THE STATE OF WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25259, 20 July 1945, Page 8

THE STATE OF WAR

DURATION AND END OFFICIAL INTERPRETATION (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Thursday The official interpretation of the expression "duration and termination 0 the war" is given in a clause in the Finance Bill introduced in the House of Representatives today. . The clause states that wherever in any Act or regulations passed or made since September 3, 1939; reference is made to the war, the present war, i the war with Germany, the war with Germany and any other State or States, the duration or termination thereot, or any equivalent expression, it shall be interpreted by the following rules (a) The war is the war with Germans that commenced on Septemhet 3, 1939, and includes the war with The war shall be deemed to be existent until a date to be " aI P d the date of the termination of the war by proclamation by the Goverhoi-Gen-eral published in the Gazette. (c) The date to be named in that proclamation as the date of th e termination of the war shall be the date of such termination for the purposes of every such enactment and the war shall for such purposes be deemed to continue and to be existent ""til that date. Judicial cognisance by Courts required by any enactment of the existence or termination of the state of war shall be governed by the clause Section 24 of the War Legislation and Statute Law Amendments Acts, .is to be read subject to the provisions m the clause.

COAL_FOR GAS AUSTRALIAN IMPORTS REPLY BY CHAIRMAN A reply to statements made by Mr F Hackett (Government— Grey Lynn) in the House of Representatives on Wednesday was given .yesterday by the chairman' of directors of the Auckland j Gas Co., Ltd., Mr V. J. Lamer. Mr Hackett had stated that before the war the company refused to take coal from the southern mines and that the miners had been told that the company could get all the coal it required from Australia! He claimed the shortage ot gas was caused first of all by the company not supporting home industries. "Although the companv obtained a greater output by carbonising Australian coal, it imported an average ot only 30.5 per cent of the Austi product and made up the balance with New Zealand coal." said Mr Larner. "Apart from being more expensive, New' Zealand coal is not as good as Australian for gas-making purposes, but the company was prepared to foster local industry by using an average of 69.5 per cent of local coal in ..the tenyear period from 1930 to 1939, riclusive. Those figures give the lie to the statement that the gas shortage was caused first of all by the company not supporting home industries." The returns for the Auckland Gas Company's purchases of New Zealand and Australian coals during the tenyear period mentioned by Mr Larner show that in not one of those years did the imports from Australia amount to half of the coal that went into the worksT The highest proportion of Australian coal used was in 1937 when 39 per cent of the coal which .went through the works was Australian. It was 13 per cent in 1930, 28 per cent in 1935 and 31 per cent in 19-39. On a number of occasions recently statements have been made that the total coal imports from Australia before the war amounted to 100,000 tons annually. It is understood that a considerable proportion of this coal was used for the New Zealand railways. According to the Auckland Gas Company's figures the greatest amount cf Australian coal taken by the company in any one of the years from 1930 to 1939, inclusive, was 21,486 tons in 1939, when the amount of New Zealand coal used was 46,336 tons. The compan\'s Australian imports totalled 9257-tons in 1930, when the New Zealand coal used was 60,457 tons.

RAILWAYS TRIBUNAL MEN'S REPRESENTATIVE (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Thursday Mr E. A. Whitlow, of Auckland, has been appointed to represent various Railway organisations on the Government Railways Tribunal. He replaces Dr W. B. Sutch, who has joined Unrra in the South-west Pacific. Mr Whitlow is secretary of the Auckland Tramwavs' Union.

. HIGH TAXATION

COMMERCIAL VIEWPOINT A report on the results ot a recent questionnaire on "the subject of high taxation as it affects business efficiency was received by the council of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce yesterday. To the question whether it was considered that the present high rates acted as a deterrent to those who wished to plan for business extensions, the answer was almost unanimously in the affirmative. There was also ft unanimous opinion in the replies received that the high rates were such as largely to nullify the incentive to increase production and profits, although in gome cases it was maintained that, if the increased production could be obtained without further capital expenditure, the taxation might not have this effect. As to the incidence of taxation, the majority pteferred a fiat rate for companies of up to 6s 8d in the pound, with corresponding adjustments of the present individual rates. The chairman of the Parliamentary and taxation committee,, Mr N. B. Spencer, pointed out that so many highly technical points were involved in the question that few members were qualified to answer it.

It was decided to forward the report to the Associated Chambers of Commerce, adding the council's opinion that a more even scale of graduation of taxation on companies was desirable, particularly on incomes between £3700 and £7950.

EFFECT ON PRODUCTION FARMERS,, URGE REVIEW (P.A.) _ WELLINGTON. Thursday The serious effect of probate and estate duties on reproductive capital was emphasised at the New Zealand Farmers Union annual conference today. It was decided to represent that probate and estate duties be revised to prevent the Exhaustion of reproductive capital. The conference urged the Government to review the incidence of taxation as it affected land production. The present heavy taxation restricted production and prevented the development of considerable areas of unimproved or partially improved land. Taxes should W removed which directly increased the costs of working the land and took from the occupier an undue proportion of resources he would otherwise spend on the land.

The maintenance or development of the present method of levying taxation on farm income was unsound, it was contended. It made 110 proper allowance for land depreciation, which was taking place on most pastoral land and was a direct cause of "mining" such land, contributing substantially to lowered fertility and the erosion of at least several million acres. It was decided that the Dominion executive should draft petition forms 011 hospital.rating to be sent to all branches for signing by all ratepayers. Delegates spoke against a proposal to be submitted to the Counties' Conference that hospital rating be stabilised on the 1930 level, the tax being wrong in principle and unjust. It would be admitting liability if such a proposal were adopted. The conference decided to send a deputation to the Counties' Conference.