Household

Two Refrigerators Per

Letter to the Editor IN these days of sky-rocket taxation, appeals for economy and legislation restricting luxury spending, and Govern ment searching for every penny that can be got, it will come as a surprise that in the out-of-the-way dependencies, officials can still look after themselves without regard to economy.

Here, in the New Hebrides, the officials are liberally paid, and have many privi leges and perquisites. Though they pay British income tax, this is more than offset by the fact that their sterling salaries are converted into Australian, as their households are run on Australian currency. They pay no Australian taxes.

All the house-holders have nice, com fortable, furnished houses, to which, out of their sure and liberal salary, they have added many comforts.

One of these comforts is a refrigerator.

The Administration lately thought that these self-provided refrigerators looked lonely, so, defying the crying need for drastic economy, each householder was lately (November, 1941) provided with another. As these cost at least £BO each, many hundreds of pounds were spent.

Many planters and others have to cut down on bare necessities, and such a thing as a refrigerator (which represents 30 tons of copra) is not even thought of.

Who is responsible for this shameful extravagance and why should he not be made responsible for his act of recom mending and sanctioning? If we complain of extravagances of this sort the official retort is that we in this group pay nothing towards the cost—it is the British tax payer who pays!

I am, etc..

Taxpayer.

Malekula, NH, 2/1/1942.

EDITORIAL NOTE: Our correspondent evidently is unaware that the British taxpayer is more heavily “socked” than the Australian, so New Hebrides officials carry as great a burden as any of us.

One refrigerator per Islands household, is an amenity to which any European is entitled in the tropics. A broken-down refrigerator can be a tragedy in the iso lated Islands, so probably a second refrigerator per household was ordered as a reasonable standby. But, as our corres pondent says, it does seem an extravagance in war-time.

Scene: A NZ South Island Bowling Club: Campbell: “Losh, man. I thocht ye were away on your Fiji trip!”

MacTavish: "Fiji be daumed! Did ye no hear there’s a shortage o’ pennies there and they benighted heathen havena got a 3d. piece in the country?”