TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 55, 7 March 1927, Page 10

TOPICS OF THE DAY

From fragmentary details cabled of the New South Wales Labour Government's, estate-breaking (land taxation) Bill, it would seem that the new graduated tax will not be levied till June, 1928; that is to say, land-owners will have about a= year's notice (assuming that the Bill passes this session) within which' to sell or reduce their holdings. The last big Labour Bill of this complexion was drafted by Mr. G. S. Beeby (then Minister of Lands in a New South Wales Labour Government, and now a Judge) before the War, aud it contained a clause providing four years' inotice before.the attainment of the. highest taxation phase of the estatebreaking machinery. Mr. Beeby's Bill was also limited, in its main provisions, to land-within a certain . radius of a railway, the idea being that Stateprovided access made . the inadequate use of land even less tolerable than in other .localities. Apparently the new Bill (Mr. Dunn's) contains no differentiation based upon .communications or access; if so, the omission may be due to the fact that fifteen or twenty years ago transport meant railways, but now it means motor roads as well. A landed estate valued at £130,000 or mare will be taxed under Mr. Dunn's scheme at. least 2-J per cent, i annually. But will the Bill pass? Mr. Beeby's did not. And after the lapse of more than fifteen years the prospect does not seem to have greatly improved.

"When the Parliamentary session closed last year it became eviddnt that New Zealand was committed to at least one season's experience with the New Zealand Dairy Produce Board's "absolute control" of exported dairy produce; and, that being the case, thero arose a tendency, evon among many of the doubters, to give the experiment "a fair run," with a minimum of embarrassment to the Board. But this attitude of reserved judgment must not be construed into one of approval. The Now Zealand Dairy Produce Board is ■or its trial, and what might bo called the silent voter section of public opinion is watching .with interest, not unmixed with anxiety, to see whether the Boardycan clean up its selling season without the-huge carry-over of stored buttct>which it so sweepingly condemned in 1026, when tho responsible parties were "holding" dairy companies. As the Board complained vehemently in Oc-tober-December of- tlio over-storago in London that interfered with tho marketing of the new season's make, and as it announced that its motto was the shortest possible time between churn and consumer, the sales and storage figures to-day are being keenly scrutinised, as well as the prico-movomonts. Is the ideal of "chum to consumer" in six or eight weeks boing lived up to?

Gorse and grass fires are a ■very real danger in a dry season; and the lack of a more general recognition of that danger may be attributed to the fact that in this district summer only very occasionally approximates to drought conditions. If it were otherwise,, tho risk presented by big waterless expanses of .gorsc and weed country would mako itself felt in • considerable property •losses. . Not only within tho confines of Greater Wellington, but beyond, thore are scattered residential areas where tho water supply is either insufficient or is inadequately reticulated, presenting- a very'poor .means of dofonce against a wind: Swept fire following a prolonged dry spell. And if the danger to private property is substantial, it is Still greater toplantations of trees. Tho expanding plantations of the WelKngtoiV City Council require a carefully thought-out fire protection policy, and the tree-losses by fire should bo stated in an annual return,at tho end of each

season, after the manner of the .Forest Sorvico's report. Evpn viewed at a distance from the • city, it ■is evident that, grass fires hav< infringed on some of tho plantations. The deputation that waited on the Mayor recently did a public service in calling attention to a risk that has not yot received adequate attention, not even within the limited and near-by area of tho Town Bolt.

Claiming tliut.it possesses all The essential facts, the liew Zealand Meat Producers' Board has declined the invitation of the Farmers' Union to appoint 'ft committee of inquiry into the freezing, industry, and has repudiated the chargo. of apathy. In its statement published on Saturday the Board relr.ai'ks'that "the turnover of■ a'freezing works is the first essential. to its successful running," and that "the low

freezing rates have not proved unprofitable to those works;having a large output"; in' other words, the key to economic restoration of .New Zealand

freezing works is some rearrangement that will give sufficient turnover to each active unit.' But what rearrangement, and what works shall shut down? From a statement made some time ago by its Chairman, the Board

would seem to be favourable to a policy of mergers, but not to one big merger as advocated from Auckland. Meanwhile, the merger question, whether big or little, seems to be drifting. If no one, either in the freezing business or outside it, can impart sufficient initiative, apparently the test will be survival of the fittest.