TAX ON COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS.

Evening Star, Issue 10412, 6 September 1897, Page 1

TAX ON COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS.

Although there has been a great tlbal of indignation expressed sri the Australian colonics against the imposition by New Zealand of the. tax on commercial travellers, Whose occupation it has been Btatcd would «o gone if the impost was not repealed, there does not appear to bo any material diminution in the number of these agents ot outside business houses visiting the polony, who demonstratively are in keen competition with out- own citizens. IJunng the short session in April of this year the subject was brought | bafore the House by Mr Buti&ABAK, !he j member for Wairarapa-, who aSked the Commissioner of Customs whether he would take tho hetieSSary steps "to relieve 'foreign commercial travellers from tho ■"license fee of £SO now charged." The only argument Mr Buchanan preferred was that no other Colony, so far as he knew, had imposed such a tax. We are unable to see much force in this, it being clearly a matter for ourselves whether the system is beneficial in the interests of the commercial community in New Zealand, and so beneficial that it should be encouraged by special advantages. Mr Seddon, in replying to the honorable gentleman, put the cUse, we think, verv clearly. A question of policy, he said", was involved. The reason why the tax had been imposed was the necessity, in justice to New Zealand traders —'merchants, manufacturers, and- others—that those taking small orders in the Colony, shipping their goods c.i.f., should pay something towards the taxation. The Government gave the same protection to them as to their own people, and why should outside tradfel-s escapo from contributing towards the maintenance of law and order. 'The £SO tax Was practically in commutation of the Income Tax Which our own merchants and those carrying on business in tho Colony had to pay. He believed that £SO was a fair amount, and the payment further relieved these travelling agents from exposing their business and° the trouble of assessing net profits for taxation. He did not believe that there was much sincerity in the objections which had been raised. When ho was in Australia recently he was approached on the subject by the representative of a large who stated that they would withdraw any objection if the Government - would make the tax £IOO. " The larger fit-ins, of course, wanted to freeze out the smaller ones." Why should not the \ »-..torian merchants pay something towards the taxation of our country, just the same as the New Zealand merchants had to do ? The honorable gentleman, he continued, had said that such a tax did not exist anywhere else ? It was only the other day that the Norwegian Government had followed the example of New Zealand, and had put a tax upon commercial travellers going into their country. Before one of these foreign agents was allowed to land he had, moreover, to pay down £5 10s, which is a considerable sum in Northern Europe. The Government had no desire '.ho act. harshly or unjustly towards those who came from neighboring colonies, but their first duty was to their own people. He absolutely denied the statement that the merchants and traders in New Zealand, who were highly interested in this question, strongly objected to this tax, and considered that instead of its being a protection to them it was, to a very large extent, tho reverse. If the statement referred to had any foundation in fact it certainly appears curious that the mercantile community should have kept absolute silence in the matter, and left Mr Buchanan—a country member, in no way connected With commercial business—to take up the cudgels on their behalf. The presumption would rather seem to be that the honorable gentleman, an active member of the Opposition, raised the question simply to have a fling at the Ministry, on the principle that " any stick does to beat a dog with."