays 15 per cent, of the purchase-money in cash. Also that the clause shall be retrospective in respect of transactions carried out during the past five years. Objectionable from its invasion of the liberty of private exchange in commodities, from the practical obstacles which it places in the way of the small buyer of laud whom the Bill is designedly introduced to assist, and from its introduction of the perilous principle that penal legislation may be made retrospective, this vicious clause called forth many accusers but not one independent champion. The Hon-T. K. Macdonald called it " one of the most unjust proposals ever made in the Legislature of this country," and we hope that the Councillors who recoil from its injustice will let their votes endorse this view. The second blot upon the Bill, which, like Clause 16, found many opponents, is that which places the power of exemption under the clause in the hands of the Commissioner of Taxes. To the natural suggestion that a man charged with what the Government js pleased to call " evasion " should have the right to appeal through the usual forms of law, the Attorney-General made an astonishing reply:—

"110 took leavo to think that that suggestion was made with a view to fostering evasion. There would bo. cases in which a Judge, approaching the matter from the legal point of view, would say thoro had been no evasion, whereas a man, like the Commissoner, untrammelled'by judicial rules, would knpw that, though .all the forms might have been gone through', yet there was evasion behind them all. If there was an appeal to a Judge, thoso who had the moans of employing the. best legal talent would still be able to evade tho taxation due from them." .

If that means anything, it means that tlie Government, having, a certain end in view, has resolved to Carry it out by denying the ultimate authority of law. What' kind of end can such an one be? "If there was an appeal to a Judge," the existing law might rescue the-appellant from the tyranny which, the Government is determined to exercise! At all events the AttorneyGeneral.was frank, as lie was frank in his interesting revelation of the fact that the Land Bill of last year] so boldly introduced, was so hopelessly bad that all his efforts could not make it better. That revelation was a strong indirect argument against the present measure, and we hope that the Council, undismayed by the constitutional gag displayed to them by Dr. Eiudlay in concluding his speech, will not overlook it, nor miss the significance of his disturbing hint that the present proposals are the fore-runners of still more drastic- measures. ,