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82 and tear is confined to traders and manufacturers, so that whilst a business man is allowed a deduction for depreciation of the car employed in his business a doctor, whose practice equally necessitates the use of a car, cannot claim the same deduction. The Royal Commission recommended that the allowance should not be restricted to traders, and in this case also there would seem to be scope for pressure by the professional associations to induce the Government to amend the law on the subject. A renewal of a car may, of course, be claimed, but only to the extent of the value replaced less the amount received on sale or exchange. Deductions, Allowances, and Reliefs. The amount of the assessment in respect of the business having been arrived at, it becomes necessary to make a complete return on the well-known buff form. The amount liable to assessment should be inserted on page 2, together with any other amounts arising under the other heads shown on that page. On page 3 of the form a complete return of all sources of income and of charges thereon should be furnished to enable the deductions and allowances to be claimed. Page 4 should also be carefully completed so that any allow- ances may be given against the assessment to be made. The notice of assessment issued later will follow the return made, provided, of course, the latter is correctly completed. On receipt of such notice the assessment amount should be carefully verified together with the appropriate deductions and allowances including earned income relief one-tenth, personal allowance of £135 single, £225 married, and wife to £45 if earning income, child allowance of £36 and each additional £27, housekeeper £45, widowed mother £45, dependent relative £25, first £225 of taxable income at 2s. 3d., and life assurance premiums from 2s. 3d. to 4s. 6d. per £. The period within which to appeal against the assess- ment is 21 days, and any necessary notice should be given before that period expires. There are certain circumstances in which adjust- ments may be made in the tax payable within or after the end of the year of assessment. The following constitute the principal grounds, and any adjustment can be made to take effect by way of repayment or of reduction in the outstanding tax :- 1. Where a change in ownership has occurred within the year, the current year’s assessment is apportioned between the person ceasing and his successor. 2. Where owing to the person ceasing to carry on the profession or dying or becoming bankrupt or from any other specific cause (where ownership has changed) the profit falls short of the assessed amount, a reduc- tion may be claimed to the actual profit of the year. 3. A person succeeding to the practice or a new partnership may apply for adjustment to the actual profit in the year of assessment if such profit is less through some specific cause arising since or by reason of the succession or partnership change. " Specific cause " as referred to here relates to such occurrences as removal to other premises, or loss of personal influence. 4. If the profession has commenced within the last four years a claim may be made for reduction to the actual profit of each year. It is not necessary, therefore, in this period to abide by the average figure and the option of claim is entirely with the taxpayer. 5. If the profession is discontinued, a claim may be made to have the assessment of the current year reduced to the actual profit and a further claim to have the total profit of the three previous years substituted for the total assessments of those years may be entered. 6. Where a loss is sustained in the profession, tax on the amount of such loss is recoverable against any tax paid for that year. This relief is usually claimed only in the absence of any other equivalent relief and then with discrimination, as the loss on which repay- ment is made is not allowed in reduction of future averages. It is, however, distinctly advantageous to claim when the rate of tax is falling as it can readily be seen that a repayment in, for example, a 5s. year, will result in a saving of 6d. per £ if the loss is set against a 4s. 6d. year. 7. In the event of it being found that an error or mistake in the return or statement has been made, repayment may be claimed for three years back on account thereof. The foregoing points constitute salient features in the taxation of professions, but it will be appreciated that the many phases of assessment and allowances are subject to varying conditions and stipulations impossible of compression into a short article. The many Acts and various text-books on the subject of Income-tax readily demonstrate the complexity of modern taxation, and probably no field in the fabric of social life is so encumbered with legislative enactments and judicial decisions, not to mention the numerous modifications introduced in practice. The ramifica- tions of taxation are so wide and so deep that even in an extensive practice it is an almost unique occurrence to deal with two cases containing precisely similar circumstances and conditions. It is true that members of any one profession may derive help in conforming generally to an approximately standard type of business assessment-as shown above-but it is equally true that in the computation of other income, in the statement of charges, and in the claiming of adjustments and allowances they must join the general community of confused and exasperated persons known as " taxpayers." THE DISCOVERY OF RADIUM. CELEBRATION IN PARIS OF THE TWENTY- FIFTH ANNIVERSARY. IT is now just over 25 years ago that (on Dec. 26th, 1898) the discovery of radium was made known to the scientific world in a communication addressed to the Académie des Sciences de Paris. On Jan. 2nd two ceremonies took place, one at the Fondation Curie, the other at the Sorbonne, in celebration of this anniversary. The first of these was the inauguration, in the presence of Mr. Paul Strauss, Minister of Hygiene, of the Dispensary of the Fondation Curie ; at this ceremony many leading scientific and medical men took part. Mr. P. Appell, Rector of the University of Paris and president of the Council of Administration of the Fondation, opened the proceed- ings ; orations were then delivered by Mr. Régaud, professor at the Institut Pasteur and secretary-general of the Fondation, by Mr. Bergonie, and by Mr. Strauss, who expressed to all those associated with the Fondation, and particularly to Madame Curie, the recognition by the Government and the public of the great results obtained in the incessant work carried on by the institution. At the second ceremony, in the great amphitheatre of the Sorbonne, the chair was taken by Mr. Alexandre Millerand, President of the French Republic, who had on his right Mme. Curie. Mr. Appell, speaking in the name of the Fondation Curie, described the achieve- ments of science made possible by the great discovery associated with the names of Mr. and Mme. Curie, thanked the President and the representatives of Great Britain, the United States, Belgium, Spain, and other countries for their presence and support, and paid a tribute to Mr. Strauss for his organisation of regional centres for the campaign against cancer. He concluded his address by expressing the gratitude of the Fondation to Mme. Curie for her gift of a gramme of radium, to Mr. Henri de Rothschild for his recent donation of 500 milligrammes of the element, and to other benefactors of the institution. Mr. Jean Perrin gave a brief survey of the importance of radio-activity, and Mr. Baclere dealt with the relations of radium and medicine. Mr. Léon Bérard, Minister of Public Instruction and Fine Arts, recalled the circumstances in which was passed the Act recording the discovery of radium, and expressing the gratitude and admiration of the Republic upon that occasion. Mme. Curie briefly replied, and the President associated her name with that of her husband in a final tribute of praise.
