WAIROA NEWS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17609, 27 October 1931, Page 10

WAIROA NEWS

(Herald Correspondent.) Another thunderstorm, accompanied by some hail, broke over the Wairoa district, on .Saturday afternoon, but the rainfall was slight, only amounting to 7<5 points for three days. Snow fell on the high country. A well-attended wind-up social and dance were held at • the Y.M.C.A. building, Kotemaori. Those present spent an enjoyable time despite the fact that; the gathering marked the (•losing down of the railway const ruction works, in which all present were interested. | Since the closing down of the railway construction works the camps at Kotemaori and Maugalurunga have begun to wear a deserted apjiearance, the single men having all gone to other spheres of public works activities. Camps have been established for married men, one at Pukekura road at the back of Tutira lake and five miles from the main highway. The particular work on which these inch will be employed is to repair damages caused through the earthquake of February 3. The other camp is at Makomako bush, where they will be set, to work in completing a road into Crown lands in the vicinity, the spot being about 20 mill’s back from the road, and oven vcbk-end visits to their homes will be infrequent. The men nrh supplied with tents and bunks, two men to a tent, but they have to liml all the rest of the camp gear and do tlieir own cooking. As there are at least six months of good weather ahead tent life will be tolerable, and possibly before winter the bulk of the men may take tip the work at Kakariki, which is much nearer to the Kotemaori location. The Pukekura job may not take more than three months, and the workers there will then be transferred to Kakariki if by then there arc sufficient nieh available to carry on the development work there; A good many of the men are attracted by the possibility of, being able to draw a section in the Kotemaori area when the land is cut up for settlement, but if the proposition is to be a payable one for the new settlers the railway must be completed. Without this neither Kakariki nor Kotemaori will be anything more than a heart-break-ing struggle against Nature. Mr. C. 0. P. Brandon, one of Wairoa's oldest farmer pioneers, is suffering from influenza, which has dccleveloped into a mild attack of pneumonia. Yesterday he was slightly better. His many friends throughout the district wish him a speedy recovery.

No one talks so loudly about “Democracy”—about the “right of the people” to rule and so on—than the SocialistLabor politician, yet ho is bound by a constitution which practices the absolute reverse of democratic rule. Under the party’s constitution the executive becomes the master of Parliament. The members of a. Labor Socialist party .no longer represent the people; they are merely representatives of a party executive by proxy. Under this party the country is not governed by Parliament, hut by a body of men outside who are not chosen by Die electors or in any way responsible to them. It is Tammany rule rather than Parliamentary. British history records the by Iho people for representative government, yet the present century lias seen a return to the system of rule by an unrepresentative tyranny outside Parliament, such as would not be tolerated for a day were it attempted by a British monarch.— Yours, etc. N.Z. WELFARE LEAGUE.

THE EMERGENCY TAX (To the Editor of the Herald.) ' Sir,—Could you kindly supply information re the emergency tax, viz., those who have income apart from wages, salary, etc. I know it would interest many/small dairy farmers, fruitgrowers, etc. fwhat the rich men have to pay is quite clear; it has been published. What the small man has to pay is quite vague. Are these people to pay taxes on their gross incomes, or are they entitled to deduct wages, materials used, life insiu ance, or friendly society payments from their incomes or net income. The Government Inis eight items re source of income in “Declaration of Income,” hutriot one item of exemption. A woman is exempt up to £250 per annum'; a man with £IOOO per annum has £IOO deducted for children, also the amount of premium paid for life insurance. Has the small man the same rights'? Not a scrap of information has been given to these people by the Government. Ah Editor, the truth is this emergency tax is cruel to those whose income has greatly decreased and who are just nnlo to exist. The quality of justice is being strained.—l am, etc. J.B.

The emergency unemployment charge is payable on all income which is assessable for income tax arid also on certain items which are exempt from income tax such as dividends from companies, interest on tax-free war loans and debentures, income from farming operations and income which is specially exempt under other Acts. For the purposes of the Unemployment Amendment Act, 1931, the term “income” means “net income.” 1