PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 882
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
FG 1909
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by an authority who is more widely known and accepted, viz. A L. Bowley, who in his antes on the Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress as well as in his book, “ National Progress in Wealth and Trade." places the figures at £2,000,000,000 annually He arrives at this by dividing the national income into four groups 1. The part received as wages, (2) the part under review of the Inland Revenné Department, (3) the sum of money which is earned as salaries too small to be considered by the income tax collectors, and (4) the profits from invest ments abroad and businesses at Home which in part escape the tax gatherer, though legally liable This estimate, which was made in 1904, has not since been challenged It is true that the population of Great Britain has increased since that date, but the average rate of wages has not risen, and although it may be possible, or even prob- able, that the sum given by Bowley has grown to a larger figure between 1904 and 1909, in 15 quite impossible to make an estimate which is not open to be at once challer gerl and I therefore take the actual figures given, viz. £2,000,000,000 annualls, as representing the total income of the population of the United Kingdom What, therefore, was the capital value of property to produce that income? I can speak personally of sterling investments on a fairly large scale, and my ex- perience, which coincides with that of many others in important commercial positions, Shows that the average rate of interest is rather under 3 per cent, but as I am anxious that no taint of special pleading shall characterise this argument I have
put down the average rate of interest at 4 per cent, or 25 per cent higher than that obtamable for well-invested money This shows that the capital value of privately- cared property in the United Kingdom is £50,000,000,000 sterling, divide by the The value of property in this population, and it gives a per capita wealth of £1.090 Colony is not even as easy to arrive at, but a fair estimate sets it down at $275,000,000. which i the equivalent of £25,000,000, or, say, £60 per head, as against £1,090 per head at Home It follows therefore that the average wealth of an individual in this Colony is one eighteenth of that of an individual at Home, so that although we pay taxes of C1 9s per head, or, as I said earlier, about one-fifth that paid per unit in the United Kingdom, this sumeis paid out of the attenuated resources, and if a fair com- parison of the respective burdens is made between ourselves and those resident at Home it will be seen that we pay nearly four times the taxes in proportion to our means The second heading which I take is the cost of Defence of Trade and Property Statistics show that in 1909 £60,000,000 was spent in the United King- dom on Defence, including the expenditure on the Navy and it is important to remember that the money spent on the Navy is not omitted from the calculation. The trade of Great Britain- imports less re-exports and exports- amounted to £1,000,000,000 sterling. This added to the value of property increases the figure to £51,000,000,000 sterling Local statistics are non-existent, but the trade of Hong Kong can be arrived at by making an analysis of the total exports and imports of China herself, which in 1909 amounted to £98,600.000 sterling The proportion of those imports and exports from and to Great Britain, Hong Kong, India and all other British territories are set down in statistical tables at 51 per cent of the whole, or £50,000,000 sterling, and this added to the value of privately-owned property increases the figure to £75,000,000, which represents the value to be defended This, compared with £51,000,000,000, shows our proper proportion for Defence under this head to be in the neighbourhood of £88,000 per annum, or speaking in the currency of the Colony, $974,000, which is considerably less than we are paying at present I submit that the argument, although apparently in favour of a contribution of $974,000 a year, is stretching the point to its utmost limit, in so far as the so-called trade of the Colony, broadly speaking, although reckoned as a living trade, is only a transit one, and properly speaking, only a small portion should be brought into the calculation, more particularly as the figure taken covers a great variety of interests which merely pass through the harbour en route for destination and are never landed or handled here. I appeal for a reduction only on the grounds of equity. I would be the last to hold that we should try to evade payment of our fair proportion of the necessary expenditure for imperial require- ments. On the contrary, being part of the Great Empire of which we are so justly proud, we are glad to pay our fullest share, and my endeavour has been to show what that full share amounts to. I have thus shown, sir, that we are already much more I have heavily taxed in proportion to our means than those resident at Home. further shown that the contribution for defence properly leviable for the Colony should not exceed $974,000, and as I do not believe that the Secretary of State is deaf to reason I beg Your Excellency to place the views which I have expressed before
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him in order that a re-adjustment of the contribution may be made and the much- needed relief obtained (Applause.)
