DOMINION TOPICS

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 196, 16 May 1936, Page 20

DOMINION TOPICS

Fair Rents. To leave the State to supply all the

deficiency in housing accommodation is to place a serious responsibility upon the Government. On the other hand, house property is not likely to be attractive to private investors if they are aware that they can be made subject to legislative restrictions in regard to rentals and other matters. The existing Rent Restriction Act had increased the unpopularity of house property with investors, and has undoubtedly had a share in creating the shortage' of houses the Government hopes to overcome. No one wants the harsh or unjust landlord to be enabled to exploit his tenants. It is equally certain that no one desires to see a tenant who will neither pay rent nor look after the property he is occupying allowed to remain in possession indefinitely and much to the loss of the property owner. A Fair Rents Bill must not belie its name. It must be fair to the landlord as well as to the tenant, even if the landlord is the State or a local authority.—“Taranaki Daily News.”

Time for Thought. The Prime Minister has stated that it is the fixed determination of the Government to spend at least £3,000,000 on housing, though he does not anticipate that a Bill designed to give effect to this intention will make its appearance in Parliament before the midwinter recess. There are reasons why the Government should take time to consider very carefully proposals for special expenditure ou such a scale, especially as there has not yet been even a hint as to the form which the financial side of the plan will take. In any case, a comprehensive housing policy ife not to be evolved in a day, and it has to be remembered that as yet there are virtually no reliable statistics relating to the extent of the shortage, the nature of its distribution throughout the country, and the probable cost of remedying it to a material degree. Information that was required of citizens through the medium of the census papers will doubtless go some way toward filling in the statistical gap. but even the knowledge obtained from that source is hardly likely to be adequate for the Government’s purpose. —“Otago Daily Times.” Overloaded Ministers.

The present Ministry came into office with very definite ideas as to the management of the affairs of State. Every Minister has to handle the affairs of the departments under his charge which, though not bulking very large in the public eye, are of vast importance to the citizens directly concerned. The last Government had set up boards to deal with the details of administration of various State activities, but the new Ministers are determined to keep everything in their own hands. This means that they have undertaken tasks which are beyond the power of human beings to carry out. A friendly deputation calls on a Minister to put their views on some minor question of local interest before him. Without any waste of time one hour and. a half is spent out of a day of which, when Parliament is sitting, considerable time has to be spent in the House. The result is that business gets into arrears. decisions have to be postponed and dissatisfaction arises. The whole trouble is caused because Ministers are anxious to keep too much in their own hands and are unwilling to delegate authority to men who are perfectly capable of doing the work. —“Taranaki Herald.”

Mr. Nash's Mission to London. Hitherto Britain has insisted that she will not enter into bilateral agreements with any of the Dominions, and Mr. Nash’s hardest task, perhaps, will be to persuade her to deviate from this course. In any case, either alone or in company with the other Dominions, be must seek a larger share of the British markets for the inevitable increase in production, and the next step will be to persuade those who are directly interested in the marketing of produce to confer upon New Zealand treatment at least equal to that which has been enjoyed in the past. Here there may be some difficulty on account of the antagonism created by State interference with commerce. Overseas marketing must for a long time to come be the cornerstone of New Zealand’s economic policy, for upon its success or otherwise depend such vital questions as finance, Customs, prices and. indeed, almost everything that contributes to the life and well-being of the nation.— "Poverty Bay Herald."

Can We Isolate Ourselves. What presents the greatest difficulty lo the illans of the Government is the fact that this small Dominion is anchored to the economic and financial system of the world. That truth will make itself obvious as the Government's schemes develop, and it seems that a feaeling o? disillusion will be inevitable. Supposing we were a small and self-contained community, independent of the outside world, we might have conditions comparable to those of the Pitcairn Islanders. There life w carried on under the simplest of conditions, but it is doubtful if they would appeal to the average New Zealander. In the last half-century this country has passed from poverty to prosperity. It is the result of the patient, systematic, and enterprising development of the primary products and the cstabhsament of a profitable export trade. That factor, whatever may be said to the contrary, is predominant to-day, and no Government plans that interfere with it can be of lasting benefit.—Dunedin “Evening Star.” Favours By Taxes.

The Labour Government, has revealed a great deal more solicitude for those who are little above the bread lino, and is determined that, by hook Or by crook, every man. woman and child m this Dominion will be placed in a position to enjoy some of life’s comforts and pleasures. To what extent this will involve an increase in taxation is not known, but it is feared that this will be the fly in the ointment. It has always been regarded as reasonable that the chief financial strain should be borne by those who have made a success of business, in proportion to their incomes; but. there is a breaking point, and that is reached when industries begin to suffer through sustained pressure on their resources.—“ Southland Daily News.”

