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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 7726, 28 March 1904, Page 3

The total number of vehicles—locomotives, vans, carriages, waggons, and travelling cranes—in the South Island to be fitted with the Westinghouse brake is 7553, almost double the number already so fitted in the North Island. The agreement between the Government and the Westinghouse Company stipulates that the contract is to be completed by September 1, 1906.

In addition to excluding contract labour—that is, any person entering the country under any agreement to work, —it appears the United States now impose a "head tax." A Hawke's Bay resident who recently returned from a visit to America had to pay this " head tax " before he could ship from British Columbia to the United States, the Shipping Company constituting itself the tax collector to avoid liability on its own account. He was taxed because, although he was taking passage from Canada, he was a New Zealand citizen, and the exemption did not apply to him. So he paid his " head tax " and obtained a receipt. Under the amended immigration laws approved on March 3rd last the tax is imposed upon the citizens or subjects of all countries except the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba, and must be paid before they can land in any part of the United States.