DOMINION TOPICS

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 166, 9 April 1932, Page 18

DOMINION TOPICS

Education Department and Boards. The whole question of the financial relations between the Education Department and Boards needs a good deal more investigation than it has received. Even the figures for the higher cost of education in New Zealand per head are challenged, and a member of the Canterbury Board is responsible for the remarkable statement that it would be impossible to save by abolition the £50,000 estimated by the Commission, for the reason that the total administration cost of nine Education Boards was only £49,742 in 1930, and since then economies have been made! The fact is that the Commission has not had the requisite time to study this question, and it should take it up again in the course of its investigation of departmental methods, when other sources of information than the Director of Education can be considered.— “Auckland Star.” A Stupid Resolution. A grave disservice is surely being done to men who are out of work, and to those particularly who have started work on the Waimakariri Trust’s relief scheme, by the declaration of a "meeting of unemployed that this work shall be declared “black.” Talk of “slave wages” at this time is arrant nonsense. Relief work is the alternative to no work, and it has been very difficult indeed, not only to plan relief works but also to finance them. If relief funds were being dissipated or diverted by “graft” or other practices there would be good ground for complaint regarding the admittedly low rates of pay on these works, but the community is being cruelly taxed to tide the unemployed over the worst of the depression, and the authorities should see to it that any man who accepts work under relief schemes should be adequately protected against agitators or misguided pickets. —Christchurch “Star.” Making Wool Fashionable.

No doubt it is true that there is nothing like wool, but the public has to be persuaded of this, and a special appeal has to be made to women, who, far more than men, have been attracted by the lightness and beauty of nonwool materials. It is legitimate to sound the patriotic note. To buy woollen goods is to help an industry that, not long ago, was worth fifteen millions to this country. Patriotism, however, is not enough. Wool will substantially increase in popularity only on its merits, and it is the object of “Wool Week” to draw attention to these merits, just as it is the business of the farmer to improve the qualify of the wool on the sheep's back, and of the research worker to perfect factory processes and. invent new ones and find new uses for t he material.—“ Auckland Star.”

Playing With Fire. In a National Appeal issued the other day by the Combined State Service Organisations of New Zealand, there was this solemn pronouncement: “The State Servants take this opportunity of assuring citizens of their loyalty and co-operation in facing the difficulties of the country. If sacrifices are necessary in the common weal all must be treated alike, and we arc ready to share the burden of taxation equally with our fellow-citizens.” If that meant anything—and it was supported by a further declaration that “in times of national difficulty we must all shoulder our burdens and pull together as we did in the war years”— twenty thousand members of the Public Service have either been hoodwinked by agitators or the ’’Combined State Service Organisations” is a misleading label. In either case the public servant is playing with fire and dangerously straining the patience of those who still sympathise with him. —Christchurch “Press.” Voluntary Interest Reduction.

The decision of the New Zealand Farmers’ Co-operative Association at Christchurch to reduce interest payable on current accounts is an excellent example to other financial institutions. Except in certain cases where special arrangements have been made, the association proposes to reduce Interest rates by al: least 1 per cent, and in some cases by 1-1 per cent. It has been enabled to take this step by the co-operation in turn of its own bond-holders. They have agreed to accept a lower rate of interest in the meantime in order that relief may be afforded the ordinary customers and generally ease the association’s finances. Many of the customers are primary producers, aud a reduction in interest will give a number of them some chance of recovery. The most attractive feature of the arrangement is that it is entirely voluntary.—“Taranaki Daily News.”

Revival of Confidence Needed. The most pleasing feature about the loan to our mind is that its reception has so far—we do not know yet what the iniblic response has been—indicates that New Zealand’s name aud credit still stand high in London, and that there is confidence in financial circles that the Dominion can and will meet its engagements. There is indicated a greater confidence in the Dominion in London than many of our own people, politicians, financiers, and others, evince in their own country. There is abundant money lying comparatively idle in New Zealand which its owners have not the confidence to turn to useful developmental purposes. The fact that the Dominion has been able to borrow five millions in London, on terms which do not seem extravagant, shows that others have confidence in us which we lack in ourselves. It the success of this loan has the effect of reviving our own confidence it will be a very cheap loan.—“Taranaki Herald.”

