The New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1915. A STRIKING CONTRAST

New Zealand Times, Volume XL, Issue 9076, 22 June 1915, Page 4

The New Zealand Times. TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 1915. A STRIKING CONTRAST

Tho public are dissatisfied, and they have good reason to be dissatisfied, with the manner in which the Government have handled tho question of the cost of food supplies during the present crisis. But, then, what else did the public- expect? What els© had they reason to expect from tho Massey Government’s previous record in matters of this kind? At election times, Mr Massey’s heart may “bleed for the workers.” But at other than ©lection times it is for tho workers to “ bleed” in the interests of Mr Massey’s very good friends and supporters, the exploiters, and Mr Massey must stand by and see to it that they do “bleed.” Woo be to him if he dares to interfere with tho often subtle and subterranean processes by means of which the pockets of the toilers are drained dry in order to swell still further the already over-swollen moneybags of the monopolists. Mr Massey’s record, past and present, shows that the . people have absolutely nothing to hope from him in regard to any effective dealing with the cost of living problem. Any really substantial reduction of Customs taxes on tho necessaries of life necessarily involves an equally substantial increase of the graduated land tax: and this the Tory magnates would never allow their leader to suggest, let alone to carry out. The Liberal leader, on the other hand, has pledged himself to immediate action on tho very lines indicated, the only lines on which it is possible to grapple at all effectively with soaring prices and rising rents, and render the worker’s hard-Won wage at least equal to the worker’s needs. In his great policy speech, delivered shortly before tho last general election, Sir Joseph Ward declared emphatically and Unequivocally for the abolition of all Customs taxes on the necessaries of life. At tho same time he pronounced as strongly and as straightly, not only for “a marked increase of the graduated land tax,” but also for a special and drastic super-tax on all holdings or £20,000 unimproved value and upwards, held idle or only put to very inferior use in the' near neighbourhood of roads, railways, and centres of population and industry. What is more, tho previous record of Sir Joseph Ward, and tho previous records of his party also, go to show that what he has promised in this regard he means to carry out, and can bo trusted to do so. The first reduction of the Customs tariff was made m 1895 by the Bight Hon. B. J. .Seddon, then Prime Minister, the way having first been prepared for this step by the carrying of the Land Tax in 1891 by the Hon. John Ballance, and its increase in 1893. It is to be feared that few farmers at this time of day remember the taxburdens they staggered under in the days, the good old Tory days, of the property tax. How many of them now recall , With gratitude the fact that Ballance an 3 Grey, by sweeping ; away the property tax and replacing 'it by the land tax, relieved upwards of 8000 New Zealand farmers of all national taxation on their farms H Mr Seddon reduced many of the Customs taxes on common necessaries. In 1900 another big revision of the tariff was effected, a number of items —among them kerosene, nee, and salt —being made duty-free. A return submitted to the Legislative Council at that date showed that on the quantities then imported, the relief to the taxpayer was at least £158,000 a year. In 1907 a bigger onslaught on the Customs tariff —a more Badical revision than ever—was made by Sir-Joseph Ward himself. A return prepared by Mr Montgomery, Secretary of Customs, in 1910 showed that the relief to the taxpayers in that year, due to the tariff alterations of 1907 alone, not taking into account at all the previous tariff revision, amounted to upwards of £516,000. During last session Mr H. G. Ell, M.P., bringing* that return up to date, showed that on the basis of the imports of 1913, the latlst statistics available, the relief to the taxpayers, duo to the Liberal tariff revisions of 1900 and 1907, amounted to no less than £751,000 per annum. Tho main items are as follows: —

Paperhangings, ,£51,544 in value 7,731 Tea. 7,016.4731 b V y- 175.412 Sugar. 1,229,742 cwt, and golden gyrap 47,476 cwt 255.444 Salt 23,886 tuns, at 10s per ton 11,943 Kerosene. 3,269,583 gallons, at 6d per gallon . ;r 81.710 Colza, linseed, castor, olive and other kinds of vegetable oils. 813 167 gallons, at 6d per gallon. 20,304 Currants 944.0531 b. raisins 3,132,8271 b figs, dates and prunes 2,976,0751 b, total 7.052,9551 b. at 2d per lb ••••■ •";••••• Bice, 59,1040 wt, at 6s per cvrt ... l«,<ai Cotton and linen piece goods, at least w o ' ooo Items not otherwise enumerated, eay - 30.000 Total £751,586 It bads' as Mr Ell pointed out, been intimated by Sir Joseph Ward before

1911 that it was his intention to make further revision of the tariff, with the object of placing still more articles of common necessity on the free list. It was his intention to have taken the Customs taxes off a number of articles which are required in every home, and wh.ch now bear a duty of from 4s to 5s in the £. But the great alteration ;n the tariff in 1907 had, in spite of the increase in consumption, due to lower taxes, involved a considerable reduction in revenue; the Liberal leader felt it necessary to wait until the revenue had readjusted itself, so that he might find himself on safe ground in making a further reduction -,n Customs “.axes. These facts ought to bo known to the taxpayers of the Dominion, not only to the taxpayers in the towns, but to the country taxpayers also, because the country taxpayer is quite as hard hit, if not even harder hit, than the townsman by Customs taxes on the necessaries of life. In the country, for example, the poor man’s light is kerosene and candles; and, in proportion to population, the country districts must have benefited a good deal more than the towns by the relief of upwards of £BI,OOO a year, duo to the abolition of the tax on kerosene. Let the taxpayers but contrast the magnificent Liberal in this regard with' the studied neglect of the present Government to redeem their own election pledge that the duties on the necessaries of life would be reduced. Let them contemplate the rapid rise that has taken place recently in the cost of living, study the causes within our country that are. assisting in this exploitation of the people, and then let them calculate what their prospects of relief are while the Tory Government remains in power. .