NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3335, 13 February 1918, Page 35

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Question* tor *ep*y lb coming Isstw to b* f Mirod not lat«r thon SATURDAY night. Questions will NOT b» icplisd to tiu-<ms& tit* post. A G., care ofH. M. C—We are not in possession of a photograph of the steamer referred to. Many years ago watercolour sketches of the vessel were to be found in' several places in Dunedm, but hare probably been destroyed; at any rat© their whereabouts is not known. If you communicated with Mr De Maus, photographer, Port Chalmers, he might be able to supply a copy.Inquirer, Wyndham.—The first Sunday in October in 1895 fell on the 6th. Wattie!— (1) The calling up of C-2 men for re-examination by a special medical board is done from Wellington. It is impossible to give any definite information on the point. (2) The leservist should at once notify the Government Statistician of the birth of his third child, and immediately this is done he will be transferred to another class of the division. Cessation of Pay of Soldiers Killed.— Referring to a reply to a question whish appeared on the 27th ult., "A Sister of Four Soldiers" writes to say that the statement that the pay does not cense_ until three months from the date on which he is reported killed in action is incorrect. Prom experience the writer eays she knows that the pay stops as soon as it is found the soldier is killed or missing. Her brother was posted " missing " on the 12th October, and his pay -came in at the end of the month, and that was the last pay received. " C. H." also writes giving her experiences. She had two sons killed, and the pay was stopped as from the date on which she was notified by the Defence authorities. She has made inquiries from other parents who have lost sons, and finds their experience waifcthe same. We consulted the Defence'authorities before replying previously. On submitting, the question again to the. military authorities, they admit a mistake was made in the first instance, as the regulations consulted are now obsolete. The position now is that a. soldier's pay ceases on his death or when he is reported missing. Anxious. —The bridegroom is supposed to supply all the furnishings of the future home, though, as a survival of the custom when the bride took with heir the linen that she had spun herself during her girlhood, the bride's relatives ofjten make her a present of her; house linen; otherwise she takes with her only a good stock of clothes and other personal effects. Pickles. —(1) Unless you explain for what purpose the classification is intended, it is . difficult to say whether preserved rhubarb, is classed as preserved fruit or not. (2) The best onions for pickling a.r** the email " pickling onions," obtainable now. A simple method of pickling is as follows: Required: Pickling onions, vinegar, and for each quart of vinegar two teaapoonfuls of black pepper and two teaspoonfuls of allspice. The onions should be quite dry and ripe, and after the thin outside skin is removed they have the next skin peeled off with a silver knife, not a steel one. Have ready some very dry bottles or jars, and as fast as the onions aro peeled put them in. Pour over sufficient cold vinegar to cover them, putting some of the pepper and allspice in each jar. Cover well, and in a fortnight they will be ready for use. Earwigs L.D., Waipiata.—Mr H. M. Davey replies: "Usually this is out of my line, but I am glad that I can tell you the way to get rid of them, and very cheaply, too. Traps that really do catch them m large numbers are made as follows:—The sizes given are for convenient ones, but may be varied. Get a number of pointed sticks, say Nlßin long and the diameter of a walking stick. Then get an equal number of strong brown paper sheets from, say, Win to Ift long, and ratlier wider—say 18in or more. Smear one side of the sheets wiih any food. Probably old dripping or fat from frying pans, unci rancid if possible, is about the moat attractive. Now roll each sheet of the smeared paper round a slick in the middle of so that if

the sticks were 18m long and ihe sheets lOin to 12in long, the sticks would be l?in to 4in past the paper at each end. The papers must be pleated at the top end so that they resemble a hobble skirt at the pointed end—any girl or woman will know how to do this,—and then each sheet is tied at the top end tightly—very tightly—to its etiok. When finished, if you turn the pointed end of each stick to you the paper should look like a losely-«nut timbrella, up which the insects can crawl Inside the folds. Merely stick the pointed ends in the gTound, eay, 2in. so that the insects can crawl into the loose folds of the paper, but cannot crawl up past where it is tied to the stick, as if so they would get on your hands and arms. If set m the evening where these inseote ere they will fill" the traps, and can be shaken into boiling water or on to a flat place and stamped on. With about a dozen of such traps some hundreds are caught each morning, and so got rid of. It will be seen that the traps are of the very cheapsst and easiest description, so that anyone could easily make them. After three or ' four weeks the paper could be unrolled, more fat. added, and in many cases the same paper would last a long time. If the traps are Je;ft in for, eay, a day or two, it does not seem to matter, as they a<re, all the fuller —those that get in stay there. Let the editor know how you get

on. I may say I am still using them, and always getting plenty, but am certainly getting them down. Many thousands are caught, and nothing else seems Ho be as good as the above traps if you make sufficient of them."

"Constant Reader," Heriot.—(l) The land ' tax payable on unimproved value of £6245 is £3O 5s Bd, being at the rate of approximately one penny and one-sixth of a penny on £6245. The ordinary exemption is not allowed, afl the unimproved value is over £2500, and no deduction for mortgage is allowed because the unimproved value is ovar £6OOO. In respect of mortgages, inly £ISOO exemption is allowed when the unimproved value is not more than £3OOO, and jsuoh exemption of £ISOO is gradually reduced as the unimproved value goes up from £3OOO to £6OOO, when the exemption disappears. This mortgage exemption is not an additional oxomption to the ordinary exemption of £SOO (which is gradually reduoed when the unimproved value is over £ISOO and disappears when it reaches £2500, but the taxpayer may elect to take ■whichever exemption:'" suits him best (2) Is the mortgage exempt from tax? —(a) If the question means, " Does the mortgagor get any exemption from tax?" it . is answered above; but the mortgagor has the right to show as an outgoing in hia income tax return the interest paid on the mortgage, and such interest ■will be allowed by the Commissioner of Taxes in assessing him for income tax. This was one of the difficulties the Minister of Finance had' to provide for in doing away with the mortgage tax — that the deduction of the' mortgages from the unimproved value and the allowance of interest paid in the income the assessment would . amount to a double exemption. The non-allowance of mortgages increases the land tax payable, more particularly as the graduation of' land tax commences at an earlier point, whilst the income tax is less by virtue of the deduction of interest—that is, if the owner's assessable income is over £3OO. In this connection it may bo noted that owners of land until two years ago did not pay income tax on income derived from land, (b) If the question means- "Is the mortgagee exempt from tax?" then the answer is " No." He does not actually pay mortgage tax, as formerly, on the mortgage, but he pays income tax on the interest derived from the mortgage, and if his income is large, then, he pays tax at a very much higher rate than the mortgage tax which, at one penny in the pound, was equal to about Is 8d in the pound on interest amounting to £o per cent., whereas he may now pay as high as 3s, or even 7s 6d, in the pound on the £5 per cent, received. That is why, it_ is contended, the rate of interest in time must rise, or else drive money out' of investment for mortfage purposes. (3 What steps should o taken to recover the amount overpaid for taxation? —Apply to the Commissioner of Taxes for a refund, and if the Commissioner is satisfied that the application is reasonable he will probaibly grant the application and- authorise a refund. The Commissioner, however, guards himself by sending out a "pilot" assessment, giving the taxpayer a certain number of days in which to object, and non-objection within the prescribed time may operate against the taxpayer's right to a refund. If no objection is made, the demand for taxation is issued, and the tax so demanded should be paid (whether right or wrong) within the time given hi the demand. If not, 10 per cent, will be added, and this percentage increases after 21 days. If no objection is made, therefore, the question whether there will be a refund depends on the view taken by the Commissioner.