A TAXLESS EDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18170, 15 February 1921, Page 4

A TAXLESS EDEN.

Mr Rhodes Disher, F.R.G.S., is following very reputable precedent in leading forth a little band of his countrymen in-search of a land of promise, a happy isle abounding in' the equivalent of milk and honey, and incidentally untroubled by the tax-gatherer. It is pleasing to have report of the progress of his enterprise in the announcement of the arrival of. the first instalment of his party at Honolulu, en route for the Marquesas Islands. We have not heard whether Mr Disher secured the thousand Britons for whom he appealed, but the statement that he was "inundated with applications from disgruntled taxpayer? professing their eagerness to follow him into Arcadian retirement, there to work lightly and dress lightly, to eat plainly and live the simple life generally, was no doubt quite correct. His pilgrims gave promise, according to report, of being largely composed of professional and business including clergymen and not excluding wives and families. There may be thought to be something fantastic in the idea of "people leaving Great Britain in order to escape the taxation of that country. But it is to be remembered that the burden of this taxation is far from negligible and is pressing heavily upon certain sections of the community which, though not precisely well-to-do, were formerly able to get along in tolerable comfort. So it happens that indirectly the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been acting as an emigration agent. In the Old Country migration, the impulse to which is traceable to the burden of taxation, has been actually going on in a quiet way. The Channel Islands supply an illustration of an agreeable country adjacent to Great Britain where taxation is light, and in

the past few years many'people have made their domicle there in order to escape the tax-collector in England. And it may readily be supposed that the scheme launched by Mr Rhodes Disher was not the 1 less' attractive to a' number of groaning British taxpayers because of its suggestion of sunny seas and an easy existence. If Britons desirous of escaping taxation wish to v go further afield than the Channel Islands, and have no regrets about abandoning the highly Organised civilisation of their native land for quarters of the globe still relatively isolated and untouched by the grinding wheels of progress, there are still refuges awaiting them, fertile islands scattered throughout the oceans, where it is possible to lead the simple life and by light exertion to meet the requirements of the human frame. Mr Rhodes Disher and his party have perhaps yet to definitely select their future' abode. But wherever it be, it should become a new home for the imperishable British tradition. There is a touch of the spirit of adventure about this undertaking that must appeal widely to the British mind, and though many may be sceptical as to the adaptability of the pilgrims to their new surroundings and l circumstances and as to the general success of the little colony, Mr Disher and his friends will not lack sympathisers and well-wishers.