The Dominion. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1944. ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 116, 11 February 1944, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1944. ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

There has been an unfortunate trend in recent years, accentuated since the outbreak of war, to restrict the sources of information respecting matters of concern to the public. In some instances changes in the manner of presenting public accounts and statistical returns have rendered it difficult, or impossible, to make comparisons which are necessary to a clear understanding of the course of events and ot the administration of the country’s affairs. In this respect the Government has adopted a course diametrically opposite to that followed in Great Britain. There the annual Budget in late years has been accompanied with what the Economist described as “a mass of information on the national economy atsd on the Government finances which makes it possible to understand what , is happening under the pressures of war far more clearly than ever before.” The White Paper issued with the British Budget deals par- , ticularly with “the sources of war finance” and “the national income,” so that those who, as taxpayers, must provide the money know exactly what basic figures the Exchequer authorities have used in preparing their proposals, how the money has been raised, the sources from which funds were borrowed, and other particulars. Tn the Dominion - the extra-budgetary information made available has been almost negligible. An' outstanding instance of changes having been made without official explanation, although their importance would fully warrant a detailed statement, is that of the returns relating to the overseas trade of the Dominion. -The demand for our foodstuffs and raw materials; and the continuance of the drastic control of imports which the crisis caused by the Government’s policy had made inevitable in 1938, resulted in there being a substantial excess of exports in the war .years. It averaged nearly £19,000,000 in the first three years. But early last year, for some unexplained reason, deliveries of war materials’' and goods under the lend-lease agreement with the United States, were suddenly included in the Dominion’s import figures. Chis obviously has made the returns practically worthless as an indicator of the volume and value of,our overseas trade, and that is a matter of no minor importance. Commenting on the position the Abstract of Statistics said:

The inclusion of defence materials and equipment and more particularly of lend-Tase supplies, seriously affects any coni parison of the external trading figures for recent years, and in regard to the balance of trade renders such a comparison more or less invalid. The figures supply ample corroboration of that statement. Tn the first eleven months of 1943 imports were recorded as £87,648,401, as compared with only £47,251,427 in the corresponding period of the preceding vear. In the same period exports declined by £11,500.000. Yet there "has been no explanation from the Government regarding changes in the presentation of ’these official returns although with respect to the overseas balance of trade they make comparisons “more or less invalid.” That is the sort of thing that calls for candid criticism in Parliament and strong protests from the business section of the community. If the British Government feels free to publish a White Paper setting out its operations under lend-lease. and the o-reat mutual aid schemes of the Allied countries, there is no apparent justification for the hole-and-corner methods adopted with regard to them here. •