LAW QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 4041, 25 August 1931, Page 44

LAW QUERIES.

[Answered by a solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Letters and Telegrams must be addressed to " LEX,” c/o Editor, Otago Witness. Dunedin.]

“Complicated” asks: “If a man receives £3OO yearly salary and has a mortgage on property of £550 at 6 per cent., is any, allowance made on income tax because of mortgaged” No. ” Pensioner.”—lf you reside in the property owned by you, you are entitled to the pension. If not, you are not entitled to the pension according to. the statement submitted by you. “Fairplay” asks: “(1) Can a man occupying a Government position play with or conduct an orchestra and receive payment for same ? (2) Is it legal for a neighbour to fasten a clothes post on a dividing fence without consulting adjoining propertv owners ? ”■ (1) Y’es. (2) No. D. T. C. asks: “(1) If I'pay a farm hand £2 per week, must the value of ‘ keep ’ be added in computing the necessary value of the stamps to be used ? I have to add £1 per week for ‘keep’ under the workers’ insurance. (2) Does the help-compani.on to my wife who does the domestic duties have to pay the tax?” (1) Y’es. (2) No. “Intending” asks: “(1) Can a person enter North America ? (2) Where would one apply for an entrance form ? ” Before persons can enter the United States they must comply with the conditions laid down by the United States authorities. You should inquire at the local Customs office or any shipping oflice as to these requirements. “ Fisherman ” asks : “ I am a fisherman and sell my fish by auction in a fish market, and receive a'cheque for the same every Saturday. I pay quite a lot out of the weekly cheque for benzine and running expenses. (1) Do I have to go to the post office and pay the three pence in the pound unemployment tax on the total amount of the cheque each week ? (2) If not. what should I do in the matter?” -(1) No, it is your net income that is chargeable. (2) You should see the local post office officials and explain the circumstances to them. “ Worried ” asks : “ I hired a tandem cycle which was not fit for use. As far as appearance went, it was quite all right, but when in use several fittings broke. The owner claims damages. (1) Must I pay for repairs, as there was no agreement either written or verbal ? (2) Can the owner hire a tandem cycle to the public without having a license to do so?” (1) You can resist payment on the ground that there was no negligence on your part and the damage to the cycle was due to faulty construction. (2) No. There must be a registration plate on the cycle. “Worried No. 2 ” asks : “(1) I have been put to inconvenience and loss as a result of my business letters going astray. What procedure can I follow to prevent a recurrence ? (2) I have a room let to a tenant at a weekly rental. I gave him a week’s notice to get out, but he still remains in the room. What procedure should I follow?” (1) You should interview the post office* officials On the matter. (2) You will require to give one calendar month’s notice in writing to quit the premises. Failing compliance with the notice you will require to issue a summons for recover}’ of possession of the premises. “Tubby” asks: “(1) I am receiving a salary of £350 per year. Do I have to pay wage tax on the full amount or on £260 only ? (2) A man wishes to make over the interest (£5O) on a mortgage to his sister-in-law whose husband is out of work. Would it be sufficient if he instructed the lawyers to pay over the interest to her until otherwise instructed ? (3) Would there be any gift duty on this, as it is only interest being given for a short time ? (4) Would the man have to include the interest in his income, ig this case when it went direct to his sister-in-law ? (f>) Would it make any difference to the husband’s employment under No. 5 scheme ? ” (1) The wage tax is on the full amount of £350. (2) Y’es. (3) No. (4) Yes. (5) No. I. A. asks : “(1) My son is leasing my husband’s farm for three years at a very small rental, together with stock and implements. The present value of chattels is about £l9OO. My son has nothing, and the lease states that if any of the stock or horses die or are disabled he has to replace them. If my son does not replace them, will my husband have to bo the loser ? (2)

Can a woman 60 years of age or upwards claim the old age pension if she lives apart from her husband ? (3) If the husband is a man of means, will he have to contribute towards her support if she refuses to live with him ? ” — (1) Yes. (2) If the wife has deserted her husband, she is not entitled to a pension. (3) If the woman has unlawfully deserted her husband, he is not bound to contribute towards her support.

