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Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 7

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A MISUNDERSTANDING. (From Oun Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, October 11. Mr Allen asked the Minister of Finance (1) whether the statement on page xxv of his Budget—namely, that £29 lis 8d is lid in the £1 on £7OO was correct; if not, how he- proposed to correct the error ; and (2) whether the statement on page xxv of his Budget that in New Zealand the taxpayer would pay lid in the £1 on £7OO, all in excess of the exemption of £3OO, was correct; if not, how he proposed to correct the error ? Sir .Joseph Ward replied:—"lnstructions were given as usual to have the whole of the figures in the Statement checked. I find, however, that owing to a misunderstanding between two departmental officers, each supposing that the other had done so, the figures in this case were inadvertently not checked by either. The amount oi income tax should have been calculated at 8d in the £l, and not lid, giving £23 6s 8d instead of £29 lis Bd, as stated. It will, however, very clearly be seen that the error in question was upon the comparison I was making in my favour, thus showing that I was not endeavouring to understate the amount paid by the taxpayer in New Zealand who is in receipt of an income of £IOOO per annum. The amount of £23 6s 8d compares most favourably with the £47 18s 4d paid in England and £96 in Frankfort by a person receiving a similar income. Attention will be called to the error in the tisual way when the bound records of parliamentary papers are being made up." A suggestion was made by Sir Joseph Ward that Mr Allen wished to represent the whole of the Budget as incorrect. Mr Allen : No; I said a good deal of it. ' ■:" <

The Prime Minister said the member for Bruce had never been able to show that any statement presented by him was wrong, although he had no doubt that Mr Allen and the member for Wakatipu had sat up with an actuary and cloths around their heads searching for errors in each Statement as it appeared. The latest Financial Statement had been produced in its entirety after his arrival in New Zealand. -