The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1931. ECONOMY FOR ALL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 38, 14 February 1931, Page 8

The Auckland Star WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1931. ECONOMY FOR ALL.

For the cause that lacks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that vie can do.

The Prime Minister has announced a policy of economy more drastic than anything this generation has known. The first thing to say about it is that it is a courageous policy. Its resolute facing of facts and idoption of measures that must he widely unpopular show honesty and courage, and contrast, sharply with the attitude of some political leaders in Australia. Mr. Forbes bids us face realities — the expectation next year of a huge deficit of four and a half millions, and a decline in our spending capacity caused not only by local but by world-wide economic conditions, which no man can say with certainty will greatly improve in the near future. The heart of the problem is the vast yet simple fact that the community is poorer than it was, and therefore cannot go on living in the style to which it has been accustomed. It may be said that this style has been too extravagant, that the Government has set a bad example. Explanations and apportionments of blame are of infinitely less importance just now than the necessity for readjustment. The Prime Minister proposes to cut down State expenses and to increase taxation, but he regards economy as the concern not of the Government alone, but of the whole community. The Arbitration Court will therefore be empowered to reduce Avages. This paper has all along opposed the idea that in times of depression wages should be the first economic item to feel the weight of the axe, and it has emphasised the importance of other factors in our industrial life. If, however, the economic condition of New Zealand demands that wages shall be reduced, the position must be met, and on general principles the Government is going the right way about it. The Government has given a lead by announcing that the salaries of all civil servants, from Cabinet Ministers downwards, will suffer a 10 per cent cut. The objection that will bo raised to this is that a 10 per cent reduction means much less to a civil servant on a thousand a year than to one on £250 a year. Against must be set the fact that the income tax is to be raised, and the man with £1000 a year may already be paying up to 5 per cent on his income. This does not, of course, make the two cases equal, and workers on the lower levels, whether in the Civil Service or not, deserve the sympathy of the community in the situation that is being forced on them. The Government, we hope, will explore thoroughly the possibility of graduating the reduction, at least among the lower paid civil servants. • Equality of sacrifice is a noble ideal, but in this imperfect world it. can rarely be reached.. We hope the Arbitration Court will deal as lightly as possible with the man on or about the basic wage, and that, as the Prime Minister promises, this worker will benefit substantially from the fall in the cost of living. It is proposed to raise nearly a million by increasing postal rates, to obtain more money through the income tax, and to set up a Committee to revise expenditure on education. Experience makes one doubt whether the postal estimate will be realised, for the raising of rates checks business. Higher income tax will also restrict industry at a time when it should be as free as possible to expand, and so absorb unemployed workers. The Prime Minister points out that debt charges cannot be reduced. The debt, however, can be kept within limits, and his own statement makes it all the more imperative that loan money should be spent only on reproductive works. He says, too, that ihe work of the recently established Economy, Committee will bear good fruit when the estimates for the coming year are framed. This is all the more reason why these estimates should be framed at the beginning of the year. Let Mr. Forbes introduce his Budget in April, as is done in England. It is impossible at this stage to discuss the Prime Minister's most important statement in all its bearings, but two other matters must be mentioned. The Government has decided to give the idea of control of the railways by a non-political Board a trial for two years, which was advocated by the recent Commission.' The railways are in so serious a position financially that objections natural enough among Ministers to such a course, have been overcome. The Prime Minister also makes a sympathetic and statesmanlike reference to the great question of rural finance. The Government has wisely rejected the idea of a moratorium on mortgages, which would do more harm than good. It is well aware of the hardship to which economic conditions are subjecting farmers and mortgagees, but it realises that the best way out of a difficult situation is by leaving the parties to adjust their affairs. The Government proposes to assist this process through its Commissioners of Crown Lands, but compulsion will not be used. Mr. Forbes' appeal for sympathy and patience in the relations between mortgagee and mortgagor is sound business as well as sound sentiment. That the Prime Minister's statement will be accepted by all without murmur is too much to expect, and no one knows this better than Mr. Forbes himself. He has, however, to do what he considers his duty, and no Prime Minister since Atkinson has had such an unpleasant task. He puts his. appeal in the right key. This is a national matter; the country simply cannot go on living beyond its means; all classes are asked to share' the burden of economy and readjustment. So stated, the situation is simple; it is in the apportioning of the necessary - sacrifices that difficulties arise and injustice is felt. The more that the problem is felt to be national and individual, the more that the community realises that the movement towards regeneration is really co-operative, the easier will be , the task and the quicker its accomplishment.