“Inquirer” asks: “(1) If I receive money from a deceased Ostate in England, what tax is it subject to on arrival in New Zealand ? (2) Is it subject to surtax ? (3) I s it subject to unemployment levy for wages ? (4) About what would be the amount of taxation per £lOO I /would have to pay ? ” (1) If the moneys are capital moneys they are liable to tax in New Zealand. If. the moneys are income they are liable to income tax in New Zealand. If income tax has been paid in England also, you are entitled to a refund on making application to >the proper authorities. (2) If the moneys are income you will require to pay income tax as per the graduated scale operating in New Zealand. (3) Y’es, if it is income. (4) There would be no taxation unless the moneys constituted income.

“Digger” asks: “(1) What is the price of a prospector’s license ? (2) Is it different to a miner’s right ? (3) What is the charge to register a claim ? (4) How much ground is a man allowed to peg out for a claim ? (5) What length must the pegs be ? I know they must be a certain height above the ground, and I think not less than 4in by 4in thick.” (1) When filing the application for a prospector’s license you must lodge with your application such sums in respect of rents, survey fees, and license fees as are prescribed. (2) Y’es, a miner’s right, costing 5s per annum, must be held by a miner before he is entitled to a mining privilege. (3) Two shillings for each registration entry. (4) The total area of the claim must not exceed 100 acres. (5) Pegs must stand not less than 2ft above the surface of the ground and must be not less than 3in square, or i n the case of a round peg not less than 3in in diameter.

For some time past the cable connect, ing Stewart Island to the mainland has been out of repair and wireless has had to be used as a means of communication between the two places. /It a meeting al the executive of the Southland League on Thursday evening Mr A. S. Russell stressed the urgency of repairs being put in hand, and the meeting decided to communicate with the Postmaster-general (Mr J. B. Donald) and the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr P. A. de la Terrelle) urging that the necessary repairs to the cable be carried out. Mr Russell said there were between 600 and 1000 people living at Stewart Island, and at present they were isolated. I'he cable had been out of repair for some time, and that meant that all the telephones at the island were useless. Many people in Bluff and Invercargill wished to comiffiunicate with the island, and found they could not do so. There was a wireless set over there, but it waf inefficient. The league should ask the Government to repair the cable. Mr W. B. Dixon said that if the cable was in repair the nurse at Stewart Island could communicate with the doctor at Bluff and obtain advice over the telephone. With the wireless that was not possible. In reply to Mr fl. F. Drewe, Mr Dixon said the cable had been out of repair for three months.

Two earthquakes occurred in Wellington on Thursday morning, both very slight. I’he first was at 0.56 a.m. and the second at 7.18 a.m. The first is placed to have originated in the Hutt Valley and the second 60 miles away. A Wellington Retail Traders’ Association was formed at a well-attended meeting on Thursday. The aim of the new body is to find a means of reducing overhead charges and bettering the retailers’ conditions. It was stated that the retailers in Wellington were charged startling rates for electricity, and it was resolved to seek reductions. Complaint was also made regarding telephone rentals, and it was stated that there were several thousand subscribers who had discontinued the telephone. The Government had shown a stubborn resistance to requests for reduced rates. “ The cost of the team that went to Wellington last year to contest the 100 miles cycling championship of New Zealand was paid for out of a fund that did not exist,” said Mr G. L. Austin at a meeting of the Cycling Committee of the Canterbury Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, when asking who was going to pay the expenses of the team to visit Dunedin for a similar event in October. “ They do not need any„” said Mr R. Hill. “ They can ride down, and get billets there. There is no water on the way and it will be good exercise for them.” On Mr Austin’s motion it was decided that the committee should recommend that the centre should contribute nothing to the expense of sending a team to Dunedin from its teams’ fund.

The Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association is making the best use of its Poppy Day Fund by giving work to many ex-servicemen who are out of employment, and fully 190 men have been put on works of different kinds during the past week. The latest work to be undertaken is a new parking area in Taylor street, Brighton, and this is providing employment for six men. About 130 have been engaged at Chisholm Park clearing the lupins in preparation for the formation of the municipal golf course. In addition to the men who have received assistance in Dunedin, others have been given work in Palmerston, Warrington, Mosgiel, Green Island and other parts of the surrounding districts.