Land Speculation. Though land speculation may not be directly responsible for our financial troubles in New Zealand, It lias been instrumental in making the position the more hopeless. The fall in prices would not seriously affect those who had bought their properties wisely, but the consequences to the man who had spent £lO.OOO ou a farm which would return interest on only £5,000 to £7,000 iu normal times must be evident. Interest is not all, but it is a great deal and in these times when farms must be operated on small margins, and the difference between the sums we mention may be anything from £2OO to £3OO annually. That deficiency if translated into revenue, would afford the settler a good living to-day, instead of which it may represent over a period of years when instalments are not paid a» accumulated debt of £2.000 or £B,OffiK—“Southland Daily News,” |

Sitting on the Fence. Mr. Holland knows that if his party were in power it would be compelled to make many distasteful decisions, but his whole attitude is that of the destructive critic revealing not the slightest sign of the spirit of co-opera-tion that great crises usually create in most British communities. He spoke of the “disastrous” recommendations of the National Expenditure Commission. It is significant that so far not a single suggestion for reducing national expenditure has been made by the Labour Party. Its one idea is to place upon capital ever-increasing burdens which would inevitably mean reduced taxation revenue and increased unemment. Having resisted all proposals and denounced all practical plans, Mr. Holland returns to his constituency to “sit ou the fence,” apparently hoping to draw the applause of the wreckers and also of the “sane elements of the community.” Altogether his pose is rather ludicrous.”—>‘N.Z. Herald.” Land Settlement. It was evident years ago that only an extensive scheme of land settlement would avert trouble in this Dominion. Had this course been taken when the need was first apparent we should not have been saddled to-day with a problem that appears incapable of solution. Since 1918 the case for a Wise land policy has been insistent, and it did not help matters that in the early postwar years the Government responded to the clamour for land l by encouraging returned soldiers to take up farms at any cost. When the boom burst these men were left high and dry. Some walked off and others were pushed off their holdings. That is almost ancient history now, but the need for a suitable system of land settlement is just as urgent as it was before the exodus which closely followed disillusionment some eight or ton years ago. But, it must be a big effort—no matter how big it is, provided the principles on which it is based are sound.— “Southland Daily News.” Tlie Business of Parliament. The proceedings of Parliament are not of a nature to create confidence. Neither what is done nor the manner of doing it inspire respect. After the House was called together the Government. was not ready with its business. It debated the Arbitration BDI for a fortnight, then rushed the Mortgagors’ Relief Bill through in a sit-, ting, and asks the Legislative Council to pass both bills in one day in order to allow the House to get away for the Easter holidays. It is a. mistake to bring the House,into contempt at a time when many people are wonder-, iug whether it justifies its existence and expense. They can certainly plead that the times arc difficult, and that emergency measures are certain to be attacked on one side or the other, but they should have been ready with' the emergency measures. It is admitted that the problems confronting Parliament are unique and complex, but the methods of our legislators are not such as to inspire public confidence in their ability to solve them. —“Waikato Times.” Adjustment Must Be General. The essential part of this process of economic adjustment is that it must be general. It can be neither just nor effective unless every section of the community is touched at the same time. If wages are reduced again, there must be a corresponding reduction in interest and rent. Interest reduction would in divers ways effect the cost of living by giving relief to farmers, to industry, and to every person with fixed commitments to meet. It may be that the Government already recognises that it will have to do a good deal more than it has done in the legislation which has been passed. Nothing is being gained by delay. By use of that word sacrifice, Mr. Forbes shows that lie recognises an essential fact in the situation, but it is for the Government to see that the temporary burdens are shared evenly by every section of the community and this is impossible while there is compulsory adjustment on one hand and voluntary on the other. — “Christchurch Sun.” Beating tlie Air. The member for Wairau is persistent in bis efforts on behalf of the Wharanui-Parnassus line, but the attempt to have it reinstated because the Public Works scale of wages has been reduced to relief work levels failed. In the face of the legislative action already taken and the decision of the Railway Board the member for Wairau could ask his question with the utmost confidence and know beforeliand the reply that had to bo given. A remarkable feature of the propaganda on behalf of this line—apart from the wealth of exaggerated claims made for it—is the frequency with which allegations are made.that the Railway Board based its decision on false statistics such as “undoubtedly tlie fate of the South Island Main Trunk Railway was sealed by the production of specially prepared tables showing deficiencies that were purely suppositious.” If that statement means anything it, suggests that responsible officers produced “cooked” evidence, and if it means that the deficiencies shown were only forecasted, it is a valueless statement since no estimate, could be other than a forecast. —“Southland Times.” Imports. Revenue and Borrowing. One aspect of the Dominion’s oversea trade balance, that has no doubt concerned the Government, is the fall in the country’s importations, _ which has somewhat upset the calculations of the Minister of Finance in relation to Customs revenue; and the Government may feel constrained to make an attempt to ehse the situation by not making demands on London exchange to meet the whole of the country’s obligations on oversea loans. The loans negotiations demonstrate, nevertheless, the narrow limits within which New Zealand can operate in the discharge of oversea indebtedness, and while some satisfaction can be felt that the financial situation in New Zealand will be cased by the availability of something like a million of new money, probably for public works, the cold fact remains to confront the people that it is not. p -actieable at the moment, to make a complete break with the policy of annual borrowing, however persistent may be the protests of the financial critics of the Government against borrowing at all.—“Tiiuarn Herald"