VICTORIAN POLITICS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1190, 21 December 1894, Page 36

VICTORIAN POLITICS.

Melbourne, December 14,

In committee on the Land and Income Tax Bill, a proposal was made that the .£SOO exemption should apply to mortgagees as well as owners. The Premier agreed that in mortgages up to .£IOOO the <£soo should be deducted, and this was carried. In the section providing for the Income Tax, the Premier moved that the tax on incomes, derived from property be doubled, as follows : —Eightpence in . the <£ up to .£I2OO, Is in the <£ up to <£2200, Is 4dinthe <£ over the latter amount. The motion was carried. An amendment was, proposed in committee on the Tax Bill in the Legislative Assembly that the Government should forego the old land tax, which dates- from June last till February next, in place of the new tax, which dates from last July. The Premier refused to entertain the proposal, stating that it meant a difference of <£60,000 to the revenue. On a division, the amendment was carried by a majority of one vote, but the Premier announced that he would, seek to get the decision reversed on the third reading of the Bill, and that if he were then unsuccessful he would require to bring down fresh taxation proposals. “

Melbourne, December 17:

There was a split in the Cabinet over the taxation proposals, as a result of which Sir Frederick Sargood, -Minister for. Defence, has resigned from the Ministry. He opposed the increase in the exemption, and also disagreed with the methods adopted by the Government in -presenting the Taxation Bill. These methods, he considered, were an infringement of the rights of the Legislative Council. The Premier, in accepting Sir Frederick Sargood’s resignation, wrote to him stating that he was surprised that so old a Parliamentarian as. he should have sent a copy of the letter containing his resignation ,to the press for publication. Knowing the taxation intentions of the Ministry, he should have'declined to joined the Government in the first instance.

Melbourne, December 18

Mr J. M. Pratt, honorary member of the Cabinet, has resigned, out of sympathy with Sir Frederick Sargood. ' The Hon. H. Cuthbert, Solicitor-General, succeeds Sir Frederick Sargood as leader of the Legislative-Council.