OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER

Evening Star, Issue 12870, 20 July 1906, Page 7

OUR AUSTRALIAN LETTER

[From Otjb Special Ck>RßEsrosn>ENT.] Sydney, July 14. A GRADUATED LAND TAX. In tho Federal sphere of politics attention Ims been directed to tho proposal of the Labor party to hare a graduated land tax, with the avowed object of bursting op big estates. A whole day's caucus was devoted to the subject, and as a reRUtt a scale for levying a tax on unimproved values was drawn up as follows: Holdings valued (exclusive of improvements) at under £5,000, exempt; £5,000 to £IO,OOO, id; £IO,OCO to £15,00), Id: £15,000 to £20.000, ljd; £20,C00 to £26,000. 2d; £25,000 to £30,000, 2Ad: £30,0C0 to £40,000, 3d; £40,000 to £60,000, 3id; £60,000 and over, 4d. In every case an exemption of £5,000 is to be allowed, and the tax increases with every additional £5,000 worth of land held by the owner. For instinct. land of the unimproved value of £20,000 would pay as follows: —First £o,COO exempt, second £5,000 at id in the £, third £5,000 at Id in the £, fourth £5,000 at lid in the £, making a total tax of £62 10s. The incidence of the suggested ta,x on the above basis would bo : —Estate of £5,000 and under (unimproved value), nil ; £IO,OOO, £lO 8s 4d; £15,C00, £3l ss; £20,000, £62 10s; £25.000, £lO4 3s 4d; £30,C00, £156 ss; £35,000, £2lB 15s; £40,000, £2Bl ss; £50,000, £427 Is 8d: £60,000, £572 18s 4d ; £70,0C0, £739 lis Bd; £BO,OOO, £906 Ss; £90,000, £1,072 18s 4d; £IOO.OOO, £1.239 lis 8d: £150,000, £2,072 18s 4d; £200,000. £2,906 ss. Absentees are to be charged one-half extra, mortgagees to pay in proportion to beneficial interests in the taxable value, and land held primarily for religious or charitable purposes to be exempt. Mr Watson, in reporting the result of the conference to Press representatives. explained that the New South Wales Labor Conference had agreed, in the event nf the imposition of a Federal land tax, fo drop the plank in the State platform in favor of a State land tax. He is not aware whether other State Labor organisations have yet considered the matter, but thinks that they will ;ill be satisfied with one progressive* land tax, and no attemptwill be made to impose a State tax on top of a Federal tax. The maximum rate is much less than that publicly advocated by Mr Watson _ recently, when he spoke of tax running up to a shilling in the £. The party now bind themselves to a maximum of 4d in the £. The ground on which the party justifv the intervention of the Federal' Government in the matter of a land tax is that there is no immediate prospect of the State Legislature having determined action to open up large areas of country which 3re required for closer settlement, and recent happenings in the New South Wales Parliament certainly go to support Ihia view. Mr Joseph Cook, Deputy-leader of the Federal Opposition, describes the proposition as a cool Socialistic plan for abstracting a portion of the wealth of rich peoplo and corporations, without even a guarantee that it will be given to the poor. "As a bursting-up proposal it is of the most, ludicrous kind. Take, for instance, an estate of the value of £60,000. Will a tax of £572 per annum burst it up? It may lead to a small area of it being put in cultivation to pay the tax, or, if the bank has to pav it, the interest rate on themortgage will be increased and the thing is done. There is no probability at all of the estate being forced into a glutted market to be slaughtered by a forced sale. It will operate with " the greatest unfairness and severity on that kind of land which is least * open to / criticism. Take, for instance, many of our sheep runs. Much of this land is valuable for the one thing onlv. The character of the land, its remoteness from market, and its general surroundings make it useless for closer settlement. If it were burst up to-morrow it could only be used for sheep-farming." Mr Hughes, M.H.R. - ,"' speaking on behalf of the Federal Labor party, says:—"The primary justification for this'"scheme of land value taxation is to be found in the present state of land of Australia. If there is one thing more than another that has # attracted universal attention upon which Governments and people ore alike concerned, it is the difficulty of settling people on the land. Hardly a. dav passes but what we learn from cables of what Mr Coghlan is doing towards inducing suitable persons to come to Australia. The Governments, not onlv of New South Wales,- but of every other State, are straining every nerve by schemes of closer settlement, and 'other ways, to promote land settlement, yet in spile of large sums of money that arc being spent, in spite of all the efforts that are being made, one fact stands out—that is, that the la-nds of Australia are not available for settlement. A man must go hundreds of miles for markets. Ho must take up land where the rainfall is unreliable. He must spend many years struggling against adverse conditions, and at the end find himself broken and penniless. The Labor partv realise that this is the main fnnclaroental principle upon which the lasting prosperity of any nation must rest, In 1894-95, when Mr Reid swopt the country on this very question, he had behind him the party who to-day are responsible for these new proposals. Mr Reid's crv was then, as ours is now, the land for the people. Mr Reid imposed—and it is one of those things which will be an imperishable record of his achievements—a tax upon the unimproved value of land. The effect of that tax was distinctly beneficial, vet obviously to effect that purpose which "its adherents so much desired. A lapse of ten years has proved this hevond shadow of doubt. The cry for land is keener now than ever, vand the land available is not sufficient to supply a tithe of the legitimate demand. Under these circumstances, the Labor party make these proposals avowedly for this one purpose of providing land for the people. They believe that this proposal will do that. Iney admit that the tax upon unimproved value of land without exemption would be more logical, but perhaps not more effective. On the day when Mr Reid to exemptions in his proposal in New houth Wales, the death-knell of land value taxation without exemptions was sounded. We are a practical partv. We aam at settling pressing questions as thev arise, and with the most effective weapons at our disposal. Our proposals are eminently fair, so that no person who is willing to either use his land himself, or to allow others to use it, will be seriously affected by our scheme. A glance at the details will b e sufficient to refute the charge of confiscation." PREFERENTIAL TRADE. Mr Deakin regards the Preferential Trade itaotatons agreed to by the London Congress of Chambers of Commerce as "the most important incident in the Preferential Ijade movement which has occurred since J±r_ Chamberlain first sprang into the arena vntD. his declaration of fiscal policy." The Prime Minister considers it manifest "that the movement is steadily growing. The Chambers of Commerce are not in the strict sense of the term representative, as witness tho action, or inaction, of those who went from Melbourne; yet, taking them as a whole, rbev undoubtedly express the opinions8f large bodies of the most thoughtful busings men ttiroughout the Empire. Thia signal victory put new heart into thoio preferentialists who maintain that a, clear and direct ;««© has not yet been submitted in the Mother Country or here. Possibly we may find ourselves confronted with it m some shape before our session closes. The reciprocal concessions between South Africa and ourselves, and New Zealand and ourselves, are nearly ripe for handling, and even if nothing moTe were done, these agreement* would constitute a verv d-'ftinct and valuable advance. The fact that commercial men of standing and aie now mastering the great possibilities of Preferential Trade is a most encouraging omen. Occurring where it did, and when it did, it is a signal testimony to the current of expert judirment. However we mar be certain (hat it will be timidly toyed with by our opponents, who will 'seek to dismiss it as eoon as possible into tho limbo of forgetfulness." Mr R. Larking, vice-president of the Aswciated Chambers of Commerce, expressing hU wusojoal view, regrets that the Cham-.

