THE FASCISTI.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 6 January 1923, Page 4

THE FASCISTI.

PROBLEMS TO BE FACED. The most perplexing problem which the new Italian Government has to face is the restoration of the finances of the country (wrote the Rome correspondent of the Manchester Guardian on November 16). This problem is close- j ly connected with the final internal pacification, as the ever-increasing deficit of the Budget, with the consequent rise of exchange, is the principal ; cause of the high cost of living, which has reached very alarming proportions in a country that, as Signor iNitti put it in his last speech, produces only ! enough fodu to support "Tne people for five out of the seven days of the week. \ Signor Mussolini quite rightly at- j taches great importance to the revival ! of Italian emigration. 'The economies ' which he proposes to introduce in all j the branches of public administration are bound to increase unemployment in | the country, and it is necessary, both , for political and social reasons, to find j an outlet for the hundreds of thou- ■ sands of unemployed workmen. Re- : fore the war the remittances from cmi- J grants and the sums spent by foreign! tourists in Italy made un the deficit in I the trade balance; but these resources | are now reduced to next to nothing, j This is very unfortunate at' a moment when the exchange is so unfavourable | to Italy. I ! From what one has been able to! gather, Signor Mussolinf s programme .of economies appeal's to be a vast one, I anel the consequences of its enforce- ' ment must be far-reaching. The State ' should surrender to private concerns the management of all services which have proved to be unremunerative to the Treasury, such as the railways, the telephones, and the monopolies, with the exception of tobacco, salt, and lottery. The railway deficit for 1922-23 is anticipated at over 1500 million lire, and the saving of such a large sum would be a great relief to a Budget for which a deficit of over 70C0 millions is anticipated. Another 500 millions could be easily saved by the transfer of the telephones and of certain other services to private companies. j But the serious difficulty which handicaps Signor Mussoiini's action in this direction is the fact that nearly all Italian public services have a superabunelance of staff, imposed upon past Governments by the Socialist party, who first advocated the taking over of such services by the htate in order to provide remunerative employment to its thousands of adherents. For instance, the State railways employ a staff of something like 150,000, and at least one-third of these are superfluous. The late Minister of the I Treasury, in his financial statement to the Chamber of Deputies in July last announced that about 25,000 men would be dismissed by the State Railways Administration during the financial year. So far very little has been done to reduce the enormous expenditure on this staff. it will be interesting to see how the present- Government will meet the question of dismissals. The same remark applies to the telephone service. i One hears or another project attributed to the Fascist Government in connection with the interest payable on internal public debts; but so far there is nothing to substantiate this report. Tt is said that the Government intend reducing, either at one stroke or' gradi ually, the interest of all public securities to 3i per cent. This measure would apply particularly to the national war loans, the 5 per cent, consolidated stock, and the Treasury bonds. It would represent a saving of something like 1000 millions a year. It is thought that the people will be . quite prepared to meet this new sacri- ; fice, provided that the working classes j also are called to contribute to the resI toration of the country's finances by allowing their wages to be subjected to income tax in the same way as the salaries and pensions ol Government employees. Here the strength of the Fascist Cabinet will be put to a severe test. The various 'Ministries concerned are busy preparing schemes for economies to be introduced :n their respective elepartments, and a meeting of Ministers will take place in a clay or two, when these schemes will be submitted to disj cussion. Signor Mussolini intends : tiiat there shall be no unnecessary delay iii carrying out such reforms as will bring about an improvement in the .conditions of the Budget. The public j are looking forward with great interest to the announcement of the proposed . economies. Later on *a full Cabinet Council will take place, at which the financial policy of the Government will "be amply discussed.