The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1909. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 268, 13 November 1909, Page 4

The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1909. THE FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

Not for many years has it fallen to the lot of a New Zealand Treasurer to present to' Parliament a Financial Statement :of such farreaching importance as that delivered by Sir Joseph Wardy hvhis capacity of Minister for Pinancey "on Wednesday evening* No' bolder attempt to solve great financial and political problems has probably ever been made. Faced with the necessity for increasing his revenue, the Treasurer courageously proposes to introduce important additions ■to and modifica-, tions of the,existing system of.taxation. He grapples boldly with the awkward land,problem; he does not leaye the question of compulsory military service unsettled; he foreshadows what is a consummation most devoutly to* be wished, namely, '/.dri amicable arrangement of difficulties connected; with: the. licensing o question; he-tackles, apparently in grave earnest, Ith© gambling evil; and in various other, directions ,;he .displays an ability to- select1 the problems most, urgently calling for solution,: and exhibits a combined skill and courage in devising and setting forth his proposed .remedies.■.:. After reading the Statement he would be the most hopelessly prejudiced of; political partisans who would not do the Prime Minister arid his / Ministers justice for the good- intentions, courage' and lability displayed by Sir Joseph Ward and his, colleagues in the -\ Ministry ■ in= preparing so .exhaus-. tivej1 an exposition. of,, the' financial position of (ipujpitry and. so bold a policy for the .'Jffittire." /Coming now to discuss, lit . "cfetailj at few of . the most important points 'in the Budget, we take first the: purely financial proposals.: To:' jir^viae fo.r the payment, of the "Dreadnought" interest, the total cost of which is to .bespread over a period of fifteen years to set the Railway Superannuation Fund; Upon a sounder footing; to do the same for the Police Fund; to nieet the additienal cost, of internal; defence rendered necessary by the adoption of a, scheme of compulsory military service, and to provide for the expense of additional armament; atod equipment, will mean "a total financial requirement of £330,0(30. Additional revenue can be obtained only by means of additional taxation, and here the Finance Minister claims that the system he proposes will entail no hardship upon the greatTmajority—or indeed upon any minority—<>f the community. There is **> be an increase in the death duties, which at present exhibit the anomaly of .being absurdly lower' ;-fchan are similar charges upon the^estates of deceased persons in the 'Old Country. There is also to be an increase in the Graduated income tax. It has long een recognised^-and the fact has been adversely commented upon by outside critics of our railway system —that the long-distance passenger rates at present charged .in New.Zealand are much lower than they ought Ix* be if the profit-earning power of the main lines is to be exercised to a reasonably^productive degree. These particular fares are now to be increased, the estimated increase in the railway revenue from this source alone being; put down at £100,000. Increasied taxation affecting the banks is also proposed. Vast P*;?nts have been; made by these institutions during the past few. yearsr^-profits indirectly, it may be, but nevertheless largely due to the expenditure of public money in various ways; and the Treasurer contends that the banks have not been contributing their fair proportion of the income tax by comparison with other public companies or private firms. The special new impost of 2J per cent, on the.total receipts of the numerous racing clubs'ist a proportion which will commend itself to a large majority, of Members of the House, and to. a still larger majority of the general public. There .is also to be a temporary one per cent, primage duty oil the value of .all imported g^oods. We confess that we do not like this means of providing revenue very much,, but, as the Treasurer explained to the tlouse ■on Wednesday eevning, it is merely a temporary expedient to protect the revenue, and he trusts to be able to discontinue it after the end of the present financial year. The total additional revenue under, the above-named heads is £448,000. If. the £330,Q00 stated previously as being necessary to meet additional claims for naval and military defence and superannuation purposes be deducted, it will be seen that the very handsome1 surplus of £118,000; is left wherewith to meet "unforeseen expenditure." Sir Joseph has wisely determined to keep on the safe side. The proposals affecting the land question are set forth at great length. They will probably be the most carefully read and keenly scrutinised part of the Budget, but they involve so many important changes in the present system that we prefer not to express any opinion concerning them one way or the other" iiittil. we have been able to accord to them that full and careful consideration which such farreaching proposals fairly demand. We therefore pass on to the question of defence. First, as to the "Dreadnought" gift. We are heartily in agreement with the Prime^ Minister's argument that the expenditure under this head should not be treated as part of bur permanent public debt, and ihe provision for payment of the total cost within fifteen years, a 4 per cent, sinking fund being provided, is probably the wisest project which could have been put. forward. SJir Joseph deals at some length with the policy he pursued at the Defence Conference, and makes out a very strong case against the "local navies" scheme (to .which Canada and Aus.trnjia have, committed themselves. The proposals affecting the muchdebated.iproblam of internal defence; ami compulsory, military service will be read ..with much interest. We have always, supported compulsory service, and we "trust that when the j full details of the scheme proposed by the Governmont are before the House

