The Press THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1935. The End of a Government

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21648, 5 December 1935, Page 10

The Press THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1935. The End of a Government

Yesterday Mr Forbes handed his resignation and the resignations of his colleagues in the Coalition Ministry to the Governor-General and it may be assumed that to-day the names of the new Labour Ministers will be officially announced. There has been little tendency in the country as a whole to regret the change of government or to recapitulate the services of the Coalition Government to New Zealand in the last few years. Excusably, the public finds it pleasanter to look forward to the future than to recapitulate the sacrifices and tribulations of the depression. Mr Forbes and Mr Coates have been too long in politics to worry much on this account. They will be well content to leave their record to the more tolerant judgment and wider perspective of a later generation. There are, however, one or two aspects of the Coalition Government s work which are worth emphasising, even at an apparently unpropitious time. One is its achievement in restoring budgetary stability. From about 1927 until last year the New Zealand Government was over-spending its actual revenue at the rate of approximately £4,000,000 a jfear. In the present financial year, unless there are very heavy additions to expenditure in the next few months, which is most unlikely, there will be a real surplus for the first time in a decade. And in the process of restoring budgetary equilibrium the Coalition Government has not, on balance, increased either the long-term or the floating debt. It may be that the value ( of balanced budgets as an aid to recovery has been exaggerated; but it is not a coincidence that those countries which, in the last five years, have striven honestly to keep their public spending within their revenue have made the most economic progress in the last 12 months or so. The Labour party takes over New Zealand's public finances in as sound a state as they have been at any time since the war and the country is entitled, on present indications, to expect a continuance of balanced budgets. It should also be remembered that the record of the Coalition Government is very far from a record of timidity and reaction. The depression has revealed serious weaknesses and maladjustments in the economic structure of the country and the Coalition Government did not hesitate to make bold and useful changes. The Reserve Bank, the Mortgage Corporation, and the Executive Commission of Agriculture are institutions with immense possibilities for the better regulation of the Dominion's economic life; and it is impossible not to regret that a change of government has occurred while they are still in their formative stages. Though Mr Savage has indicated that he will modify these institutions in some respects, it is not easy to believe that he will want to abolish any or all of them. Experience will almost certainly show him that, although they bear the trademark of an administration to which he was opposed, they are wisely conceived and fill a definite need. Mr Savage has proclaimed himself as a builder and not a breaker. It can only be said that, thanks to the Coalition Government, he has a magnificent foundation on which to build.