12 MAY 1917, Page 12

THE DOG TAX.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] Sta,—I paid 7s. 6d. at New Year's time and received permission therewith to keep a dog for the year 1917. It looks very like .a breach of faith to exact more now. The extra tax means driving the finest kinds to Ireland and America, and some of the oldest breeds (like mastiffs and King Charles spaniels) to extinction. Why not add more to the tax in Ireland, which is only a third of that in Britain? Why this differentiation? And why emphasize it more ? And why not tax dogs over twenty inches at the shoulder more than smaller breeds, which eat little?—I am, Sir,