The assertion that the profits on the sale of petrol in New Zealand were not so great as they were said to be was made by the Postmaster-general (Mr J. B. Donald) in the House of Representatives on Friday. He stated that it had been contended that the Government could make £2,000,000 by importing petrol direct, but an analysis of the figures did not support this contention. The wholesale price of petrol in England to-day was Is 2£d, while the price in New Zealand was Is 7id. Last year 68,000,000 gallons were imported into the Dominion, and the quality of the petrol was higher than it was in England. In fact, the first grade petrol used in New Zealand was of the same grade as that used for aviation purposes in America. In New Zealand there was a duty of 6.3 d per gallon and in England 6d per gallon. This meant that the difference in price between the two countries was just over 4ld per gallon, and on this basis the New Zealand Government could not hope to make any more than £1,250,000. When one took into consideration other factors, such as the greater distribution cost in New Zealand, the much larger number of facilities wh'ch had to be provided for motorists owing to the scattered nature of the country, and the consequent greater loss in evaporation, the position was not as favourable as it was made out to be. Mr Donald added that he held no brief for the petrol companies, but wished to place the facts of the position before the House.

The Executive Committee of the Trenthain Scholarship Fund, which was founded for the purpose of assisting in the education of children of soldiers and nurses, is inviting applications from candidates who are eligible to receive Trentham scholarships. An interesting visitor to Dunedin last week was Mrs L. O. Stanton, who has recently returned from the Orient. Some two years ago Mr and Mrs Stanton left Dunedin to reside in California with their family. Since then she has visited Japan, Korea and China in the interests of the Oriental Missionary Society, and has been representing that work throughout Australia. This society is fundamentally interdenominational in doctrine and is operating in Japan, Korea and China. Its object is to train a native ministry who will take a Gospel to their people. An extraordinary feat accomplished by this society was the taking of the Gospel to every home in Japan—--10,300,000 homes. This work is carried on entirely by faith, and is being honoured by ' a widespread revival, 100 churches being opened last year. There is a Bible training school in each of the following cities:—Tokio (Japan), Soeul (Korea), Shanghai and Canton in China, and also one being built in Peking (China). A humorous effect of the exchange position was manifested on board the Hobson’s Bay on her last voyage from London to Australia. A returning Australian exchanged all his English money for Australian currency when he went ashore at Colombo. On his return to the vessel he asked a friend to have a drink to celebrate the profit he had made. Each ordered beer, and he put down an Australian noti? to pay for the drinks. He got 12s lOd back, the barman having taken Is for the drinks and bs 2d for exchange.

In an endeavour to clear up the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the two-year-old child, Valda Shirley Eggers, who has been missing from her home at Tomahawk since Tuesday last, a large party of searchers, consisting of about 400 civilians and 43 police officers under the charge of Inspector Cummings and Chief Detective Quarter main, proceeded to Tomahawk On Sunday morning and commenced a thorough search of the scrub and lupins in the neighbourhood of which the child was last seen. The fine driving rain made conditions very unpleasant, but the volunteer searchers maintained their efforts until late in the afternoon, and combed the lupin-covered ground as well as the sandhills thoroughly, but without success. A trench was also dug from the lagoon to the sea and the level of the lagoon was lowered by three feet, but further dragging operations failed to disclose any trace of the missing child. The police authorities desire to express their thanks to the citizens who volunteered for the search party, especially the president and secretary of the Otago Motor Club (Messrs J. L. Passmore and W. F. Sutton), and also a number of carriers for their assistance in making provision for motor transport to Tomahawk.

Local authorities’ finance will be materially assisted by the decision of the Main Highways Board to increase the maintenance subsidy on roads. Foilowing a conference with Mr F. W. Furkert, chairman of the board, the Prime Minister (Mr G. W. Forbes) stated that the board would increase the maintenance subsidy to £3 to £l, compared with the present £2 to £l. This had been decided because of the difficulties of local bodies in collecting rates and a realisation that the roads must not be allowed to go back.

Objection to the requirement that the unemployment wages tax should be imposed upon the value of nurses’ board as well as upon their actual salaries was raised at a meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board last week. The chairman, Mr W. Wallace, said the Minister of Health had stated that the tax would be upon actual wages only. However, the Minister in charge of unemployment had decided that the whole amount should be taxed. A distinction had been allowed with regard to the 10 per cent, reduction in wages. It was decided to make representations to the Minister of Health.