THE VOICE OF THE PRESS

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 81, 10 August 1929, Page 5

THE VOICE OF THE PRESS

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY, CURRENT. EVENTS REVIEWED, THE CASE FOR THE COUNTRY. The Reform members of incut may consider it proper to op- 1 pose the new land taxation proposals, that legislation will be strongly endorsed throughout the Dominion. We shall bo told again that the <Govraent is taxing capital, and a pitiful istory of poverty on the land will be told, as if all farmers were in the same Class. Taxation, where it fails' to discriminate, hits some, people harder than others. The man with a mortgage on his house is pressed' for income tas just as sharply as is the individual with a free home, and the owner who is asked to contribute an amount which really hurts, must have either more than his share of land, or sufficient income to be a subject of envy rather than pity.—lnvercargill "News". A REFORM ATTACK.

Interest in politics has been stimulated by the Budget, and now the Leader of the Opposition proposes to add a little pepper. to the pro" ceedings by moving an amendment to the Customs Bill, when it is introduced. This is the first chal-' lengia to the United Government. The nature of the amendment is not revealed at this stage, but no doubt it will attack the Government's proposal, to jdouble tb© : primage duty. Mr. Coates probably did not think this move out by Turn.self, because his nature is always to take the direct road, and no doubt one of his astute advisers thinks he Bias seen an opening for an effective assault. On the face of it, Opposition to- tie increase in the primage! duty would appear to be undermining the United Party's standing in the towns, but there is not a great deal of force in the idea, because the towns and cities have 's6 stand up to increased taxation as well as the country, and the primage duty is a general levy that affects everyone .—Christchui'ch "Times' \ CASH-ORDER TRADING. The Minister (of Industries may fairly be congratulated on the report that he has now issued on his ininvestigations into the iOash-OMer Trading system. The report is exhaustive and 1 impartial, and it has taken /much lesjs! time to produce than is usual in such daises. As most people are aware, in CashOrder Trading the buyer secures from firms or individuals an order for goods on a retail house 'and repays the) purchase money by instalments, with substantial interest. The question whether such a system is really beneficial or injurious is discussed at length in this report, and the Minister's conclusion is- that some form; of legislative control is necessary.—Auckland "Star". PARLIAMENTARY PROCEDURE. There is a soul of in things evil. In the fact that Sir Joseph Ward is no longer as young as he was may probably be found the main cause for alteration in the procedure of the House of Representatives which promises to make it a much more businesslike assembly while it continues. The House, except on Fridays, when ian earlier adjournment has advantage in giving a longer week-end to members anxious to reach homes (far away from Wellington, will not actually practice daylight sittings, as Sir Joseph Ward and the Leader of the Labour party, whose health also is not of most robust would have preferred. That has been found impossible owing to the complication presented by committees. But a compromise has been reached, and already this session has been gradually observed] in advance Of the formal alteration of the Standing Orders, which is a great improvement on the previous system.— Dunedin "Sar". MISREPRESENTATION AND THE BUDGET. A great deal of misrepresentation of the Government's taxing proposals, some of it deliberate and some of it based on pure ignorance, is only to be expected. The advance guard of it arrived through the Press Association on Saturday from "a leading stock and station agent"', of Dunedin, Avho described the super-tax as "disastrous", mid added that "the Government did not seem to have taken into consideration that the taxation will also apply to city properties bearing very heavy municipal rates". This was a grotesque mis-statement of the case, which no reputable 'stock or station agent would dare put his name to'.' In the first placse, city firms are already paying both land and income tax, and will continue to do so, and in the second place the sxiper-tax is to apply only to "farming" lands of an unimproved value in excess;, of £12,500. And the lucky farmers who have these huge estates are not even being called upon to pay Income tax as well as land tax, like the city merchant or trader. They will merely pay one tax or the other, whichever is the larger.—Christchurch "Star' I '.