NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 981, 23 November 1910, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY.

Another measure of. taxation was put through- Committee by the House of Representatives last night. This is the Stamp Duties Act, in which a number of trifling clauses lead up to the real purpose, of the .Bill, which, put briefly, is to apply the stamp duty on conveyances of land to conveyances of live stock, stock-in-trade, fixtures, plant, machinery, and goodwill, as though they were land. This duty is at present -paid only on livo stock and stock-in-trade; and conveyances or transfers executed on any change of trustees are specially exempt from stamp" duty. The new proposal included even the sweeping away of ■■■ this exemption. Fortunately (.he protests made by the Opposition prevented this measure of injustice. We call attention to the Bill only in discharge of our duty of keeping pace, so far as the printing press will allow us, with the Prime Minister's mania for cow taxation. He is reaching out for further levies in all directions. Indeed, there is something pathetic in his feverish labour to levy more taxes without appearing to do. so. He has exhausted most of the ordinary resources of the plunging politician, and'some that the ordinary plunger in other countries has not thought of. . Sooner or later ho will have to fall back upon the final reserves—the taxes on well-to-do bachelorhood and so on. He has put Now Zealand in something like the same case as the cabman's horse. Stimulated by incessant cries from his fare to go fastci;, the driver in the story in question finally shouted back: "I've hit the old horse everywhere but on the left ear, and I'm saving that up to.the Euston Road."

A petition presented to Parliament yesterday by the member for Wellington South affords convincing confirmation of' one portion of the allegations made through our • columns some weeks go by Mr. Rupert Hosking in respect of the unsatisfactory state of things at Rarotonga. Mr. Hosking, in the courso of his interview with a representative of The Dominion, stated that grave dissatisfaotion existed amongst the natives regarding the medical arrangements at the Islands. ' That Statement is proved to be correct by the fact that over 1100 natives are now petitioning Parliament voicing their complaints and praying - for remedial measures. Respecting the actual charges made in the petition we of course know nothing, but it must be very plain to any unbiased person that there is urgent call, for inquiry into the state of things prevailing at tho Islands. We have received by tho mail, just to hand from Rarotonga communications bearing out Mr. Hosking's main / contentions. Space does not permit, the publication of these in full to-day, but they will appear in due course. What is demanded is a full and impartial ' inquiry, open to the press. If members have any regard at all for their obligations to the public, and moro especially- to that' section of'the people under the Government of tho Dominion resident at the Cook Islands, isolated and cut off from tho opportunities possessed by those residing in Now Zealand itself, they will seize the chance yet awaiting them this session of insisting on that inquiry being held. It is of little or no use to appoint a Minister to make a secret investigation—an open inquiry is the only means of eliciting the facts in a manner likely to give satisfaction and lead to the reform called for.

The investigation of Mit. Hine's charges has thrown further 'light on the curious and unsatisfactory condition into which Departmental'files arc permitted to fall under the' Ward regime. We are- at present prevented from discussing details of the'proceedings before the Committee set up by the Lower- House, but in connection with tho Legislative Council Committee's inquiry sufficient was disclosed to serve our purpose for the moment. It will be remembered that in connection with the Nai Nai purchase the official file of papers produced failed' to. disclose several phases of the transaction between .Messrs. Kacdonald,. Wilson and Co. and the Government. Amongst other missing information was tho offer mado by the firm to sell tho property. When asked for the copy of tho letter from the Land Purchase Board to Messrs. Macdonald, Wilson and Co., containing. the offer to buy tho property, this also was declared to be missing. It is inconceivable that in connection with a transaction of such magnitude, involving a sum of over £21,000, there should be no record of the terms in which the decision to purchase was made- known to the vendor's agents. There was no record either of the instructions given to fcho firm of solicitors employed (an outside firm, it must be borne in mind), Messrs. Wilford and Levi, in regard to the drawing up of the deed of 'conveyance. All these gaps in the official files on points which counsel for Mr. Hine evidently regarded as matters,.'of importance can only serve to thrtiw grave doubt on the methods employed in the Public Service. The public presumably has not yet forgotten the remarkable disappearance of documents relating to the case of E. A. Siiith. Sin Joseph Ward, it will be recalled, had stated on January 21, 1910, that neither he nor any member of the Cabinet was aware that Mr. Kennaway, tho son of tho chief officer in the High Commissioner's office in London, had become the principal in tho firm-of E ; A. Smith, a firm which was drawing handsome commissions from . the New Zealand Government. On top of this denial

came the disclosure from- the late High Commissioner that on September 18, 1903, he had written' informing the Government of the,fact that Mr. Kcnnaway had taken over Mr. Smith's business, and had been appointed as New Zealand Government shipping agent. Sir Joseph Ward then stated that he had no knowledge of any such letter, and that it did not appear on the office file. Yet it was shown that to safeguard against accidents such letters from the High Commissioner's office are always sent in duplicate, the second copy being forwarded by the mail following the dispatch of the first. Both original and duplicate in this case would seem to have'mysteriously disappeared. If Departmental files, when searched to throw light on such investigations as those under discussion, show these gaps, it_ must be very patent that there is either gross carelessness somewhere, or serious lack of system, or intentional interference of a most disquieting kind with the public records of the country. .