it will be found that the system which the Government will ask Parliament to endorse may-be one which will be productive of much practical good without pressing too hardly upon employers of labour. Appar-, ently some modification of the Swiss system is to be proposed. To compel young men between the ago of 18 and 2J.. to Undergo military training on stated evenings and half and whoie days during the year, and further,to' enforce a fortnight's military training in.camp, must certainly be productive of an excellent physical result upon young New Zenlanders, apart altogether from the military value of such training and the habits of order and discipline which it will inculcate or assist to form. We are pleased to note, in passing, that it is not proposed to discontinue or in any way discourage, the rifle clubs, which have done and are doing so much good. On the other hand, we are somewhat afraid that unless those undergoing military training wear a uniform the new system will lose much of its attractiveness. The proposal to have the men trained in their ordinary civilian dress, has been put forward, wo expect, solely upon economical grounds. By the time .the Bill in which these proposals are to.be embodied conies, before the House it is to be hoped that the Government may have discovered that the financial tension has been so reduced as to allow of the expense* of providing uniforms being incurred. The continuation and extension pf the cadet system is to be approved, but it is an open question whether the age at which physical training shall begin should not be raised from _ twelve to thirteen, or even fourteen ': We are not believers in the drilling of mere children, and between fourteen and eighteen the instruction and physical braining received by the average cadet should be ample to enable him to take upon himself the more strenuous work which the young citizen soldier will have to undertake. . It is gratifying to notice that the Government intend more seriously to grapple and deal with the gambling evil, concerning which so' much has been heard and written of late. Those parasitic and , evil-breeding institutions, the pony and .galloway clubs, arfi to be mercilessly wiped ,' out. Better still, the number of race meeting^ field in the Dominion is to be reduced—.-exactly to what extent is not stated—arid, finally, the House will be given an opportunity of deciding what form of betting is to be permitted on racecourses. If this \ somewhat enigmatical .', declaration signifies that Parliament willY b6 given ft chance^ of deciding between the : totalisator , iahd the bookmaker, the latter will tnost certainly wake up . one fine morning before the session closes to find his occupation gone,. si> far, at least, as regards the carrying On of. his "peculiar "industry" on the racecourses of the Dominion. Another , and ©Ten more serious problem with which the Government propose to deal—and ex- ! press a confident hope that they will deal successfully-—is the licensing question. From what the Prime Minister saySj an amicable agreement has been arrived at between responsible persons representing the Nolicense party and "the trade." The "good offices" of which we are informed, of Dr. Findlay, have indeed been used to excellent purpose and effect if that gentleman has really, as Sir Joseph asserts, been able to "induce the two great parties to this question, independently through their recognised representatives, to modify their full demands for, or opposition to, certain amendments.'' If the Bill ' succeeds in passing, the iniquitous "reduction" issue at licensing polls will be abolished, and the people will be given an opportunity of voting straight-out for license or no-license. The three-fifths majority at present required to carry no-license will be reduced by five per cent, but two years will elapse before the hotels are i closed, if the electors in any district I decide that they are to be closed. It j will be noted, also, that provision is |to be made for a Dominion option vote,, but national prohibition will not be brought into force until such time as the whole of the electorates declare for no-license. This is a very differj ent scheme from that advocated by | the No-license party, and is im- | measurably more equitable. Five i years:. must elapse between the time of the declaration by the electors of Dominion prohibition and its coming into force, so that a "dry" New Zealand is yet a considerable distance away. The land question, as we have said, we must consider on another I occasion. There are quite a number of other important proposals which j call for comment, but which we can- | not discuss to-day. That the whole iof the proposals put forward by the Government can be carried, or even considered in detail, this session, is, [we may say cit once, quite out of the i question. Were the whole of this great policy programme to be debated, section by section, ■ and the embodying and authorising measures involved subjected to criticism and amendment in detail, the end of the session would be much nearer the 31st of March than the 24th of December. | Still, it is good to see that the Government have had the courage■ and [ foresight to put forward such a bold and comprehensive policy, and although, in certain of its details, the i Budget may not find universal approval, it must fairly be credited [to its authors as a most meritorious and indeed truly statesmanlike effort.