NEGLECTED WAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 130, 29 November 1932, Page 6

NEGLECTED WAYS

It almost seemsto be beating the air to urge that Parliament should put aside parochial and sectional interests and give, some support to proposals which would he of distinct practical benefit in adjusting costs to prices. We refer particularly to goods transport, regulation and the' reorganisation of local government and hospital services. For years the need for transport control has been obvious, but "when at last action is intended there are pleas for further, delay. It is gratifying, however, that Mr. Coates,. while promising that all objections will be considered, has not agreed' to defer action indefinitely. The Government ' attitude' to local government and hospital reorganisation is much less satisfactory. • On local government generally the Prime Minister has emphasised that there must be a change in keeping with the times; but the' Government appears to be waiting for this,to come from the local bodies themselves. It will not come unless the Government leads the way. The brake of parochialism must be removed by central Government action. '

So far as the hospitals are con-, cerncd the position is hopeless .until the people who have to pay the bill make a determined demand. The Minister of Health has introduced a weak substitute for the district reduction scheme recommended by the National Expenditure Commission, and has definitely stated that there is no chance of its operating to bring about the amalgamation of districts which the Commission advised. We doubt if the substitute will work at all. It will certainly not work as the Commission wished. How long will it be before ratepayers and taxpayers realise that, at the height of a crisis when all kinds of dangerous expedients are being suggested, it is the worst folly to reject economy against which the only argument is parochialism? ■ • ■