NOTES OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 672, 24 November 1909, Page 6

NOTES OF THE DAY.

The people who support the Government in: its antagonism to any interference with its complete control of .the public.works expenditure are the people who,:asja rtifc,are most fond of holding Up the-British Government for: admiration. Tho Ministerialist press in v this country has been' exceedingly careful,, however, to avoid mentioning the cardinal point of the Development Fund Bill. '■, In. its original form the : Bill proposed to, empower' the Government to make grants for various public vworksj but Lord RxbertCecil and otter members of the .Opposition promptly pointed out. the necessity < for : placing the Fund under non-political control, The Government readily agreed to 'amend its- proposal, for the lesson taught by the colon-' les was too impressive; to; be; ignored. The proposal finally agreed to is. that; there shall .be an independent: Board of five, commissioners, to bo: appointed for ! ten years..,' Thesi'vcommissioners -are v given very extensive powers of their own, and their' sanction is necessary;.'to'',tho; voting' of any grant. All parties' in' the Houso of Commons and,the,House of Lords are unanimous in favouring;, non-political. control;.'., The : Government's view was thus stated by Earl Carrington in moving the second readingof ; the "Bill in the House, of Lords on' October 14 last:-.: .As regarded: tho fund,; lie thought ...most of their lordships would agree that the: proposal opened'a very wide;question;,and that it might become a sourco of great national danger. .If there was one things which "people; in public life insisted on; it was the' cautious adniiiiisj' tration of, public money.;' The .standard '-.•: bf. public life in this country was very High,.and it would ba a pity if any Bill was brought, in i which would'affect it/ That had been at once pointed out : by Mr. Rufus, Isaacs and'' Lord. Ri Cecil,, and they hn'd plainly, showed'-the' danEst of into'the absolute conrol of, the Government of < the day, whatever that Government might-bo, as it might end .in a scramble for'spoils and might bo an invitation to 'almost, everybody to 'press for somo share of the' grant. •, Those of their, lordships who had visited Australia; might .remember, that the groat difficulty in the old. days had been that members "of Parliament, wore known as roads' and bridges members, and their seats. had entirely, depended on : the public ; : works ; which they could induce, the Ministry of the day to commence and continue in their constituencies. Speaking in, the name'of-tho.Gov-ernment, he thanked Lord'lt.'Cecil-for ' the' statesmanlike way in'- which -ho had shown tho possible danger- and for the machinery-'-.which Jio had put forward to avoid it. That; machinery had been' at once adopted by Hho'iChancellor of the Exchequer and was now. part of tho 8i11.,.- : „ e,:;w;/.:;rv : ■-~ >.■ /;*■/.;.;; v-:!;. : '..v:.; - : Exactly the same machinery.'was'put for-j ward by Mr.- Herdman 'the other day,, 'and the, Ward attacked:, -him violently and threw his proposal out,;','■' , '"Some 'interesting, figures come /ffrom London * to-show, the difference, between Socialist and anti-Socialist. finance.-,', We give them here,.not only because .they arc interesting, in .themselves,' but because; they have a veijy.direct bearing oh some of. the'questions of'the ;day in :Ne\v,..Zea-; land. .During the 17 years of their control ofXondoh's finances, the ''Progressive", paftyi ■ which i'adopts the "'same mtthoaa and uses: the samo; arguments as our own "Liberals," piled'up/the rateburden, to such; an- extent; that many big factories were driven. into the provinces; In Poplar alone oho firm wjiich '.paid' £60,000 a year in wages removed into, the country. .;During;.the rigime the rates, inLondon increased;by ! no less than 2s.»'4di'in'the,poiind., Dur-! , ing tho two" years of, the. .reign of "'-the Reformers .the rates have fallen by 1 2d./' in. the -pound, which means; £1800,000; in the; pockets of,the; ratepayer?. ; "And yotj while reducing the) rates;, the Municipal Reformers have given London' 26 .more miles' of electric tramways,: and increased the number,of workmen's cars'by 1000; whilst 1 on ; the general ; ;' capita); /-account they have Prepaid-about: '.more:' than they havo.borrowed. This haß been done, of. course,; by conducting municipal affairs; pn , '.busincss'lines,',; with a'Btrong determination ;to...restore,, ..the.-.. waning prosporiiy 'of'/the . Metropolis."'.; ; These figures;are wori^h'iremembering, for;wo are constantly, being tpld'that-wo cannot, improve the. : railways finances,;' for ' example, withput raising tho' charge's,;; or proceed with;,any 'sound; "progressive pro-; posal without increasing. the load of taxation. | Economy .and 'sound business in. the: administration- of .the public '-"funds' would give; bett-ir service; while reducing the burden oh the taxpayer. 7 ,', : / Some light was thrown oh the ill-con-sidered nature of the hew taxing ". proposals '/of; tho ''Prime .'Minister' ; in";, the' House' of Representatives yesterday. 'Sin Joseph Ward,' unfortunately for..,the country, has a habit of doing a thing in a hurry and without' properly weighing' the consequences, and the public pay for: his rashness. Included; ;'■• ih;;. his.. latest batch, of ; new taxation schemes was' ',a primago duty of 1 per cent.,;which has \aised; an outcry;from, one end. of.: tho country to the other. 'Something like £50,000 out- of ..the half-million''of .fresh burden which ho is placing on the.public was,' according to' his 'estimate; to come out of this primage duty: Learning from tho outcry raised that his 'hastily-con-ceived new' Customs tax was likely to get' him into trouble .with importers, : : the Prime .Minister with equal' haste yesterday ohangod it into a surtax. of ,2j 'per cent, on the 1 amount of the l present duty. Incidentally ho 'added- ''• anything,• from £10,000 to. £50,000 .more. to; the taxation impbsod, It is disquieting to note the,utter unconcern: of Sir /Joseph Ward and his Ministers;as to; the .manner.,; in 'which they are piling up taxation. ; New land to-day: holds tho record; for the amount of taxation; collected per head of population. 'Why. does not Mr..Massey take up a resolute stand in the matter of , these added Customs duties, and refuso to pass them? The Prime Minister, with his; Dreadnought offer and* other- -proposals,, has saddled the country with an additional expenditure -this,' year/ of , ,£330,000; and.to meet' that' expenditure ' 'proposes/ .to',' extort.£soo,ooo ; from; /the pbckets.of the people with; new taxes; This'issiis economy. The whole country, wo aro Sure, must be utterly; sick of, such fooling.';. Sir Joseph.Ward.:states .that the nowLCußtbms duties will bring in only £50,000. :! ' : On his • own .'-.that £50,000'iis not:necessary.;/ Even;without -it,-tho -npw taxation:will /bring him.: in noarly £70,000; more: than he-states/he' requires to make;ends meet; and/inaddition to that' ho. has promised-economies kbich'should';moan .another-V£2s0 t ooo.

WHy, /then, "/should' this £50,000- to £100,000 of additional Customs duties bo taken from the peoplej . Why permit the Prime Minister to go; plunging .on.- .unchecked! -/;";:. '.' / ;'" ■ '*.../'■ '. ;".' \'..i'= .l/:/;'