FEDERAL LAND TAXES.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 899, 19 August 1910, Page 5

FEDERAL LAND TAXES.

ENGLISH CRITICISM. By Telegraph- Press Association—Copyright. (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) ■ London, August 18. In an article .signed "Imperialist" which appears in the: "Morning Post" it is. stated that there is a certain■ uneasiness hi London, financial circles as \to the effect of Mr. Fisher's'land taxes, It is impossible, the writer says, to be truthfully . reassuring with regard to, the prospects of British companies holding large properties. It is equally clear that the taxes will make tho holding of largo areas in an' unproductive form absolutely' impossible. ■'.'■' w ■••■

.The taxes are certain ,to pass'. without serious v alteration, and there' is but a remote chance of their being declared to be unconstitutional. They will cause grave injustice unless the Act safeguards city landlords. The difficulty, it is. suggested, mightybp met by a provision that'tho penal rates do not operate as regards v areas under ten acres. It is unlikely that the financial,stability of Australia will be endangered. • ...

The writer admits that the aim of tho legislation, the settling on the land of a numerous class of yeomanry, is good, but he regards the method as, "experimental!