Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1940. PUBLIC WORKS EXPENDITURE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 248, 27 July 1940, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, JULY 27, 1940. PUBLIC WORKS EXPENDITURE

The motion to refer the Public Works Estimates back to the Government for reduction was a most unusual one, necessitated by the unusual circumstances. The attitude of the National Party will be generally endorsed by the country, which, it is no exaggeration to say, was astounded by the huge amount the Government proposes to spend on Public Works during the current financial year. It is difficult, very difficult, to understand the reasoning on which the Minister has framed and the Government as a whole has endorsed, the policy that requires £20,000,000, only £3,000,000 less than the record outlay last year. The fact that the expenditure has risen from £3,300,000 in 1933 to its present dimensions is evidence of nothing short of an orgy of spending regardless of the future. That state of affairs was bad enough when the internal welfare of the Dominion alone was at issue, but it is much more reprehensible now. The urgent need of the times is drastic economy not only that the funds thus saved may be utilised in the vigorous prosecution of the war, but also that the people may be relieved as much as possible of a burden that even in normal times was heavy. No one will begrudge contributing to the last penny to provision for war requirements, but there is just as certainly a serious objection to the spending of money on undertakings that are not essential. The raising of 10,000,000 by loan is open to .grave criticism. It the amount is to be raised overseas the effect on sterling exchange will bcdisastrous, more than nullifying the drastic measures that have been adopted to achieve a sound position. If it is intended to raise the money in the Dominion the people will be called on to divert funds that are necessary for the needs of industry or for patriotic purposes. How can a Government that has been so strongly urging upon the community the necessity for economising in various ways expect the people to pay heed when exhortation is cancelled by action the exact reverse. The old doctrine that in good times Budget surpluses should be used to reduce debt and taxation, and that in bad times Budgets should be balanced by economies, may have gone out of fashion in this country, but it may still be suggested to Cabinet that only a Government that has left undone nothing that can be dond to avoid needless waste has the moral authority to call effectively on individual citizens to refrain from extravagance.