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Evening Star, Issue 16550, 9 October 1917, Page 4

A double murder was perpetrated in Suva, Fiji, on .September 22, the victims being Fijian men. A native named Seru was arrested and charged with the crime. It is alleged that a native woman, with whom he nad been living, returned to her husband's house. Seru followed her there, and threatened her with a revolver. She ran into a room where the two were standing. Seru, it is alleged, shot one through the head and fatally wounded the other, who attempted to disarm him. When the last mail left Suva the accused had not been tried.

A little while ago we urged the National Government to tako time More by the forelock, and subTaxation nut fresh taxation proComing, posals before the proroga-

tion of Parliament. Wo pointed out the inadequacy of the provision already made. The growing appetite of war for money and the inevitable shrinking of some of tho sources of supply as hostilities are prolonged make war finance ft problem of increasing perplexity with tho passage of timo. Tho way to solve tho problem is not to cut down the just allowances of the dependents of soldiers or to refuse adequate pensions to disabled warriors, but to tax more the wealth of tho non-combatants. The taxable resources of Now Zealand are yet abundant. Tho lower and the upper limit of th© Graduated Income Tax should forthwith be extended. This is a courso we have persistently advocated, and time has disclosed no reason for any change of front. The experience of tho war tends only to confirm our opinion.

It is gratifying to learn that tho National Government have recognised the wisdom of obtaining authority for increased taxation before the termination of the present session. It is not tho less pleasing to find that there is a strong probability that the amount of income exempt from taxation is- to bo reduced below the existing figure of £3OO. Tho country will not be satisfied until it falls as low, at least, as £2OO. We trust that the Government will see the equal urgency of continuing tho scale of graduation beyond the present maximum of £6,400. In preparing a sup . plementary Finance Bill it is to be hoped that Cabinet will pay heed to that growing body of competent opinion which holds that tho mainstay of war finance should be taxation, not loan.

We have in our hand a book on the 'Political Economy of War,' by Mr F. W. Hirst, until recently the editor of tho London ' Economist.' In it he presents the argument of that king of financiers, W. E. Gladstone, in favor of direct taxation. Gladstone, in his famous Budget speeches, was fond of drawing lessons from the Napoleonic wars. He pointed out that at first Great Britain relied chiefly upon borrowing. There followed a second period, in which she supplemented borrowing with considerable taxation. The last period, which brought final and complete victory', witnessed the emergence of the Income Tax as tho chief financial resource. The greatest of all the Chancellors of t-Be British Exchequer concludes his analysis with the lament: " Our debt need not at this moment have existed if thero had been resolution enough to submit to the Income Tax at an earlier period." If the National Government of New Zealand give duo attention to the advice of the accredited, financial experts, the new taxing measures will disclose a determination to support more by taxation and less by Joan the future financial burden of the war.