Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1925. THE YEAR’S SURPLUS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 127, 2 May 1925, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, MAY 2, 1925. THE YEAR’S SURPLUS.

Sir Francis Bell, in his capacity as Acting Minister of Finance, was able on Wednesday to make tho gratifying statement that tho financial year had ended up with tho very substantial surplus of £1,235,000, notwithstanding the reductions and concessions in land and income tax, and in the duties on tobacco, etc., Mr Massey’s anticipations being thus fully realised. The revenue is in excess of that of the previous year by some £679,630, and, while the expenditure is £1,247,095 greater, it is half a million below the Minister’s estimate. Rending the publication of the full figures, it is impossible to enter into any tort of comparison between the expenditure for 1923-24 and that of the year which closed on the 31st March last. It is, however, satisfactory to know that the finances of the Dominion continue to show remarkable elasticity oi> the revenue side, and that the expenditure is being kept within reasonable bounds. It will, we think, be found that the two great revenue earning departments—the Railways and the Post and Telegraph—which are always expanding, are responsible for much of the increased expenditure, as, of necessity, expansion involves increased outlay. Both departments are showing greater vitality, and thus justifying the confidence of the very capable administrator who has charge, or rather tho oversight, of their activities. Mr Coates, who is what our American cousins would term a “real live wire,” is a man who believes in getting things done. We have had occasion to compliment him upon the great improvement that is already observable in the train arrangements and the increased facilities that the new management is providing for the users of the railways generally. He is also to be congratulated on the marked improvement noticeable in the Postal and Telegraph revenue. When the penny post was reintroduced and other post and telegraph charges were reduced to something more nearly approaching thejr pre-war level, a loss of revenue was predicted in certain quarters. That prediction is falsified, and the Minister’s action in making the changes fully justified by the marked increases shown in the postal and telegraph revenue—particularly. In the former—as disclosed by the Departmental returns published a few days ago. Cheaper postage js bringing more revenue to the Department, and the same thing applies to cheaper telegrams. The buoyant revenue of both the railways and post and telegraphs may bo accepted as an evi. deuce of the improved trade of the country, and the more prosperous condition of tho people. New Zealanders have much to be thankful for, and are under a deep debt of gratitude to the Prime Minister, now so grievously stricken, whose skilful and courageous handling of tho national finances has brought the country through one of the most critical periods of its existence. During the five years or so that Mr Massey lias hiul control of the Treasury lie has displayed wonderful acumen and sagacity in dealing with those knotty problems of finance which it has

been his duty to handle atyl solve, and I wo are not far wrong in-expressing our opinion that he has proved a veritable prince of financiers, one whose place it will be indeed hard to fill, should he, unhappily, be unable to again take up the duties of the important office he has so capably administered.

WHERE BUDGETS AGREE. New Zealand’s surplus of £1,235,000 is proportionately greater than the British surplus of £3-669,000, disclosed by Mr Winston Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in delivering his Budget Speech in the House of Commons on Tuesday, It is greater even than the Chancellor’s estimated surplus of £26,000,000 for the current financial year, for, where New Zealand deals in millions, Great Britain hands out hundreds of millions. By a happy coincidence, the cabled message announcing the British surplus has been published almost side by side with Sir Francis Bell’s statement of the New Zealand surplus. Both countries —mother and daughter —are to be congratulated upon having kept their expenditure so well within bounds that such surpluses become possible. They point to the possibility of further reductions in taxation, and inspire the hope that such reductions will bo made. In the Mother Country the state of the National finances has always been a matter of great concern, and one that is more or less anxiously watched by the taxpayers. The British people are to-day the most heavily taxed people in the world. That is due to their having courageously taken up the burdens of war thrust upon them and made provision for meeting their liabilities. Great Britain would never have occupied the position, she did ifi pre-war days as the financial centre of the world but for her habit of always paying her way and leaving none of her outside liabilities undischarged. Thus far in her career New Zealand has followed closely in the footsteps of the Mother Country in this respect, and it is of interest to note that, while the British Budget provides for reductions in direct taxation in much the same way as was provided in the reductions made by Mr Massey, Mr Winston Churchill, in his readjustment of taxation, provides for increases in the direction taken last year and the year- before by Mr Massey. Without suggesting that the British Chancellor of tfie Exchequer has taken a leaf out of Mr Massey’s book, -we may reasonably point out that his action comes as a direct testimony to the soundness of the policy adopted by our Minister of Finance. Thus the income tax is being reduced in Britain as ours was, with additional allowances in respect of carped incomes; the death duties are being increased; the McKenna duties on luxuries are being restored and—there is a decided touch of Protection about this —new duties u re being imposed on imported fiops. In the readjustments of our Customs tariff, the “free breakfasttable” has been provided for as far as possible, and such increased and new duties that have been introduced are leviable in respect of luxuries. The Imperial Conference Preference proposals also figure in the British Budget and thb good faith which is being thus kept with the Dominions concerned should have the effect of counteracting, to a certain extent, South Africa’s churlish action in giving preference to the foreigner rather than to the British. Some £36,500,000 has been .paid off the National debt during the year and where, twelve months ago, the Government was paying 6} per cent, for its borrowings, the interest rate has fallen to 41 per cent., enabling profitable conversions to be carried out. Here, again, the policy of the British Government would seem to be following along the lino taken by Mr Massey in buying up, where possible, Government bonds out of surplus revenue— particularly those that were issued free of inoome tax—and borrowing, where necessary, at cheaper rates. We may thus reasonably congratulate ourselves that New Zealand finance has been proceeding along lines that are approved of and endorsed by British financial authorities and by the Chancellor of the British Exchequer.