"UNPRECEDENTED PROSPERITY"

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22306, 21 January 1938, Page 7

"UNPRECEDENTED PROSPERITY"

TO THE EDITOR OK THE pnr.SS. Sir, —This morning when walking into the city my attention was drawn to a paper-man's board, with the heading, " 'Unprecedented Prosperity,' Prime I Minister's Statement." I drew a friend's j attention to it and his only remark was, "Eye wash." I proceeded to read the Prime Minister's statement and it read well. But. if this is so and we are living in times of "unprecedented | prosperity," then why in the name of all that is good and great, are we taxed as never before? Why is the sales tax stlW with us when the same Pvime Minister- promised that if we voted for his party, it would go? Why the unemployment tax, wages tax, and income tax? None of these taxes except the incoine tax were levied in 1829, when we had a sane Government, and now the Prime Minister tells of this "unprecedented prosperity." 1 wonder if he would like to tell us about the unprecedented taxes and the cost of living etc., that is following his Government. It is all very good to tell us, as he did on a former occasion in Christchurch, that it was the last Government that put these taxes on. "There now," but that is not the point. Who promised to take them off? The previous Government put them on during a world depression to help the unfortunate members of our community, and if that same Government were in power to-day those temporary taxes would have been all wiped off long ago and we would to-day be in a state of real prosperity, as we were in 1929 and previous years. After reading the Prime Minister's statement I turned over the page and read a statement by the Minister for Employment, wherein he states that for "the four-weekly period £207,000 was expended from the fund for the promotion of employment"—and note that this is separate from the huge amount spent on relief. How does this compare with the "unprecedented prosperity" of the Prime Minister? If the Prime Minister's statements are correct, then let him prove that our prosperity is unprecedented by fulfilling the promises made before last election and wipe off all these taxes, etc.. that were never intended to be permanent. So far as I can see we are living in an Irishman's prosperity and the position is the same as if a farmer increased his man's wage from £2 a week to £2 10s and then put his rent up from £1 to £2 There is no doubt that workers are getting ■ more wages, but no one would sav that they are better off than before the slump; and I verily believe that if we hafi a reasonable Government in power to-day everyone—employer, employees, companies, and all concerned—would be in a state of very real and lasting prosperity. It will not be long till election time, and even although the present Government may make some very nice gestures before that date in the hope of winning some of the lost confidence of voters, I am sure that voters will see the position as it really is and vote accordingly. Then we will rejoice in "unprecedented prosperity" and goodwill will again exist in our country. After reading carefully the statement of the Prime Minister again, I feel that my friend on the street made a correct diagnosis—eye wash. —Yours, etc PROSPERITY. January 20, 1938.