The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News. The Echo and The Sun. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1937. THE BUDGET DEBATE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 255, 27 October 1937, Page 6

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

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1937. THE BUDGET DEBATE.

>For the cause that inrkn assistance, t'nr the irrony that ne.edt resistance, for the future <n the distance, A rut the good that toe ran do.

Tin , Tinnsp of Representatives last night cnniplcli'd its debute on the Budget, and has >till tn ileal with the Estimates. The financial yenr covered by the Hudgct statement ended ni'iirly .seven months ago, more than half the yrnr h> which the Kxtimatce relate hns passed, mid much nt' the money, for the expenditure of which form a I authority is still needed, has been spent; in I'nct, Mr. Nnsh was able to present a siiijininry of the public accounts for tin; li.ilt-year. Tlie.se facts reflect no credit on Pnrliiunentary procedure, ami they will not strengthen public confidence in Parliamentary control of the public purse. They imply that it' the (iowj-niiiiMit had proposed an expenditure fi've millions or ten millions greater. than the record sum actually proposed, Parliament could have done nothing; etTectiial to challenge it. Granted that there hnve been special circumstances this year making for deluy in presenting and considering the public accounts and estimates, there is scope in any year for a considerable improvement, which can be made if the Government desires it. There was certainly no need or excuse for a month's debate on a Budget which was already stale when it was presented. The course of the Budget debate may be summarised very briefly. The Opposition said to the Government, "You are spending too mncli." The Government replied, "The money is coming in—more, even, than we estimated — which proves that the expenditure can be afforded. What is more, our expenditure is helping to make the country prosperous. Which of the items of our expenditure would you cut down? ,. This kind of argument, skilfully devised to appeal to popular feeling, is difficult to combat. In a time of prosperity advocates of prudence and economy are never popular; they can be dubbed pessimists, or— as Mr. Nash described them —people still living in an atmosphere of "slnmp." Nevertheless, the Opposition, and those outside the House who have criticised the Government's prodigal expenditure, base their criticism on the ground of experience, and, particularly, the experiences of the last ten years, which the Labour party remembers as well as anyone else, but is now deliberately ignoring.

The Dominion's experience has been that the springs of its prosperity flow unevenly; in other words, that the overseas prices of its products fluctuate, "and occasionally fluctuate violently. Mr. Nash knows that to be true, bub thinks it an unpleasant truth, and, when obliged to admit that prices may fall low again, gives a vague answer that this Government in such an emergency would "insulate" the Dominion against the worst effects. If he knows more than the Coalition Government did when it bad to face just euch an emergency, he should share his knowledge. Not only New Zealand, but other countries, would be glad to have it. If he does not know, and he has not convinced the country that he does, he should now be paying much greater regard to the only means of "insulation" that is known to be efficacious—the prudent husbanding of the country's resources against the always possible "rainy day." *