WHO PAID FOR THE DREADNOUGHT?

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 20086, 21 May 1914, Page 6

WHO PAID FOR THE DREADNOUGHT?

Apropos of Mr Frsd Pirani's able criticism of Sir Joseph Ward's attempt to make his hearers believe that tne cost of the Dreadnought was being borne by the wealthy, the following letter, -H-hion appeared in the "Wellington " livening Post" is worth reprinting : Sir, —Will you kindly.'permit me space to reply to a statement made by ten- Joseph Ward in the Town Hall on the Bth inst.? Referring to his gift of the Dreadnought, he said: '• The cost Mas not put upon the working farmer, and it was not put upon the bricklayer; it was put upon tke shouldors of those who could and should bear it. It was provided for from a tax on bank notes, upon racing dubs and out of death duties.]' 1, as one of the unfortunate victims of his iufat, wish to gjive an emphatic denial to his statement. "It was out on the shoulders' of those who could and should bear it/, arid will leave your- readers to judge the following «a«e for themselves. Xam the daughter of working parents, my father never having earned more than £3 15s per week. After 35 years of riiarriedi lifo spent in New Zealand, my mother, by sheer dint of industry aud economy, saved enough to buy ix. couple of nouses and have an account in the Savings Bank, the net income from the whole of which only amounts to about £1 5s per week. On the death of my mother some time back, the Government claimed something near £300 death duties on this small estate. Our family comprises three, each entitled to a share in tho above. My father is now out of . work, is getting on in years and is only able to live through the action of my married sister, who has generously forfeited her share of the estate until my father's death. Now, sir, the £300 which went from this poor, hard-working man's earnings for the upkeep of tiie Dreadnought would have bought a little business for him -in his advancing years and helped him to be independent. If Sir Joseph Ward were truly a friend of the workers, why did he not exempt all estates under the value- of, say, £1000 from increased death duties, instead of taxing them from £500 upwards? Also, why did he not impose a big duty on beer for the upke2p vi tho Dreadnought, or increase the land tax on tho "squatter" whom he is always now tilting, at? Sir Joseph \Y;ml certainly did not understand the meaning of his words when he s:»i:i "it v. k.s put upon the shoul<3?r!; of Uic-'-c v,-]io could and should h;Mr it." —1 a ill, etc., MEDINA.