Greymouth Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1946. Lessons for Mr. Nash

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 April 1946, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17, 1946. Lessons for Mr. Nash

ACCORDING to the provisions of the . first Budget presented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Dr. Dalton, the British taxpayer must continue to stagger under a heavy burden. A little of the weight has been lifted, but the main features remain. It is a case of hope deferred; the straitened standards of living Avhich the British people had to endure with almost incredible stbicism during the long and arduous years of the war, must needs continue so long as the country’s economy remains in its present complex and uncertain state. Dr. Dalton’s Budget contains at least two lessons for New Zealand’s Finance Minister, Mr. Nash. It makes important concessions which would be received with delight in this country if the Government could see its way clear to adopt them. One refers to the system of double taxation, by which a levy is made on the full amount of income, despite the deduction of 2/6 in the £ for social and security tax. TTris means in effect that a wage-earner has to pay income tax on money he does not receive into his own hands. He is taxed on tax.

Another subject that is exercising the minds of national leaders in the Dominion is the problem of providing aid in the home and making family life more attractive. An important factor in this connection is the price of labour-saving devices, which, .it has been shown, are beyond the resources of the average wage-earner’s purse. They would be much cheaper if it were not for import control and a stiff sales tax. Again Dr. Dalton has pointed the way. He has decided to reduce the sales tax on labour-saving implements.

A Privileged Group *TIIE hold-up of waterfront loading at Auckland, when ships stood idly moored while food cargoes so urgently needed in Britain, and Europe lay in the sheds, has certainly not lessened people’s impatience with the waterside workers nor improved tempers. Apart altogether from the humanitarian aspect of the question these delays are costing New Zealand dearly in loss of reputation, added charges to the price of goods to the consumers and in time wasted.

The Waterside Workers’ Union and the Waterfront Commission are apparently engaged in a trial of strength. There is good reason for the suspicion that the union’s tactics are aimed at gaining complete control of the industry. If this is so, then it reckons not the cost to the country nor the cost in human lives among the starving peoples of overseas countries, so long as it gains its ends. The Commission was appointed by the Government in 1940 “to ensure the utmost, expedition in the loading, unloading and storage of cargo.” Its record makes sorrv reading. In the year 1937 the number of disputes was 17, the number of workers involved 3534 and the number of days lost 7683. In the year 1944 the comparable figures were 29, 8,484 and 24,662. There can be little doubt that government in this country has in some matters passed to pressure groups. The result is that some sections of the workers have received privileges which are denied to other sections. The watersiders have set themselves up as a class apart and the Government weakly capitulates to their demands, no matter what the cost. Reform is urgently needed; it can best be carried out by returning the industry to the arbitration system under which the pay and conditions of the majority of the workers in other avenues of employment are controlled.

Unanswered Questions 'THE local Labour organ has seen fit to 1 favour the public with another glib treatise on the capitalist system, interspersed with some cheap abuse of those who dare to question its motive. All that it has been asked is to state clearly where it stands in relation to the Government’s appeal for increased production, which, Labour leaders have stated, is imperative in order to stave off the economic devastation threatening the Dominion. Does it or does it not support that appeal? It,is to be noted in this connection that the Government is concerned with obtaining a greater output of consumer goods under the present system, which the local Labour organ so viciously attacks. When, faced with a direct question, the local Labour press usually displays eellike propensities. Recently it was asked how it reconciled its professed support of Labour ideals with its willingness to open its columns to the propaganda of forces to which the Laboui’ Party is opposed on the ground that such propaganda is inimical to the democratic way of life. That question has not yet been answered. It is not surprising therefore to find that in the present case the local Labour press-follows a line of argument that can only result in offsetting the effect of the Government’s appeal. Obviously it cares nought for anything or anybody, so long as it can find occasion to advance its own pet theories.