LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 106, 6 May 1924, Page 8

LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER

PROTEST AGAINST WITHHOLD--4 ING DETAILS. \

y^.TftEGRAPB:—PRESS ASSOCIATION.) ' CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. .Messrs.: E, J. Howard, Hi T. Armstrong, D.; G/Sullivan, and J. M'Combs^ Canterbury Labour, members of Parlia^ •irient, have ■■■-.addressed", the . following letter to Mr: Massey: "We, the undersigned; ihink the ■• public ought to be told at the earliest opportunity the exact, position in connection with the finances of, the Dominion. Mr. Snowden, Chancellor of the Exchequer, found it possible last month to present an 800 million Budget," and disclose a surplus for the year at 31st'March." The pubhe revenue and expenditure figures for April are available in England, but New Zealand members of Parliament are left to speculate what the financial position is, because m many important depart^ ments no figures have been published beyond December, and the Government Statistician is prevented' from publishing the January-February-March figures until the Finance, Minister chooses to declare the surplus for the year.. This .withholding of facts in connection with the Consolidated Funds, is quite a recent innovation. We suspect on this occasion you are purposely delaying the announcement of surplus because the Public serr vanls asking for increases due to them might- learri there is plenty of money in the Treasury. . i , , . "ft is abundantly plain that the surplus this year will be more than' double that of previous years; and will be in tne, r.egion of £3,000,000. The Customs return will exceed that of the previous financial year by well over one million; Post and Telegraph revenue will conr siderably exceed the estimate, the revenue' from railways probably will exceed the ; previous'year's ,record: The Jand tax collected fdr the ''first nine months exceeds the estimate' for the whole year, and indications are that the revenue from income tax will considerably exceed the estimate, this.- item is the hardest to gauge, because .the bulk of income tax comes in the last" quarter, and this is the period for .which the figures have been suppressed. .Income tax may considerably exceed the estimate, and if it does the surplus will be well over ,£3,000,000. ' Under the ciri cumstances our- statement regarding the amount of the surplus can only be an estimate. VAs members of Parliament we protest against having to make, estimates where actual, figures relating to public finance should be available ''It is perfectly clear,' however, that without increasing taxation, the^ Government could pay the Public servants"the equivalent of their 1914 '■' standard ' of wages and ' salaries measured in purchasing power.- The distribution of the extra £2,000,000 in wages which you say it would cost, would give ■greater impetus to trade and indns'try than the remission of' the same amount in land and income tax to the wealthy landowners and wealthy, income taxpayers' because money spent in .wages is ' spent each .week with traders 'on necessaries of life. During your term of. office th g Government ; considerably lowered the standard of living,of the great mass of people.,, In, the' return presented by you last Session it was shown : that W employees, in the clerical division-in all X nbJic .services are " receiving 'only 34 per cent, increase; in salaries .to meet the present-day increase in 'the,cost of living of 64 per cent., and Uhey-were; therefore, over £1 per week short of the amount sufficient-to maintain the 1914 standard of living;. First grade mechanicians in the Post and Telegraph service are 15s per . week- abort; firstgrade engmedrivers and /firemen in the railway eervice 15s per week short, whreas the A.S.R.S. men on the bai4 wage are 18s 7d a week short. We thi/.k the public should be told that without increasing taxation • a single penny the Public servants, including teachers, can be paid- the equivalent of the 1914 'standard. The 1914 basic wage rates'were only considered a bare living wage, but your Government i has 1 succeeded in lowering the standard considerably, both inside the Public Service and outside. : "With workers generally the Arbitration Act Amendment, 1922, has made permanent the reductions 'in the workers' standard of living,' which the Court imposed as- a war sacrifice.. Skilled and unskilled workers have had the standard of living so that all that the workers have slowly gained by way of improved standard of "living from 1890 to 1914, has been taken from them. Industrial statistics /prepared by the- Government Statistician show that- workers generally. are receiving a smaller share ,of ever-increasing values which they are producing. Ther Statistician shows that while in 1914 productive employees received in wages 51.03 per cent, of the added value given to'materials in process of manufacture, in 1919 they "received only 44.95 per cent, while in 1923 the workers received only 40.16 pel cent,' which is the lowest on record since 1906.".. : .■;■ ;;: . ,f ■ , ;