"TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT."

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16358, 1 November 1918, Page 3

"TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT."

j .. . . . — ~ ; I (from OTTB Otvs CORRESrOSDENT.) ! ; SYD-NEY, October 23.- ' Some of tho newspapers arc up in arms against a stiggestion that is without official authority but is yot winning a lot of credcncc. This is that certain States, whose financial troubles are boginning to weigh heavily utxm them, propose to abolish or suspend the sinking fund system in connexion with their heavy and frequent borrowings Ihe report has reached London and caused some little disturbance there among holders of State bonds, and- the Victorian Government has hastened to disclaim any connexion with, or knowledge of a conference between the AgentsGeiieral on this matter. Some of the newspapers are now asking that the New South ,v ales Government make a similar disclaimer, suspecting, apparently, that, this financially involved State will be unable to do so. The fivstem of establishing sinking funds is considered by many to be the one thing that gives stability to tho States borrowing operations, and tho alternative j , —that of paying off old loans by new ones, and taking a chance on _the_ condition of the money market—is viewrxl in influential quarters with positive alarm. It is certainly bad for the taxpayers, for money seems to be constantly increasing in prico.. If this proposal for the abolition or sinking funds is to bo seriously considered, it will most certainly bring to a head the agitation for the removal.of the State Government system and its replacement by the Federal system. The agitation is steadily gaining ! ground, and, although it will be fought bitterly by evfry man who makes his living through the State —and his name is legion— it will bo supported on the grounds of efficiency and economy by the s r P.it mass of neoplo. The maintenance of six Parliaments, and six cumbersome, overlapping and exoonsivo administrative systems, when lederai machinery exists for doing the whole thintr, is patently absurd. Says ono writer oil this subject? 'TVest whoso whole population would nt into a corner of Sydney, and which has as many mouses of Parliament as Great Britain, would be at the end of her tether now if it, were not for. £180,000 a year from tho Commonwealth, anil Tasmania ekes out by a subvention of £90 000 a year and tho right to riin a racing sweep " .