Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1893.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4493, 3 August 1893, Page 2

Wairarapa Daily Times. [ESTABLISHED 1878.] THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1893.

The Manawatu Daily Times strongly censures Ministers for not reducing taxation on the necessaries of life. Our intelligent Manawatu contemporary very justly remarks on the orusbing impost levied through the customs, The head of a family, who probably grumbles at the payment of two or three pounds for land and income tax, ■ rarely realises that he pays forty or fifty pounds a year towards the customs revenue, The average contribution of a breadwinner towards the customs is estimated at oleven pounds one shilling per annum, but very many of them pay a much heavier contribution than this, Prob - abiytheaverage working msnpaysfrom seven to eight pounds a year in customs and if he had to pay the money in sovereigns or hard earned shillings out of his pocket he would howl; as it is he pays it through bis storekeeper and ignorance with him is bliss, The Knights oi Labour, however, have been wont to take up this question and the more advanced members of the order do know pretty well the total of pounds shillings and pence extracted annually by the present Labour Ministry from the working man's pocket. We say Labour Ministry because if the opposition were in power they would undoubtedly reduce ouatoms duties on the necessaries of life. Quoting from the Manawatu Daily Times article we find that the amount of duty paid last year on the following articles are inoluded in the list of necessaries of life,

This represents a Bum of £2 Is per head of the breadwinners, paid to the Treasury, without taking into consideration the amount added by traders for interest on outlay, eto. Under the head of olothing, eto, the taxation paid was as follows

The total represents a tax equal to about £ll3a per bead on the breadwinners. For food and clothing then, the breadwinners paid to the Treasury last year no less that £555,621, or £3 14s per head. ' There is another item—that of lighting—on which the taxation is enormous. The duty paid was as follows:

■,. It ia of course a debateable question ae to ivhat are necessaries oflife, If a dyspeptic patient to un emiuent physioiaii he is told that he muatgive up sugar asit te'.ida to produce acidity in the eyetem, that tea is fat il to-his nerves and coffee is a risky stimulant, but the Knights of Labour bold that these things are the leading necessaries of life and what they Bay must riot be disputed, There is no doub*, however, that clothing and boots and shoes are necessary, and that they are all dear in New Zealand, owing to the heavy customs duties. There is also another point to be borne in mind in connection. with these duties. If a working man contributes ten pounds a year to the customs this money is paid in the first instance by the merchant who puts a modest profit bf fifteen per cent, on it before sending in his account to the storekeeper, The storekeeper: probably adds 25 per cent profit on the ou.May in his turn, so that the ten pound contributed to the': Customs by the working man really cosis him fourteen pounds; We commend this oiiloulation to the Inightß of Labour, and invite them to work it out for themselves, The Customs really is the most rapaoious and rascilly pocket-picker that a Minister oan employ.

Sugar .. .. £117,935 Tea .. 102,208 Coffee .. .... • 3,468 Chocolato k m w Jams .. ,. 2,175 Mustard .. ,, . 1,666 Pioblos .. 1,092 Bice .. .. 19,801 Salt 6,959. Molasses. ■> .. 2,850 Vinegar .. ... 1,711 Dried Fruits,. .. 6,226 Currants and Eaisins 30,635 Fresh Fruit .. .. 5,057 Fish .. .. 8,407 £306,384

Apparel .. £88,976 Cotton Piece Qo'ods.. 16,128 ' 55,016 Drapery ... .. Hosiery 15,303 Tntlle Piece Goods.. 7.207 ■Woollen .. 40,854 26,758 Boots and Shoes r .. £249,237

.. J5G.918 15,037 .. .. 16,574