The Housing Problem. The shortage of suitable bouses for letting can be attributed largely to the drastic manner in which owners were treated during the depression, but if the Government could do something to make that form of investment again attractive —perhaps along the lines suggested—private enterprise could i-e relied upon to take the opportunity, and the need for the investment of large sums of public money would not arise. The policy of the Government will, of course, be made clear when it brings down the Bill relating to rents. It may be anxious to prevent any owner taking to himself all, or the greater part of the proposed increases in wages, but it must, at the same time, protect the owner who may only have raised rents to ensure a reasonable return on the money invested, it is a difficult problem, but if by uniting with private enterprise and adopting a building programme of reasonable dimensions, the Government can reduce the actual shortage of houses it will, at the same time, have done something to stabilise rents at reasonable levels. —“Waikato Times.” Income Tax By Instalments. The payment of income tax by instalment is wholly desirable. It allows the small taxpayer to stabilise his budget, and it is axiomatic that what he never receives he can never miss. Further, the gradual elimination of the tax obligation would lighten the burden in the early months of each year when rate demands, insurance premiums and other charges must be met and the lot of the unmethodical taxpayer, who has failed to make provision during the year, is unenviable. In New Zealand the instalment system already operates for the collection of wages tax, and when it is realised that in Victoria the extra £lB.OOO which the Treasury has to pay out to operate the system brings a gain of over £lOO,OOO in taxes which otherwise would not be collected, it seems certain that the Government could institute this taxation reform with benefit to the individual taxpayer and with profit to the finances of the country.—Christchurch “Star-Sun.” The New Zealand Loan. While adverse market conditions, to which the Governor of the Reserve Bank refers in a letter to the Minister ot Finance, may account for some of the caution with which the issue was received, it cannot explain ■it all. 'There has been a change of Government in New Zealand. The new administration has embarked ou policies differing fundamentally from any which have obtained before. Tho innovations, particularly those which bear on the country’s export trade, are well enough known to London. If they have induced an attitude of reserve in the investor, and there is a strong Inference that they have, it is simply one of the things the Government must expect to result from its avowed break with the old order. It does not necessarily mean that the Dominion’s credit has'been damaged. The attitude may instead be interpreted as the decision of the investor to wait and see what the outcome of the new policies will be —“New Zealand Herald.”

The Road Tax. The theoretical justification for paying motor taxation into a special fund to be expended on roadiug improvement is that motorists, as a class, are specially taxed to pay for a service which is of more benefit to them than to any other class. Strangely enough, motorists are usually willing to accept this argument and to suppose that the practice it is used to support is of benefit to them. It should occur to them that road funds are, and always have been, a fiction, their sole usefulness being that they help to make motorists believe that they are getting something for their money. Whenever a Government is in financial difficulties, its first expedient is usually to raid the road fund; and during the depression road funds came to be regarded almost as normal sources of revenue for general purposes. Moreover, the view that good roads are specially for the benefit of motorists does not stand examination. Roads are a service which benefit the whole community in hundreds of ways: and they should be paid for by the whole community.—Christchurch "Press.”

Tiie Starved University. The late Sir George Fowlds considered that 10 per cent, for university education would be a reasonable proportion of the total expenditure, but even in 1915 the proportion actually so spent was no higher than 4.9 per cent. It is not difficult to trace the effects. Although there are to be found in New Zealand many schools, both primary and secondary, which are staffed ami equipped on a scale that can well bear comparison with the average overseas, every one of the four university colleges is understaffed ami poorly equipped. Ultimately, despite the efforts of attenuated teaching staffs to maintain the standard, we will reap sis we have sown. The new Minister of Education has an unenviable task before him in his intended reorganisation, for the claims of the various divisions of education are strong, insistent and in part competitive, but no case can be stronger than that of the university for au improvement, not only relative but absolute, iu its financial basis. —Auckland "Star.” Industrial Law.

Although the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. 1925, permits a society of not less than 15 workers associated with a particular industry or related industries to register as an industrial union, the amendments before the House of Representatives give this provision wider significance by introducing the principle of the restriction of employment in industries covered by awards exclusively to members _of unions. As a result of such restriction application has already been made or is proposed for the registration of unions covering industries that hitherto did not possess unions and are not covered by awards, the intention obviously being to obtain awards. Thus the way has been opened for the application of control by the Court of Arbitration of all workers, which will open the way also to Dominion awards with compulsory unionism for all engaged in the registered industries concerned, whether primary or secondary —“Timaru Herald.”