NEWFOUNDLAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 22 March 1935, Page 9

NEWFOUNDLAND

A GLOOMY OUTLOOK. The belief that in spite of a number of improvements in administration, Newfoundland will for a number of years be faced with a Budget deficit is expressed in the Interim Report of tho Commission of Government. The Commission was created in February, 1934, after the then existing form of Government had been suspended until such time as the island again became self-supporting. The, report is submitted to the Dominions Office by Adml. Sir David Murray Anderson, Governor’ of the Islam]. The report declares that although

the Commission has been able to carry out a number of indispensable improvements in administration, “it

must not be assumed that such improvements by themselves will do anything approaching what is needed for the rehabilitation of the island. ’

Newfoundland’s future prosperity, and even the capacity of its population to obtain a bare living over the year as a whole from the proceeds of a working season which, speaking generally, was limited to & few months, depended on factors which the Commission had not yet been able to appreciate exhaustively.

“It is to be anticipated in any case

that for a number of years to come the revenue of the island will fall short of the expenditure which it must incur not merely upon the development of its resources with a view to subsequent self-support, but for adequate provision for the administration of the public service.” The Commission asks that the present report be regarded as a purely interim and provisional one, as the views embodied in it may well be modified by subsequent events. The report mentions that by conversion the Public Debt service was reduced by over 2,000,000 dollars annually, but that notwithstanding the relief thus afforded the financial year 1933-34 closed with a deficit of 1,466,359 dollars. This was met by a grant-in-aid from the United Kingdom.

The Commission's general financial policy has produced results which may so far be regarded as satisfactory, it is added. All the indices by which economic tendencies are measured have shown an improvement from March to December, 1934, as compared with the same months in 1933. The police service has been reojganised, and the educational curriculum in the island is being overhauled, as it is proposed to adapt it more closely to the prospective careers of the children.