A FINANCIAL DUEL

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 189, 15 July 1925, Page 5

A FINANCIAL DUEL

NEW SOUTH WALES'SURPLUS-. DISPUTE BETWEEN LEADERS. ' ‘ ' SYDNEY, July 2. The question whether or not there is actually a surplus in the New South Wales finances, which the cx-Premier, Sir George Fuller, and his successor, Mr J. T. Lang, are fighting out through the press, has given a piquant touch to the every-day round. It really looks as if figures can be made to prove anything. Sir George Fuller went through the country during tho election campaign priding, himself and his Government on a big surplus, and quoting figures which left no doubt about the matter in the public mind. Mr Lang, however, had no sooner set foot in the Treasury than he proclaimed, with equal emphasis, the fact that there is no surplus—that the boasted surplus which was supposed to be the legacy of the Nationalists, is only a myth, a piece of political fiction. He, too, has marshalled figures to show that lie is right and that Sir George Fuller is wrong. If a man lives beyond his income, it is a simple thing to save money by not paying his bills. This appears to be the gravamen of the charge against the Nationalist Government.

It has been humorously suggested that Mr Laiig would be almost justified, on a plea of false pretences, in asking fov a dissolution, and in asking the country to send the Nationalists back to power in order to clean things tip. .In order to settle all arguments, financial experts have been commissioned by the Premier and the ex-Premier to fight the thing out and find out the exact position. But financiers, like doctors, can differ, and if one finds there is a surplus, and the other finds that the surplus is really a myth, Mr Lang will still be in a quandary.