MORE TAXES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 170, 21 July 1941, Page 6

MORE TAXES.

AUSTRALIAN BURDEN

CLAIM AND CRITICISM

(0.C.) SYDNEY, July 12. A storm of criticism broke over the Bank of New South Wales' economic adviser, Mr. C. V. Janes, who, in an address to the Legacy Club, said that if a total war effort was to be achieved, a lower standard of living was inevitable; that the more taxation there was the better, and that it did not really matter if petrol rationing closed every motor business and put 100,000 people out of work. The reference to petrol rationing was not very happy, for it came just at a moment when it appeared that the Federal Government was going to be forced to climb down again and hold a public inquiry into charges which in effect allege that the petrol shortage is just an oil cartel racket. A good indication of how the petrol situation is developing is the fact that Dr. Evatt, M.H.R., the astute ex-High Court judge, has now associated himself in the campaign with Mr. Beasley, one of his Labour colleagues on the Advisory War Council. It is charged against the oil cartel that it has taken tankers off the Australian run, and is actually taking more of them off in proportion as petrol sales decline; that it has failed to honour its promise to build up reserves and, in fact, has far less petrol now than before, and that by a system of fines it is preventing independent companies from importing motor spirit. One of these companies charges that when it offered to import more petrol for the Government, the Supply Minister, Senator McLeay, refused the offer and stated that the Government could do business only with the cartel. Another company alleges that it has waited 18 months for Government permission to establish a refinery which would produce 12,000,000 gallons of motor spirit and 10,000,000 gallons of Diesel or fuel oil yearly. An official of this company said he had been told by a visiting American expert that he would never get the Government's approval. "No Faith to Fight For" Summarised, comment on Mr. Janes' statements was that it seemed strange to recommend a depression as the best means of achieving a total war effort. The president of the Legion of Christian Youth, Mr. A. J. Dalziel, said, "If what Mr. Janes says is true, we have no faith to fight for. We might just as well swing in behind Hitler." Mr. H. D. Black, lecturer in economics at Sydney University, also stirred up attention by stating that if peace came it might be a calamity because no post-war planning had been done in Australia. He foresaw that as a result of Australia's amazing industrial development for war purposes, the issue of protection, which 10 years had shown was "suicidal nonsense," would become "a kind of sacred cow." Declaring that a more dramatic increase in living standards must be achieved, Mr. Black said, "We think that because we have the basic wage, relief work and a few social services, we have social security, but this is nonsense." He also urged that every Australian should understand how local government, hospitals, and such public services were conducted; that we must upend the housing system and make large houses the cheapest to encourage families; and that every child should have 2000 miles of free railway travel as a dowry, so that he could get to know his country. In a veiled hit at the Federal AttornevGeneral, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Black concluded, "If at the peace conference we are represented again by a voice which can only say 'blithering blazes, our contribution to world reconstruction wilt be no more effective than it was in 1918 "