Honourable Mr POLLOCK: Your Excellency, I rise to second the motion, and I think that the figures which have just been laid before us by my honourable friend re of a very striking character, for they show that compared with our individual ability as taxpayers to pay, we are more heavily taxed in this Colony for defensive purposes than are ti.. inhabitants of the United Kingdom. In truth, sir, the present system of assessing our military contribution is hopelessly illogical, for it is based upon the fallacy that the more revenue we raise to meet the expanding needs of this Colony the more prosperous we must be and the better able to bear a large amount of military contribution. Sir, as a striking instance of the absurdity of such a theory I will refer to the duties on imported liquors. These duties were imposed for the first time in September. 1909, and constituted an entirely novel form of taxation. These were increased at various times subsequent to that date, and on March 16th this year a resolution was passed by this ouncil increasing them to a very considerable extent. Now, sir, the astonishing circumstance is this, that while we are obliged to pay this heavy taxation upon our drinks we are compelled also to give 20 per cent. of that taxation to the military contribution upon the unsound theory that we are able to pay a larger contribution, whereas the contrary is manifestly the case. Let me pass on now to consider another point. I believe it is sometimes argued that because we do not pay in this Colony the entire cost of our garrison it must necessarily follow that the amount which we pay for military con- tribution cannot be considered an unreasonable amount. Sir, such a contention has at all events the charm of novelty, for the Secretary of State in his despatch dated 20th February, 1890, stated that the Colony would then be called upon to pay one-seventh of the then cost of this garrison, namely, £40,000 out of £280,000 annually. That assessment of £40,000 was based upon a garrison of 2,525 troops. That force, sir. has been considerably increased, and I believe now stands at somewhere about 4,400. But, sir, the amount which we are paying as a contribution in this Colony has increased during these 20 years out of all proportion to the increase in the number of the garrison. Whereas 20 years ago we were paying in sterling £40,000 per annum, we paid last year, notwithstanding the enormous drop in exchange which has taken place within the past 20 years, no less a sum in sterling than, roughly, £110,000. If we look at it from a dollar point of view the result is even more striking, for we shall find that we paid last year five times as much in dollars as we did 20 years ago. Moreover, since the present system of reckoning the contribution came into force in the beginning of 1901 our payments have gone up in an astonishing degree. Whereas in 1901 we paid eight and a half lakhs for military contribution, we paid last year 14 lakhs of dollars in military contribution. Sir, the Unofficial Members of this Council yield to no one in their devotion to the Empire, but we are the trustees for the ratepayers of this Colony, and there are extensive public works clamouring to be executed, amongst which I may mention in particular the con- struction of the new typhoon refuge, which is estimated to cost two million dollars, and the extension of the water works at Tytam, which, I believe, is estimated to cost, roughly, three million dollars. Besides that, sir, we have a heavy payment to make annually on account of the railway. I submit that it is imperative that these works should be pushed on with all speed and that they should not be delayed or hampered by reason of other schemes coming forward requiring large sums of money to be spent upon them. With regard to the typhoon refuge in particular, I would submit that it is imperative that it should be pushed on in order to complete the work by the contract date. Sir, there has already been too much delay in this matter. On referring to the pages of Hansard for 1906, I find that on 1st November of that year I addressed the following question to the Government: "When does the Government intend to To that the commence work on the construction of a new harbour of refuge?" Director of Public Works replied: "As soon as the necessary plans and estimates can be prepared." That, sir, was over four years ago, and it is only within the last few months that the work on this refuge has been commenced. Sir, a junkman or a sampanman or a cargo-boatman may not be a very heroic figure, but in an im- portant shipping port like this he is a very important factor, and I think that it will be a disgrace to this Colony if through any cause the completion of this harbour of refuge is postponed beyond the contract date. I think there is reason to fear from our experience in the past that if this military contribution is continued at the present rate the olaims of other works to be accomplished will be pushed in and this work will be postponed. Sir, it may be said that I am anticipating evil needlessly