THE BEER DUTY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17081, 13 August 1917, Page 11

THE BEER DUTY.

, TO THE EDITOB " P^ 6 - flom blessings Praise Massey, Allen, Ward, and Co." hunter, in the course of Ms speech ttpon the Financial Statement is re£<we said tliat 'brewing -was one of the wealthiest industries in the dominion, empioymg- less labour than many not so favourably treated, so that when the brewers wont down on their knees at night they had every reason to gay the above as a prayer. Few of us can imagine the brewers calling upon the Almighty ' for a blessrng to accrue from the daily flow from their vats; bat the le-ast intelligent of us in and out of "the trade" ought fully to recognise that in these times of the dominion s greatest peril from the Hun without, and from.people of the Ebzery, Parker clase and their abettors within, a duty is cast upon the brewers to express mornin"noon, and night their "praise of Massey,' . Allen, Ward, and Co. In a former letter , I showed how during the past 19 months bj7 misrepresentation to the Honse the Government, when altering the beer dutv presented tho brewers with £30,400 for that - period. j Three years of war have gone bv, and ] again the Government shows reluctance to " tax alcohol—termed by Bracken " the vilest ) fiend ot all, It has tbe audacity now to propose thai tho brewers should pay 5d per ' gallon duty, while that on the imported ale is 2a—only a difference of nearly 400 per cent, in favour of the local brewers! Why before tho war started the Australasian taxation of beer of _ tho e.i,mo class was 6d a gallon, and it is infamous that this Government of ouis should now * propose that the brewers should contribute only 5d a gallon. The Government coolly informs us that luxuries must not bo highly taxed for fear the peoplo will not buy them. Literally it moans "keep fidcilinn;: Rome is burning* never niiiuL keep fiddling. But lend us X cm. etc., M GKLoomm.