The Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, May 3, 1934. GRINDING DOWN THE POOR.

Grey River Argus, 3 May 1934, Page 4

The Grey River Argus. THURSDAY, May 3, 1934. GRINDING DOWN THE POOR.

Tho example in keeping on a low or cut wage standard which tlie Coalition olTers all and sundry has now become. generally discredited. Gradually, but more widely, local bodies are proving this. Xor has the public needed its adverse verdict on. the unemployment policy to be confirmed as it so strongly is confirmed at Auckland by the finding of a lengthy local body inquiry into the effects of that policy. Bad though it may be, however, to decree and enforce the extremely low standard of living so preval ent, what is worse is to lower it further by exactions in taxation from the poor. A case in point is reported to-day by our Westport correspondent, that of dragging a tax gf one shilling in the pound out of relief prospectors, whose lif tie returns already are subjected to a duty of 12s 6d per ounce, a ten per cent, impost t 0 repay subsidy, and one of 50 per cent, to repay cost of mater' ial supplied. The Member for

Westland in Parliament exposed the hardship which relief pros peetors undergo through tho callous refusal to allow them some minimum below which taxation or other imposts should not reduce their earnings. They undertake work calculated to increase the public, wealth, and all the risks of failure which the quest for gold entails, but are treated worse than if they remained where work of possibly a nonproductive kind would have to be found for them. The Unem plotmenf Board might say that if they did await such relief they would be treated as it proposes to treat at Dunedin men medical ly certified as unfit for camp vork winch the Board desires them to take. Over a thousand men there have been so certified, and, though local work is available, the Board has intimated that refusal of tho particular work it proposes will render these men ineligible for any relief work, and a charge on the Hospital Board. The. prospect ws are less of a charge than relief workers, so that the Board has >i o shadow of justification in refusing them some minimum free from taxation, say as much as it would pay in the camps to which it wants the Dunedin men in question to proceed. Where it is a question of taxing incomes above £2OO, there is an allowance for each child of the taxpayer. Men on the dole, however, are liable not only for the quarterly

where the dole is taxed when the men arc under control of the Public Works Department. The Wage’s Tax Act of 1932 laid it down that the tax should not be applied to relief earnings, but because some local, bodies have, as above remarked, ignored the Coalition example, and subsidised the dole a little, Hie total earnings in some instances have been subjected to the wages tax. This is mentioned just to illustrate the fact that the Government is ready even to set the law at nought in its exactions from the poor. From a national standpoint, it might be preferable to save the salaries of officials deputed to make such exactions. If the Government expect, following the Dairy Commission, to obtain from the community a half million more per annum for the dairy produce they use. this practice of extorting money from poor people is a very bad preparation for it. Families may require to do with a smaller ration instead of paying 2d per lb. more for butter. If undoubtedly is a discouragement for the gold seeker who faces the exigencies of prospecting w]ien he is made to pay wages tax on small earnings. It appears that to penalise men out searching for wealth is a course directly at variance with the prin < iples insisted on by the committee of inquiry set up by the Auckland local bodies after five mouths of investigation. The first step, they declare, must be a restoration of purchasing power. Means to that end recommended are payment, under the 1930 Act. o f sustenance when a man is not absorbed into regular indus-

try; tlie restoration of standard wages and union conditions; the starting of new secondary industries with modern machinery and with shorter hours: and group or village settlement. Gold production is a good proposition as a means of subsistence if it is allowed to maintain the producer. The Auckland report urges wisely that a survey be made as to how the standard of living m.ii be raised or restored by means other than the sending of Hie bulk of our primary produce *mt of the country. What is going to render that question more imperative yet is the over-taxa-tion of the poor. If the Coalition igiiori it. the country cannot.