A SCANDAL AND A DISGRACE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 9185, Issue 9185, 8 April 1910, Page 3

A SCANDAL AND A DISGRACE.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —I want to tell you of certain facts that may interest you, and will probably causo considerable comment. Last year the Government passed what was called the Death Duties Act. It was an Act which was supposed to make it lighter on the estates of the small people, and to enable heavier duties to be collected on death from the estates of the wealthy. What I want to tell you about is what has actually occurred in the first case in Dunedin under the new Act in which duty has been paid. A poor man, who lived in Roslyn, died last month. All he had in the world amounted, when, realised, to £92. The expenses of his funeral, doctor, and so on amounted to £13 os 6d, leaving £78 14s 6d. The old man by his will directed that his grave was to be enclosed and a stone put up. This was done, the cost being £10, leaving £68 14s 6d. He left by his will three small amounts of £10 each to some friends who had boon kind to him when alive, and who had helped him to live—had nursed him continually, and supplied his little wants. He also left a sum of £25 to a fourth, who had done much for him. Previous to the Death Duties Act of last year no duty whatever would have been payable on such a pitiful little estate. Now, however, a marvellous change has come over the scene. A sum of £7 17s 6d was demanded by the Government as death duty ;; that is £10 per cent, on £78 14s 6d. This is supposed to be calculated on the amount which these people receive. But it is perfectly evident that these legatees cannot possibly receive the amount of the legacies given to them by the will, for there has to be deducted the amount of this duty (£7 17s sd), £10 for the stone, and about £11 for cost and expenses of administration, leaving less than £50 to be distributed. Even supposing that duty was charged on the amount available to distribute to_the legatees—that is to say, on the £50— the proper sum to charge would be £5. Nevertheless, the department, after an appeal to Wellington, insisted on the sum of £7 17s 5d being paid as dntv.

Now* it seems to me simply a scandal and a disgrace that so poor and little an estate should be absolutely plundered in this way. It is little less than daylight robbery. I cannot conmembers of Parliament were aware of or understood what the effect of the Act would be. If they were, I cannot conceive how they could possibly have passed it in its present form. Probably the majority of them knew very little about the matter, but the framers and authors of the measure had the knowledge, and must be held responsible for its contents. They cannot plead the excuse of ignorance or of overlooking the matter through pressure of busi- j ness The Hon. Dr Findlay and the Stamp Commissioner .should have known well the effect of the Bill, which was.their offspring. It is indeed grim irony that the Ward Government, who loudly professed, when introducing the Act, that they were <*oing to make it easier for the small men and harder for the big_ ones, should, as a first result, of their measure in Dunedin, have collected froin a paltry estate of £92 a sum of £7 1/s sd, not one penny of which would have been payable under the old Act, besides- probate duty (£1 10s), and numerous other charges. Just as a matter of curiosity, I furnish you with the list 'here of the amount paid to various Government departments in connection with this poor old man's few belongings:— Supreme Court. Filing affidavits, etc. ..-£0 11 0 Probate duty 11° ° Stamp Office. Estate duty £7 17 5 Stamp on declaration ... U o u Deeds Registration. Registering declaration ...£0 18 0 Depositing conveyance ... 010 0 Search fee ■• 0 2 0 Total .- £11 13 5 Dr Johnston wrote in the epitaph of Oliver Goldsmith: "Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit." In the epitaph of the Ward Government—now m course of preparation, I understand —it may well be said: "They touched nothing that they did not bungle."—-I am, " '' A. R. BARCLAY. April 1. P.S.—I am taking steps to bring this matter under the notice of the Press generally in New Zealand.