FOSTERING PUBLIC INTEREST

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 82, 4 October 1944, Page 4

FOSTERING PUBLIC INTEREST

When the activities of the State are ' extended (as they must be in war and < may be in peace) it is important that ' the people should be educated to study ! the effect of the extension. Especially \ does this apply to ■ taxation, for if people understand that what they ; demand must be paid for—from their • own resources—they will make their demands more reasonably. 'They will . not think that the State has some . mysterious source from which it can i meet all needs without cost to the • beneficiaries. This question—one of i educating the public—is taken up by „ the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce ~ in its latest bulletin. After drawing attention to the fact that many of the '. informative tables included in the Budget before the war. are now omitted, a the chamber compares the amount of !•■ detailed information given to the £ public with that given in other countries, particularly in Britain. It points j£ out that in Britain, while less attention :8 is now given. to reviewing the past lA year's receipts and expenditure and to .; details for the coming year, the full te accounts are widely published and c, commented on and are. readily accesw sible. The financial statement is also i; accompanied by careful and complete m estimates of the national income and its production and distribution and of it, the sources of public receipts. All ll" these figures are* effectively sum!s, marised, and it is thade as clear, as *' possible what amounts are raised, ie, where they come from, how they are 0s spent, and what is the relation of the jr, whole to the working of the national c-» economy,, \Thus both Parliament and

public are presented with a complete picture of the nation's financial position and a full opportunity is provided

for the closest examination and si criticism. That such should be the ■ case is desirable at all times if there is to be more than lip-service to the • principles of true democracy; it is doubly desirable in time of war when the people are called upon to carry r< unprecedented burdens of taxation and to exercise the greatest care in their - own expenditure. ■ Ll Turning to Budget practice in this country, the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce reaches the conclusion that & "it is difficult .and often impossible to a learn from the unsystematic and incomplete presentation of the figures S( given in theßudget either .the total ii expenditure or the total receipts, and P no attempt has yet' been made to relate the statement closely either to the national income or to the national •* economy." Those who have attempted to arrive at anything like a definite £ conclusion as to the state of the 0 national finances or to study the impli- n cations of certain aspects of the -^ Government's financial policy will * agree with this statement. This is un- v satisfactory both from the point of r view of the public, who are called Upon to provide the revenue either by taxation or loan, and members of c Parliament, who are charged with the i responsibility of keeping a watch on \ • all expenditure, whether for war or for domestic purposes. "When members of j. the 'Opposition complained: of the j paucity, of the information and their c . difficulty in making any' real examina- £ E tioft of the proposed expenditure, the j ■ reply was- made that there was a full ; i opportunity for members of the Public '<■ i Accounts Committee to examine every * , item. This does not meet the posi- j ■ f tion. By the time the accounts reach ; i the Committee much of the money has : i already been expended, and there is very little that the Committee can do. » about it. • ; . Ih order to remove from the public [ mind any suspicion . that the most '■ , economic use is not "being made of ' the money they contribute there is : I need for some system under which there would be a constant investigation I of expenditure. In, Great Britain, as a the Canterbury Chamber points out, I all expenditure, and particularly war -. expenditure, is subjected to such in- ,, vestigation by expert non-political , bodies, whose function it is to ensure ; that all items of expenditure are necessary and that full value, is obtained for " the money Spent. The need for such a system in New Zealand has been s emphasised on numerous occasions, but " the Government. has not chosen to s adopt it. The Public Accounts Corns mittee,. possessing limited powers, is *> not a satisfactory substitute. There c. should be the fullest disclosure of k information in simple, understandable n form (subject to the necessary secrecy •s oi some details of war spending) so d that the people may be taught to be as *- careful with Government money and c their demands for it as they would be a with their own—for it is their own.