bers of Commerce and Sydney, to say nothing of Hobart and Lannceston, eliould have failed to support the Preferential Trndo motion. " I never wavered in my own private opinion," he says, "that Preferential Trade, would make for the solidity and strength of the Empire, altogether apart horn the question of business." WEDDING TRAGEDIES. On the same day that a Christchurei bridegroom committed suicide there were sensational incidents in connection with a wedding at Bairnftl.de (Vic). After a prolonged supper, the guests were shocked to find that the father of the bridegroom had hung himself from a tree. Afterwards five of them had a narrow escape from drowning while crossing the Babnsdale River in a flat-bottomed boat. In mid-stream the boat upturned, plunging the party, consisting of four young men and a girl, into the water. A youth named Willis at once swam to tho baik, but tho girl caught hold of a lad of fifteen, and dragged him under. Robert M'Briar, another of the passengers, who was rowing in the boat when it upset, succeeded In rescuing the boy from tho girl's frantic grasp. M'Briar had a desperate struggle to save the drowning girl. The nteht was pitch dark, and the water very cold, and the girl was greatly terrified. After fifteen minutes' hard battling, the rescuer managed to get her to where a' snag jutted across the river, and remained there until assistance arrived. The youth oan-s-ged to reach shallow water, where ho was helped ashore.