The Hawera Star. FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1931. THE OFFICIAL MIND.

Hawera Star, Volume L, 6 March 1931, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 1931. THE OFFICIAL MIND.

Delivered every evening by 5 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia Kaupokonui, Otakeho, Oeo, Pibama, Opunake, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Ngaere, Mangatoki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Te Kiri, Mahoe, Lowgartb, Manutahi, Kakaramea, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoi'a. Whakamara. Ohangai, 'Meremerc, Fraser Road, and Ararata.

The way in which the mind of bureaucracy works is weird and wonderful. The other day the Prime Minister announced that costs of production would have to come down and that this would mean a drop in wages for everybody, including an immediate cut of ten per cent, in the wages of Civil Servants. Mr Forbes pointed out, however, that there was a silver lining to this dark cloud-, inasmuch as the cost of living was bound to fall and that money would, in consequence, go further. A large section of the community is behind the Prime Minister in this opinion, and there is, in most quarters, a readiness to share in the sacrifice with a view to sharing later in the benefits which will come from reduced overhead, better trading conditions and cheaper living. Up to that stage the situation was fairly simple, but it has been complicated by a sudden desire on the part of the Railway Department to bring itself up to date. Last year a Commission sat and discovered some uncomfortable facts about, railway administration and made some very wise recommendations, including one to the effect that the system should be removed from political control, with all its wasteful overlapping and parochial “influence.” That commission was able to show quite clearly that the Railway Department was countenancing methods that private enterprise would not per-, mit for one moment. Among other facts noted by the commission was one relating to the house rents charged its employees by the Department. Some of these were so low that they would not cover maintenance of a decent motor garage. Some of the houses may have been no better than a garage for all the public knows to the contrary, but that would not dispose of the charge of maladministration brought against the Department. The official mind got seriously to wrnrk upon the report of the commisison and, after digesting it thoroughly for several months, brought, forth the brilliant idea of raising rents. A Press Association message from Dunedin to-day states that it has been found, as- a result of the inquiries instituted by Mr A. E. Ansell, Reform member for Port Chalmers, that increases came into force on February Ist, as follows (the new rental in each case being shown in parentheses: — 7s Gd (22s 6d). 15s (33s 9d). 15s (44s 6d). 8s Gd (24s 6d) 6s Gd (19s). 9s Gd (28s 8d). 10s Gd (24s 8cl). Unfortunately for the Prime Minister (to say nothing of the railway employees) these increases came into operation at. about the time the Prime Minister was assuring the people of this Dominion that they could comfortably expect, n fall in the cost of living. Rent represents a large item in the cost of living to the average man, and there are few house-owners in the country today who can look forward to raising rents higher than they have been. In Auckland and in Christchurch the tendency has been all the other way; in those places houses are available at rentals which represent a very steep drop on the values of a few years ago. But the official mind takes cognisance of none of these signs of the times, apparently. It. has never lifted its eyes from its ledgers to read current commercial reports, or even the Prime Minister’s speech about lower costs and the necessity for everyone sharing in the sacrifice; in the same way it failed to notice, during the years that have passed, that there have been times when a rental of 7s Gd a week could not be justified for any sort of habitable house, even for a servant of the State. There can bo no gainsaying the^

charge that the official mind has “let the Prime Minister down” and embarrassed him unnceesasrily. Increases in rents may be .-justified, even to-day and in the face of tbe “cut” in some instances, but nothing can excuse, under existing conditions, revision on such a scale as that announced.