Taxing Old Maids.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 84, 24 December 1887, Page 4

Taxing Old Maids.

" Coix>Tt»,” in the Auckland Herald, has the following on the proposal of Mr Joyce to place a tax on old maid*; — The mischievous ingenuity of the human mind when driven by necessity is extraordinary, and the reaults of the squandering extravagance of the past are such that nothing seems sacred from the irreverent touch of the taxgatherer. But of all the diabolical contrivances for raising the wind Mere is nothing mere reprehensible than the proposed taxation of old maids. A member—l suppose I must say an honorable member—of the House of Representatives has the unheard-of audacity to propose to the Government that when ladies had reached a certain—or rather an uncertain age, and hate not become annexed by any of the lordly sex, they should be subjected to the indignity of being called on to pay an annual fine of five pounds. . . . And here ia another grievous wrong that would be perpetrated on my amiable clients ; for when that dies irae was approaching, at which my client would De confronted by the impudent taxgatherer, with his impertinent ques[ tion! 11 Madam, are you thirty ?’’ oh, what dark streaks would be drawn across her stainless soul. It is not for the £B, for that is nothing, but for the admission attempted to be wrested from her, the damning proofs that might be drawn against her by the ministers of law, from the Govern, ment registry of births—even if the family Bible had been altered. The very thought of it cotfa’ 8 *' 1 OM ,' B blood. Better, infinitely bet ter, begin the period of taxation at thaC springtime of life—sweet sixteen. Ivtto that gladsome vear the maiden spring ’• "with glee, and boldly proclaims the joyous dawn of womanhood; and then the taxgatherer would have her, and eouJd keep her in his toils for life, if she did' •ot escape him through the doors of Hymen. But thirty! Oh the sad and doleful day ! Save us, save my clients from the fierce light that would thus be made to beat on that dark and dreary milestone in the journey of our lives. . , . It was said that the tax would aid education, but the maids would then get married out of spite, and “ so in process of time, and in the order of Nature, there are other little children to be educated by the State Seven of them perhaps. Seven, did I say ? ten perhaps, twelve, it may be; for a woman, when her temper is up, and she wants to be even with anybody, does not stop at trifles. And so the State, which forced my fair client to enter married life, by a law intended to ease the cost of Education finds itself with ten or twelve additional children to educate; and serve it very well right. They may not be all of school age at first, but they will all be by-and-by, and they will draw four pounds a piece capitation tax per year, that is forty or forty-eight pounds of additional burthen on Education ; and all through this insane and inconsiderate attempt to ease the education burthen, by forcing my fair clients to get married. There now! If that is not a satisfaction that would make any spirited woman happy.”