ECONOMY CAMPAIGN

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 30, 4 August 1921, Page 6

ECONOMY CAMPAIGN

GOVERNMENT CRITICISED

MAYOR COUNSELS CAUTION

"Truly alarming," was the way Mr. J. T. Martin described the rate at which Government expenditure was overtaking 1 its revenue in many of its greatest departments. He was speaking at the .meeting of the Chamber of Commerce yesterday. j Ke said the , surprising 1 r feature was the apparent apatny of the Government and its disinclination to seriously and courageously grapple with' ths, position". It would appear that Cabinet did not care to shoulder the , responsibility of cutting down expendi-" ture until the Premier returned and faced what must be regarded as a highly' unpopular tut very necessary duty. - The 'excessively high taxation and the enormous Government expenditure was sapping tho life-blood of the 'commercial and' farming community of this country, and if not speedily. stopped, . would bring disaster in its train. _ Canada last year, with a population of nine millions, collected seven and threeqxijirter million pounds in <ncome tax, while New Zealand, with a population of less than one and a-quarter million, collected eight million pounds sterling.' "The Cabinet should act now, and not wait until the Prime Minister returns," Mr. Martin went on. "The Minister of Finance, before h> left New Zealand,' made a. very feeble attempt to cut down expenditure, as will be seen by reference to the Financial Statement in February, 1 1921, in which the Premier stated that 'heads of Departments have Been in-. structed. that they must make savings wherever possible.' What's the use of 'that? .... HAVE THEY THE COURAGE? "The Britten Cabinet, after the war, definitely stated that 'heavy reduction had to bo made in each Department, and stated the amounts. Take the Post and Tplegraph Department. The heads of the Post arid Telegraph pepartment are experienced and capable men -who; know perfectly well where lie the nonpaying or unremuneraikive ends,! and could, \i called say just where heavy reduction in •expenditure could' be made; but'-the question arises, have they the courage tr card-y it out and--incur the risk of being classed^ ■unpopular m so doing? As far as can b ( e ascertained there ha? been no appreciable decrease in staff during the., past twelve' months, yet the Department's quarterly return for . January; February, and March, 1921, shows an enormous, falling off in the quantity of .work done." Mr. Martin : referred m detail tooths telegraph and telephone business. "My deduction from the fact of the Department retaining its full staff," ho continued, "is that it expected a main-' tenance in the >numbev of telegrams and a -very heavy Increase in revenue, though it was told by the commercial community at the time <t mads thesa alterations that the increase in rates would bring about a decrease in the number of messages. I will go further, and say that the present high rates will continue to baring about a' further reduction in the ■ use of the wires and consequent reduction in revenue. Merijjiants are reducing their long-distance bureau' communications to a minimum, idealising that the rate charged is far and above the relative service. Prohibitive rates mean decreased revenue. The increasing of rates at a time ,lika this reveals' a lamentable want of appreoiation of the genera! economic positipn, and is only possible with a. Government Department which finds itself ; .n possession ofsspme monopoly which the publics must either use at excessively high rates or go without. "~ 7' ■ THE RAILWAYS. "If you. refer to the Railway Statement for 31st March, 1920, the 1921 Statement not being- available till Parliament meets, you will see certain comparisons i.he,re 'which, show that our railways are more economically run than the Australian railways. Moreover, those vvho are competent to form an' opinionl have to, admit that the railways is a' highly technical' service; and that we have at the head"of the y&wpus departments capable and-, efneienrfytrained'men. But these men are hampered by political considerations, and are not free to bring about reductions in the cost of 'running, nor cut out unpayable services without being called to book by politicians who, in _ deference to t.he urgent Requests of their constituents, want more and more service. Now, if ypu look at the figures lately to hand you will see' that the expenditure is fast toeing up to the revenue, and if something is '.not done, and that quickly, the taxpayers of; this country will have increased burdens heaped upon, them. Despite the fact that railway rate have twice been advanced 20 per . cent., making a, total of 4Q per cent, increase beyond pre-war. rates, the percentage of working expenses to earnings has increased from the high figure of 66.32 in March, 1919, to. 96.74 at 30th June, ' 1921. The • revenue for three ' months ending June only. exceeded the expenditure by £84,026; same period last year the excess was ' £402,411. This is serious and cannot go on; the country cannot stand it. If the revenue cannot be increased, and I consider the rates'are now too high, theft nothing remains but to cut down . expenditure. The Cabinet, through the Minister of Railways, should point out. that the value of money sunk in railways has a value to-day which can be quickly, estimated, and that is the price it has; been possible-for the Premier to float the -recent English low, and the railways- must' at least earn an amount approximating '{.hat rate; that expenditure must be reduced by-an amount, which should he definitely stated, that no political influence should be tolerated where the heads of Departments decide , to take-drastic action to cut down or cut out non-payable trains, whether on main lines or. branches, or where they decide to cut down expenditure in new, railway Ijnes, and in every other direction they indicate. I 'would further suggest that the recommendations of the Commission set up in 1912 to inquire into the working* of the, Public Service of New Zealand be acted on. If Cabinet instructed a board of management as was. proposed) to reduce expenditure by 20 per cent, in'twelve months, it would mean on our' departmenttal expenditure of last year of sixteen million pounds sterling, a saving of three and one-fifth million pounds." Mr. S. A.'Longuet advocated greater economy on the part of the Government, suggesting that there shfluld be greater co-operation between the chamber and' the farming comnnvnity in pressing on the Government the urgent need for a campaign of economy. The Mayor (Mr. B. A. Wright, M.P.) believed there was a gr^at deal in what had been said in national and individual economy, and elimination of waste. Until that was recognised tho world over, then there would be no recovery. The nations must get to work and' k«ep down waste. But he deprecated effect- ' ing economy by: wholesale discharge of employees. * If they, were out of work they could not be allowed to starve. In fact, dismissed Government employees were coming up to the Town Hall' for help every day. The reason of the high costs of the.G.P.O. and the railways wa& that they had to increase wages all rounds It was not easy to get back again." Of course all. must do their best to economise, but they must proceed with, caution. \ •