THE DUTY UPON OILS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16019, 10 September 1915, Page 5

THE DUTY UPON OILS.

TAX UPON DAIRY FARMERS. EFFECT IN THE WAIKATO. [BT TELEGRAPH.-special OTBKESPO.VDESTT.] Wellington-, Thursday. The abandonment of the proposal to "tax benzine and kerosene was asked for in the House this afternoon bv Mr. J. A Young, who made a plea "on behalf of the Waikato dairy farmers. He declared that the certain effect of the lax proved it to be economically unsound, in other words, it would harass and handicap an industry producing valuable foodstuffs. Almost all the people in the country districts used large quantities of kerosene and benzine, the latter particularly - n connection with milking installations M I present a fanner at Cambridge paid £2 9b 4d per ton ** freight on Kerosene and i~5 12s per ton as freight on benzine The Budget proposed that this farmer should pay an additional vote of £4 per ton for benzine, but actually he would pay £4 per ton plus the proposed extra railway freight of between os and 7s a ton, and plus also a rate of interest which the wholesale merchant would of coarse charge for the extra monev be would have to provide for the purchase of these oils. Thus the taxes re/erred to J would press heavily and unfairly upon small dairy farmers, and there would be I distinct injustice to ver.y manv country j people who had been forced *to instil j machinery to replace a shortage of farm labour caused by the war. In place of I the mineral oils tax Mr. Young advoj cated a heavier tax on beer, not on lha basis of specific gravity, but 0:1 quantity.