NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 102, 16 January 1923, Page 4

NOTES OF THE DAY

An announcement by the Prime Minister that he hopes it will be possible next session to make a further reduction in taxation will be welcomed by all who appreciate the conditions actually governing economic, recovery in this country. The public, no doubt, as Mr. Massey observed, are beginning to realise that the lowering of taxation i<= ?. step towards the restoration of general prosperity, and therefore is in the interests of every class in the community. The facts long ago would have been more generally understood t*ian they aro but for the extent to which they have been distorted and misrepresented by some Labour extremists. During the late election campaign these people did not scruple to declare that taxation had been reduced at. the expense of the workers. They went so. far as to assert that wages had been cut down in order that taxation might be reduced. Th« truth, of course, is that an undue pressure of taxation is a certain means of limiting the scope of employment a,nd reducing the amount paid in wages. ■ Taxation on its present scale is in many cases a heavy addition to industrial working costs —an addition which raises prices, checks the demand for goods and services, and correspondingly limits employment and the payment of wages. Wage-earners will benefit both in that capacity and as consumers by the reductions ip taxation effected last year and the further reductions now in prospect.

Most people will agree with the Mayor (Mn. Wright) that in Wellington the street appeal has been rather overdone. Difficulties no douU arise as times in discriminating between the conflicting claims of objects on behalf of . which such appeals are proposed, but unless narriwer limits were set than have been observed in Wellington in the comparatively recent past, something in the nature of a public protest would Le bound to develop. Some regulation and limitation of appeals is indispensable if only in order that assistance by way of popular contributions may be given freely where it is most needed and best deserved.'. >

Some of to-day’s reports declare that Russia and Bulgaria arc engaged in a conspiracy which threatens to precipitate widespread warfare in the. Balkans Whether the Russian attack on Rumania and other developments suggested are actually to be expected, it is impossible at the moment to say. Obviously, however, if Russia is really conspiring on the lines indicated, she must have definitely parted company with Turkey in the present negotiations with the Allies. Possible this may be the thread of truth from which a web of rumours has been spun, jn any case it seems unlikely that Russia is in la position to undertake a campaign of any importance beyond her Balkan frontie/s. Available information is to the effect that her railways Are. in a state of hopeless disorganisation. It seems even more unlikely that Russia could establish effective military collaboration with Bulgaria. For the time being Bulgaria is very completely dominated by her Balkan neighbours. On these grounds and others, it seems reasonable to believe that as an indication of possibilities the reports referred to err licavily on the side of exaggeration.

Since the Government now in office in Egypt is of Zaghlulist sympathies—that is to sav, is more or less definitely identified, with the partv which favours violent methods in pursuing Nationalist aims—fl ere is likely to be a response to Mustapha Kemal s telegram inciting die Egvrtians Io throw off the British yoke.” Measured by standards of common sense, and in light of historical fact, however, the message of the Turkish Pasha would awaken nothing but ridicule. Under Turkish rule Egypt was reduced to the lowest depths of subjection, and her people to the last degree of misery. Britain assumed control of Egypt when the countrv was in a state of anarchy, and financially and economically bankrupt. Under British guidance Egypt was lifted into conditions of solvent prosperity. More recently she has been granted an all but complete status of national independence, subject to the maintenance of internal order and the safeguarding of British Imperial communications. But now a modern representative of the Turkish tyrants whose evil work in Egypt Britain has been undoing and repairing for something over half a century incites the Egyptians to "throw off the British yoke,” and declares that he “hopes jo see Egypt occupy her rightful place amongst the nations.’ By all the standards the Turks have ever applied, this “rightful place is under Turkey’s feet.