The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1910. PATRIOTISM AND POSTERITY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXI, Issue 15449, 29 October 1910, Page 8

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1910. PATRIOTISM AND POSTERITY.

Even in the unlikely ©vent of tho Primo Minister finding it necessary to abandon his income, tax proposals for the present session they will .have served one goc<l purpose in awakening tin? members of the Opposition and the Conserva the Press to tho extraordinary prosperity of the dominion. For nearly twenty years Mr Massey and his friends had been telling u-; of tho inevitable ruin to whiMi the Government had been hurrying the eountry. of the withdrawal of capital, of tho flight of popuhitio'i and of a score of ether disasters that were following fast, upon immaterial extravagance and corruption. But no sooner did Sir Joseph "Ward's proposals make their appearance than these gentlemen discovered that the Minister had morn money than he Wanted, that his*urplus was mounting up at. a tremendous rate and that additional taxation was quite unnecessary. The Opposition newspapers promptly joined in -the chorus, of disapproval. The- Government, they said, alreadyhad all' the revenue it required for legitimate purposes, and it- was outrageous that it should be " screwing an enormous additional sum out of a proportion ot the population.'' " To describe the revenue as buoyant," one of them exclaimed. " is to um the mildest term possible. There is every reason to believe that tho close cf the. financial year will see the total revenue exceed largely tho amount oi any previous year, and if n reasonable degree of economy in administration were exercised the increase in taxation would have been absolutely unnecessary." Following in the wake of Mr T. E. Taylor, the Opposition journals are all insisting upon ' : lhe sound economic principle" that no Government is justified in taxing the people to an amount in excess of tho requirements of tho State. AVith the same unanimity they are pointing out that if the Prime Minister must have his graduated incomo tax ho .should remit an equal amount of taxation in other directions. Surely they forgot that for two decades they havo been preaching self-reliance and sound financo. All the requirements of the State are not satisfied when it has collected sufficient monoy to pay interest on its loans and maintain its public services. During the past twenty years tho Now Zealand taxpayers have contributed rather more than seven millions towards tho cost of the public works of tho and in this way they have given practical expression to the virtues which tho present critics of the Government have been inculcating. It was clearly understood when the country committed itself to tho gift of a Dreadnought to the Mother Country and to further expenditure upon defence that additional taxation would be necessary to enable it to carry out its obligations. More than a year ago Sir Joseph Ward announced that an increase in tho income tax would be among tho new taxation he would impose, and his presont proposals are simply tho fulfilment of that announcement, which provoked no dissent nntil tho Opposition discovered that the dominion was really prosperous and that it could pay for its display of loyalty out of tho present revonuo and pass on tho whole burden of public works to posterity. Wo do not believo that anyono who understands tho position and is seriously concerned for the good name of tho country will have any sympathy with such a suggestion. Tho graduations of the income tax might bo better arranged, and wo hope they will be before tho Prime Minister's proposals reach tho Statute Book, but

tho principle of graduation has been fully approved by the electors and it ought to bo accepted by their representatives in Parliament.