TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume XCII, Issue 108, 3 November 1926, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Accounts for the first half of. the financial year indicate that the buoyancy of the Government revenue is so far maintained. Expenditure, howover, continues to rise, and unless the Minister of Finance can do as he desires and enforce a measure of economy there will probably be difficulty ahead. Maintenance of revenue indefinitely cannot be expected. A reduced national revenue income must-be reflected Jn straitened Government finance. i ; This, however, will not be immediately apparent. Lower produce prices in the 1925-26 season will reduce the return from income taxation for 1926-27 and also for 1927-28. Similarly the necessity of reducing imports must cause a diminution of Customs revenue. For the first half of this year the Customs duties are fully up to expectations; but imports are now falling, and the return for the complete Customs year is unlikely to make bo good a showing as that for the halfyear. It is essential, then, that an apparently satisfactory statement of Government finance for six months should not be accepted as an indication that the difficult period will not come. It is bound to come, and its serious effects can be mitigated only by the exercise of the strictest public and private economy.

In the heat and controversy resulting from the Revolution the economic aspects of Soviet rule in Russia have sometimes been obscured, by the ardour of investigators who are really advocates. Both opponents and supporters have erred in this way. But similar error cannot fairly be attributed to the International Labour Office if the League of Nations. That organisation is concerned only to discover the facts and the lessons that those facta convey. In view of this we do not hesitate to publish, an extensive summary of an article published by the "International Labour Journal" reviewing the effect of the Soviet system upon labour output. The article proves conclusively that the abolition of private capital did not effect a solution c industrial problems. Instead of working better when they knew they were not labouring for private employers but for themselves, the Russian workers produced less. Communism in many industries could show only one-third of the output of ' capitalism- Discipline was slack, management was inefficient, and waste was widespread. The "Journal" obtains its authority, for these conclusions from sources which are certainly not prejudiced against the Soviet. The sum of the inquiry is that Russia has discovered that the banning of the private capitalist has removed a strong and necessary link in the economic chain. So far fiom society being better for the abolition of the- capitalist, the most strenuous endeavours arc necessary to, prevent it becoming much worse—and even hopelessly chaotic.

The predicament' of the New Zealand Dairy Producers' Board is such that some restatement of the position seems to bo needed. With the passing Of the Parliamentary discussion phase, a newchapter in tho board's history, was opened. • Prior to that, "The Post" consistently opposed absolute control. Words aro no' sufficient substitute for facts, but so far as it could gather the board's intentions from an analysis of the ambiguous verbiage of members of the boardy "The Post" thought that a mistake was being made, and said so. But as soon as Parliament had finally committed the country to the dairy control experiment, it became desirable in the national interest to give the board a fair run, hoping against hope that its actions would prove better than its

words implied. From that stage onward it seemed to be useless to analyse the terminology of statements months old —better to hang the board (if it must hang) on what it actually did rather than on the dubious meaning of what someone had said. Unfortunately, dissensions within tho board itself are now tending to deprive it of the respite of a reserved judgment. With its policy still untested by actual experience, its unhappy domestic affairs have come into the light of publicity— and the method and subject-matter of this publicity (which comes through a newly-elected, anti-absolute control jnember of the board) is damaging to prestige both in the Dominion and at Home. Team-work is especially essential in crossing a dangerous ford, and now this idea of team-work is shattered, which is just the result that in the national interest should have been avoided.

The board has fallen between the two stools of undue reticence and undue publicity. It has not been admitting daily Press reporters to its meetings. At last meeting it admitted—ror provided facilities, for—a representative of its monthly official spokesman, the "Dairy Exporter." Daily newspaper men had the choice of getting their information from this source, or of "button-holing" private members of the board (which "The Post" did not do). The' outcome of such a state of things is that newspapers who confine their attention to official channels are penalised, while in other quarters statements leak out in a far more risky form than they would assume if they were obtained in the ordinary way by opening meetings wholly or partially to the Press. From the board's own point of view the experience has been disastrous. It now seems that the pre-con-trol sentiment worked up against the board in London strongly impressed the Prime Minister; and the position of the London manager, and the question of his alleged unpopularity in London, have entered unpleasantly into the argument through a board member's disclosure. Meanwhile some more word-juggling is being done, certain resolutions are passed, but absolute control has not really functioned. While Mr. Coates cables from London, Mr. Hawken still pleads for ' ' an opportunity of carrying out the policy."