FAMOUS GRETNA GREEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 3, 3 December 1931, Page 8

FAMOUS GRETNA GREEN.

HEAVY TAXES TO BE PAID. Gretna Green, with its famous smithy, its runaway marriages, its angry fathers and its dramatic chases across the Scottish border has received the shock of its life. Almost all the romance has been knocked out of it by the decision of the authorities that it is merely a place of entertainment arid, therefore, they propose to levy a tax! Mr Richard R-ennison, the owner of the smithy, will have to find money in January to pay surtax, income tax and entertainment tax. His patrons will have to pay. To add to Mr Rennison’s woes, the Dumfries County Council has now assessed his smittry as a business. The premises were rated at £3B a>year as a smitliy. His assessment has now gone up" to £SOO a year. Mr Rennison revealed to the Appeal Court at Dumfries that his smithy was visited last year by 68,824 people, who paid £1670 for the privilege of inspecting the anvil and signing tho visitors’ book. The payment now due on his £SOO valuation is £328 a year.