The Gisborne Time PUBLISHED EVERT MORNING. GISBORNE, JULY 4, 1903. THE SHEEP TAX.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 933, 4 July 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Time PUBLISHED EVERT MORNING. GISBORNE, JULY 4, 1903. THE SHEEP TAX.

The unfairness of the sheep tax is likely to be brought before Parliament in some practical form, though as the Ministry are uot turning an appreciative ear to complaints in reference thereto, it is not clear anything will be done to remedy the grievance. Indeed, the Minister of Agriculture has taken up a rather peculiar stand in this matter. I-le' sets forth that as the Agricultural Department costs one hundred thousand pounds a year to run, and the sheep tax yields “ only, ” thirty-five thousand pounds, it is necessary to look about for revenue to make good the deficiency, and it is hinted that a tax may be placed on cattle as well as on sheep. This, of course is alluded to as an “ adjustment,” 'but the producers know too well the meaning of •“ adjustment ” as applied to taxation. The adjusting of the taxation will be done readily enough as far as placing it on cattle is concerned, but the Department is ; very apt to be forgetful to make i reductions when adjusting ; the pro- i liability is that the expenses would forthwith be increased, and thus an-< other effective reply could be given to those who complain. Assuming the Minister to be correct as to the , original object of the tax —as a mat- ■ ter of fact he is grievously in the '

wrong—the question might reason-1 ably be asked as to how the hundred thousand pounds total is made up. There is, we believe, a shocking misstatement as far as the farmers’ fair share of the cost is concerned. The statement hardly fits in with Government’s professions of benefiting the farming industry, if benefits can only be obtained at such a price.