TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 9, 11 January 1912, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Some workers of New Zealand have benefited by the State's The Problem housing scheme, but of Workers' as the experiment is Dwellings. , still practically at the initial stage, the vaßb majority of the worker* have to be content with houses' rented or bought in the ordinary private way. * Island Bay is to have twenty-one workers' dwellings, but this number is too small to affect the rent problem of Wellington. It will need an enormous expenditure of public money to make the State's activity influence appreciably the price of house accommodation to the tens of thousands of workers^ The demand for cheaper homes is on a soale to far exceed the Government's ability to meet the need. In New South Wales the same request for houses, at rates much below the private quotations, has been forcibly Cut to the M'Gowen Government, whicli as been urged to compete with private landlords in an, effort to reduce the high rents. Recently the Government there went in for .brickmaking and undersold the private manufacturers, but as the State's output) was only a small fraction of the quantity required during the building boom, the private folk were able to maintain their prices. To be a serious competitor ,in the housing business the New South Wales Government would have to uiv«at a very large sum of money, and the end of it all might be loss, to the general public by "over-housing," representing useless, I locked-up capital. The M'Gowen Governt meat proposes to- use 400 acres in a [ suburb of Sydney for the erection of j enough wooden buildings to shelter 5000 persons. "The new buildings," comI mente the Bulletin, "are to be let below the current market rate; bo the community at large will invest a large sum of money, and sacrifice part of the return thorefroinj to subsidise a small section of the community." In State enterprises of this kind, as the Bulletin, which champions the small man against the big t man, indicates frankly, there is a danger that politicians will not charge to customers (whether tenants or buyer*) the full cost of the goods supplied, and tho difference is added to the burden of the general taxpayers. Tho New Zealand railway* have supplied examples of that Bort of uianageniont. The politicians' temptation to act in that manner is ever present. To-day the Hon. T. Mackenzie qualifies tho remarks attributThe Tourist ed to him on Tuesand' day when he wa« His Dependent, conversing with iloputationists from ,Hanmer. The Minister now wishe* to assure the public that he had no desire to give an impression that it would be fciXAntageoui to loaaq out gome of tha.

tourist resort*. Mr. Mackenzie now strikes the old cote about the value of the tourist from abroad, and hint* at the profit to be inado out of him. What becomes of much of thi/s profit? The tourist, of couveo, travels on railwayo, coaches, steamers, and otherwise upends money in direction* to furnish employment to men usefully. There is, howover, another aspect to the touriet'e expenditure. Much of hu disbursement may not do a country like New Zealand any great amount of good. A claw arises to cater for the tourist. Without the tourist this claw might be better employed, both for iteelf and the country. New Zealand is blessed with good coil, good climate, splendid resources, and it has only a million people. If- the country is actively, intolli' gently developed, it should bo ablo to easily support a population ot ten ' millions, not by exploiting tourists, but by working the earth, manfully. Wo are not suggesting that the tourist bueinees 'should be discouraged, but wa do cay emphatically that the vrtlue of thi« sort of exploitation is greatly exaggerated. It is possible to divert to the tour» ist such brain and brawn power as could be better used in developing the country soundly. Mi*. Mackenzie's refer* ences to such old and comparatively crowded countries "as Switzerland, Italy, and France should not turn the heads of inhabitant* of this young country, which should have no need .to look for tipfl and doles from^oreign travellers. So far as the general taxpayer* are concerned, the tourist and health reeorifi are run at a loss. The Government may take ¦ credit for the tourist tips distributed privately and the *urn» epenj/ in the ordinary course by the visitors, but these tbiugs may not much comfort the general taxp&yor*, especially the back-blockers. In the annual report for the year ended 3Lst March, 1911, the Minister mentions that the receipts from all sources wore £26,657 and the expenditure was £44,338 (page xxvii.). In another part of the report (page 114) the expenditure is given as £40,798. Even at the lower estimate, the net cost of the Tourist Department to the general taxpayers was £14,481 last year. Wo hope to see the whole of the tourist business extensively reviewed in the near future.