The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY MAY 13, 1932. A SERIOUS TREND

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 118, 13 May 1932, Page 4

The Waipukurau Press. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. FRIDAY MAY 13, 1932. A SERIOUS TREND

As revealed in a Press Association message from Auckland a question of much public importance was dealt with in the Supreme Court yesterday. The difficulty of dealing with charges arising from fatal motor accidents when the accused persons are of excellent character and there is no suggestion of intoxication was mentioned by Mr. Justice Herdman when sentencing two men, both of whom were stated to have excellent records. The judge said that such men were not criminals in -the sense that a thief, burglar or forger was a criminal. “In these cases intent to do injury is always absent. The fault consists in failure to take sufficient care. Still, the loss of life caused by careless drivers is becoming so frequent and the misery and injury caused to the relatives so great that I may have to consider, if these offences do not diminish, whether imprisonment, instead of being the exception, should not be made the rule.” Both men—John Thomas Kute and Frank Victor Leicester — ■were fined £75, six months being allowed to pay. As pointed out by His Honour there is not present in such cases intent to do bodily harm, but it is a matter for grave concern that life and limb are at the mercy of reckless motor, drivers. Imprisonment should be mandatoy by way of promoting greater care on the part of many thoughtless motorists. The trouble is that many of the offenders are unmindful of their own safety and take liberties likewise with the bodies of others not usually cognisant of the hazard being faced. “NECESSITY FOR DOMINION'’ The necessity of having a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve in New Zealand has been stressed by Commodore F. Burges Watson, the new Commodore of the New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy. “You support a division of the Royal Navy,” he said, in the course of a recent speech, “and you back it with a Naval Reserve and with a most lusty infant, the Royal Naval Volunteer’ Reserve. I trust that the Volunteer Reserve will always be encouraged here in New Zealand, and that as time goes on it will become stronger and stronger.” The Commodore pointed out that, as New Zealand did not have a population of fishermen to call upon as reserves in time of trouble, as was the case in England, every encouragement should be given to the Volunteer Reserve, which in this country he considered an absolute necessity. FARMERS’ INCOME TAX One or two correspondents have lately complained in our columns, observes the “Taranaki News,” that a farmer is unduly favoured by being allowed to deduct from his returns of income the cost of supplies to himself and his family (says the Otago Daily Times). This is a mistake, as the allowable deduction is expressly restricted to the keep of the farmers’ employees only (named in the form as “rations bought for employees”). If the total cost of stores, etc., bought is stated in the farmer’s return as a deduction, a due proportion is disallowed by the commissioner in the form of “stores supplied to owner’s house,” irrespective of Whether such owner is resident on his farm or not. It has also been stated that rent is deductible in the farmer’s

case and not in the town dweller’s. This indicates some misapprehension, as there must be very few farmers, A if any, who rent the farm house separately from the farm, and if the farm or run is held on lease it is obviously the very means by which the income is earned, and in that respect differs essentially from a town worker’s place of residence. As a matter of fact, the farmer, as a rule, is the owner of his house, and his outlay in building or adding to it is not allowable as a deduction.