A TAX ON BACHELORS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2480, 10 May 1909, Page 5

A TAX ON BACHELORS.

At the annual ladies’ night debate of the Union Society of London some amusing suggestions were made lor taxing bachelors .One speaker stated that the census showed .'10.5 bachelors in England, 3G.9 in Scotland, and 47.8 in Ireland. These figures indicated that the Englishman rushes headlong into matrimony; the Scotchman was more cautious ; but in the case of the Irishman statistics were fallacious, the reason he did not marry being that he could not afford it. The bachelor was selfishness incarnate. He was content with what he had got, having no matrimonial troubles. A tax on bachelors would be a consolation to the married man, and would give him some reflection of a pleasant nature when parading the room in night attire hushing a bundle of vociferons malignity. He looked forward to the day when bachelorhood should be brought into great contempt in every European country, in every civilised country, and in Ireland Miss Woods opposed the proposal, on the ground that the most eligible bachelors had no incomes to tax. Her experience had beer, that her bachelor friends when they married became cramped, narrow, and disagreeable, and were far more objectionable than in their bachelor days. She questioned whether it was cheaper to tax the bachelor than to marry him. A man should be taxed according to his character. A subsequent speaker said that there was more peril at present from bachelor women than from bachelor men. There was far more of the cold-blooded calculating commercial spirit among the girls of this day than there used -to be. Miss Constance Williams said everv man should marry between thirty and thirtyfive, Another speaker suggested that the proper corollary on the motion should be a stamp duty on refusals.

A monster cheese weighing half a ton has just been completed at Wyndham Dairy Factory for the Otago A. and P. Association’s winter show. It is studded with gold and silver coins to the amount of £B, and apart from this its qualities are said to be fullest.