POLITICAL OUTLOOK.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 431, 13 February 1909, Page 5

POLITICAL OUTLOOK.

L TROUBLES AHEAD. HH.A. W. RUTHERFORD AND THE GOVERNMENT. s ' ' CANDID CRITICIS3I. (fit TEIEQRAJH—SPECUtI COBBESPONDEST ) Chrlstchurch, Febiuary 12. In a long letter to tbo "Times," Mr. A. W. Rutherford "replies to that papei's criticisms of his recent speech at Hanmer, remarking that he has never declaimed against the Government for lavish borrowings on tho one hand, and on tho other hand "slanged" , it for'not allocating more money to' his electorate. Hβ goes on to explain more fully liis reasons for sharing in the Piimo Minister's optimism at the-present timo and pear future, and 'for disagreeing with him in regard to tho more distant ruturo. ' "The troubles ahoad of us," ho writes, "will come from tho business of the Do- -, minion being run on unsound hues. I am . ' aware Sir Joseph did not inaugurate that unsound policy; that was done by bia pi&deccssor, and Sir Joseph cannot now call a halt. If ho attempted drastic economical reforms tho electors will give him a letter of introduction to llr. Massey. No sound business man would attempt to defend the Oovernment's polioy. Ho recognises it must end in disaster.' _ _, ' "For instanco,• our railways, icclusivo of ' * rolling 6t«ck,' havo cost £30,000,000. I do -* not in any case profoss to give exact figures.' We lose spmethmg between £200,000 and 1 " ' £400,000 a, year on our railways. I will assume that loss to bo £300,000. Wβ employ permanently 5000 co-operative labourers, ro addition to the nocessaiy officials, at a yearly I ■ ' cost of £600,000 for labour alone to construct railways on ' which we lose yearly " £300,000. > Our prosent railways are situ- ' i sited in tho most iortilq country, and, thore--1 r fore, the most productive of traffic. They 1 are irrconnfcry in which they can bo comparatively constructed. The railways of'tho future will bo in less fertile conntry, and ■nill bo moro costly to construct. The co-operative labour system was started - in the first instanco partly as a charitable institution, and in thai respect it wae a suc- ' cess. Now its ranks are largely filled with stalwart young follows. They, with a few exceptions, won't accept private employment, f' It follows, therefore, thst tho Government must 'go s on with the railways, whether they ! pay or not. • "Our public buildings havq cost c us ' ' £4,000,000; A very large portion of this sum was spent more for, the purpose of pro- ' ducmg employment than that accommodation '"- , waa- required by tho Departments. ( Sir Joseph's building scheme for a Governor's '' residenc& and' a ',new Parliament House, , , Government offices—and a very fine one it is, too —coupled with a new Post Office- and new railway" station, will involve an expenditure ' of £400,000 within the next four or five years ' if given effect to. As the Departmental work ,of the country is going an in tho existing i' building, it is obvious that the proposed now '' buddings, which will provide much work for the artisans, are as much for the benefit' of "the said arhsans and the shopkeepers-whom ' they support as for Departmental, accommodation. ■ It is not alone in Wellington that these, building operations aro being carried

on, in. a lesser degree, of course "On the introduction of our old-age penE.ons scheme, which now casts us upwards of £300,000 a year, wo were told that its effect would be to materially reduce eleemosynary < aid This has not proved, to be the case. None of , our superannuation schemes are ' f- actually sound, merr ono of them is subsi- ' dised from the consolidated revenue In the ■• case of .pneumoconiosis, the Government lias agreed to indemnify tho Government Office against loss, thus rendering the Dominion, liable to the possibility of an enormous Jos3. \Thi3 is about the rorat business proposition on record, .~r=_.r™ "Wβ run Stato coal mines, which are made to pay by charging the Qoygmment, its chiof consumer, twenty shillings a ton, as against 103 6d charged to private consumers. 1 "Six million pounds have been lent bv tho Advances to Settlers Office, much of it on v ~ Becnnty of such an evanescent nature as vm- ' ,1? proVomonts. This class of security is sound >■' only so long as the borrower is 'sailing along oa tho flowing tide of prosperity Last year, ' owing to the slump in' the value of primary produce, many Crown tenants could not pay theif rents, nor the borrowers the interest r on the money advanced them, and tho Advances to Settlers Office was rushed for t money. "All> the Departments aro overmanned Tha Tiork of tho country could bo 1 by two-thirds of the present staff Any official will tell you that. "Th& Government policy—and it is tho ; '"" policy that has enabled the Government to retain its - hold of office for so long—is a policy to borrow, remit 1 taxation on popular linos, and a generous expenditure. So long as the Government is in a' position to carry "out that 'policy, so long will it retain office There are now, however, marked indications that that'policy perforce is nearing its end The Australian taoney market is 'exhausted, and Sir Joseph, after seven years' abstention, 1 has, reverted to the London market The Government is confronted with difficulties ' -uch as no previous Government has had to contend against Labour's demands, if acceded to as Dr. Fpdlay clearly showed by > statistical returns, would eliminate the very email profit new made by investors m industries. The Government must borrow ,it least £2,000,000 a year, or as an alternative, inv creaeo taxation sufficiently to make np a a lesser snm to that amount. If this be not done, 15,000 bread-winners would be thrown out of woA, and a worse debacle would occur than that which took place during the last jear Sir, Harry Atkinson held office."