NOTES OF THE DAY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 221, 14 June 1930, Page 10

NOTES OF THE DAY

> Mr. Forbes’s threat, that possible increases in Custpms duties may be made retrospective is ill-advised and ill-considered. Apart from the impracticability of introducing such a principle without injustice to traders, the announcement itself is extremely unsettling. If ’the Prime Minister himself gives signs of nerviness, confidence is bound to be shaken in the public mind. The wise leader presents a cqol and unruffled demeanour, inspiring fortitude and courage rather than panic. Mr. Forbes had done better to keep a stiff upper lip and.bide his time rather than issue a warning which may have an effect exactly opposite to his purpose. ♦ * * ♦ One measure of economy open to the Prime Minister of which there was no mention in his recent financial statement is the bonus of £ 100 granted last financial year to members of Parliament. The moral sense of the country was shocked when M.P.’s voted themselves this extra sum immediately after they had declined, on the score of the need for economy, to raise the salaries of the lowerpaid civil servants. Mr. Forbes will do well to restrain members from making another raid on the Treasury to fill their own pockets. The public is already cogitating why it was necessary, considering the difficulties of national finance, to make six new appointments to the Legislative Council. *•* * * Though favoured by a following gale, Flight-Lieutenant Buckley’s record trip from Christchurch to Auckland is nevertheless an impressive demonstration of the possibilities in store for the further annihilation of time and space in this country. “A wonderful machine with a perfect engine, which makes cross-country flying easy,” said the airman, relating his impressions of the flight. The remark emphasises the importance of the machine factor in developing the country’s air lines with a minimum of mileage. Flying from point to point in easy stages over safe terrain is a very different proposition from making fast trips ’cross country in which engine trouble and a forced landing might spell disaster. Mr. Buckley’s journey north by air occupied 3 hours and 40 minutes. His return by the ordinary methods of travel is a matter of a day and a half, practically. The comparison is stimulating. **♦ ♦ • — It is not only the hospital boards which, as stated yesterday, are feeling the financial strain of assisting the unemployed; other local bodies and the Government are also straining their resources to the same end. But, however difficult the problem of finding funds may be, the real burden falls in the end on the ratepayers and taxpayers. The extra imposts on production, for that is where the money must come from in the final analysis, represent a severe handicap, so that the very measures taken to relieve unemployment tend to depress industry and enterprise and to increase the number out of work. No clear exit from this viciouS circle has yet been discovered although Some constructive suggestions for national organisation to meet the problem are contained in the report of the Special Committee on unemployment. The Minister of Labour is reported to be using the report as a foundation on which to build a national scheme. If Mr. Smith succeeds where others in this and other countries have failed, he will earn universal approbation. But. he will need to build on a firm foundation and the fundamental is that employment on relief works should not be made as attractive as jobs under private engagement