RACING AND TAXATION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2581, 1 October 1915, Page 4

RACING AND TAXATION

BIG SOURCE OF REVENUE WHAT THE TOTALISATOR DOES Tlio policy of continuing racing in thfl Dominion during tho currency of tlio war was referred to as under at tho annual meeting of tlio 'Wellington Itacing Club last night by tiro chairman: — "Tlio conditions in New Zealand wero entirely different from thoso obtaining in the Mother Country, where racing had been somowhat restricted, but not altogether abolished. In England tlio principal considerations wero tho disorganisation caused by tlio_ raco traffic 011 tho railways, and tho impossibility owing to military movements of tho necessary railway facilities being provided. Thcro were no sucli considerations here. On the othor hand there wero many considerations which mado it imperative tliat wo should continue to hold our vacc meetings.

"Rightly or wrongly," said tlio chairman, "tho public has adopted racing as ono of its national sports, tho result being that somo hundreds of people aro now employed in various ways catering for it. The abolition of this sport,at the present timo would entail tho throwing out of employment of a largo number of people, all moro or less beyond tlio age, or lacking tlio equipment, for military usefulness. In addition to this ono must not forget that tho Tevenu* derivod from tho totalisator tax, which has since been increased, is verv large. Leaving out of consideration the increased tax which will operate in future, it may interest you to know that tho amount collected is sufficient to pay 3} per cent, on tho cost of our battleship in the North Sea, and provide a. sinking fund to liquidate the original cost in twenty-four years. The increased tax will, I anticipate, go a long wav towards doing the sajne thine,_ and if this revenue were not provided as a direct result of rncimr some other form of taxation would require to bp imposed upon the public. "There are always people whose appetite for gloom and depression is so insatiahln that they decrv any -pleasure being taken by the public, even "when it' lias the heart to do-so. No ono sympathises more than wo do with the relations of those who have fallen, and whose sacrifice will ever be shrouded in glorv. but wo must not, even if wo would, cover ourselves with sackcloth and ashos. and remain for over miserable. The war may probably last a long time, and ninny further sacrifices may yet have to be made, but at the present we can see 110 good reason to suggest that wo should do other than carry oil as usual."