Public utility, in matters of Company-taxes, is the basic principle of assessment; it should also be the reason of their equitable distribution.  As the money of the public goes to Companies, irrespective of creed, so also should the taxes of these Companies come back to the community, irrespective of creed.  As Companies are assessed in school matters for the benefit of the children of the community, the proceeds of the assessment should be therefore divided—­not according to the faith of the shareholders of the company, but according to the number of children in each school district.  And as the majority rules, the school district in the majority should strike the rate of taxation for both districts.

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The division of Company-taxes according to the faith of the shareholders is neither just, nor practical.  It is not just for the reason we have brought forward.  The principle involved in the present law is just when the individual is concerned, especially when the individual is the father of a family.  As such, one has a right to support the school which his conscience obliges him to support.  This natural right, our present law recognizes. But in the case of a company the principle of public utility and not the test of faith should be invoked, we believe.

This present law governing Company-taxes is not practical.  The onus is on the Separate School-Board to enlist each year the sympathies of the companies.  Before how many Boards of Directors is the matter brought up?  The local manager is the one who deals with the problem, and he often is a stranger to the laws of the Province, with no sympathy for separate schools.  Facts, stubborn facts, are there to prove our contention.  In no city of the Province of Saskatchewan is the Separate School Board getting its part of Company-taxes.  This is one of the reasons why our rate is often so high when compared with the Public School rate, and why our Boards are crippled in their finances.

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This simple reasoning should appeal to every fair-minded man.  This change of legislation we advocate in the matter of Company-taxes, is not a favour we beg—­but the mere recognition of a principle of distributive justice we ask.

NOTE. 1.  The argument as presented herein is still stronger when applied to Companies of public utilities such as tramways, express companies, etc., for their nature and profits depend absolutely on the public.

NOTE. 2.  SCHOOL LAW OF QUEBEC PROVINCE IN THE MATTER.  No. 2892.

“When immovable property of such corporations and companies is within a territory, placed under the administration of two corporations of school commissioners of different religious beliefs, established in virtue of Article 2590, the corporation which comprises the greatest number of rate-payers entered on the valuation roll, shall be bound to levy the taxes affecting such property and to divide the same proportionately to the number of children from five to sixteen years of age residing in each municipality.”—­62 V. c. 28, s. 399.