Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1941 THE BUDGET.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 192, 16 July 1941, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1941 THE BUDGET.

With more than a quarter of the current financial year passed, the Government will present the Budget this evening, and the public thus have some knowledge at least of what their, obligations will be to the State in this fiscal period. It is an unfortunate fact that the year is generally well advanced before the Budget is presented, and its date in 1941 does not even compare well with June 27 in 1940 The Budget for the past year estimated war expenses for the full period at 37.5 million pounds. Further taxation was imposed to raise the revenue for the War Expenses Account up to 14.12 million pounds, and the remainder was to be secured by loan, partly in New Zealand and partly in Britain. The Minister for Finance has now given a hint that the war's cost in the current twelve months will be nearly twice that of 1940-41, a statement that must impress all New Zealand people of what this fight for freedom will mean to them before it is ended. How the Government proposes to find this money is the question the country is anxious to know. There will be new taxation, but the public have felt that this is inevitable, and in its imposition they rightly demand that the Government shall exercise the greatest economy in administration. So far it has signally failed to do so. The past year ended with a surplus of £1, 726,000 in the public accounts. This was an excellent result in view of the' war conditions, but the taxpayers must derive all the credit, for they provided in revenue substantially more than the Budget forecast mentioned. Income tax was higher by more than two million pounds, Customs duties did not shrink to the extent anticipated, and the sales tax fell by only £7OOO against an anticipated £500,000. As expenditure was somewhat more than a million pounds greater than the estimate, the manner in which the Budget was balanced is apparent. In fact, civil exenditure in the past war year was almost three millions more than 1938-39, a period of peace, so that the country is still maintaining for such purposes a very high rate of spending that is to be regretted when the Empire is desperately fighting for victory and war costs must continue to mount. Furthermore, the published national accounts do not contain the figures of the War Expenses Account, which the public still await. It will be hoped 'hot in the Budget presented this evening the Government will at last show evidence of having taken full stock of the situation, and of havinq- set in train economies ■which will enable the war effort to be prosecuted with the fullest vigour.- while easing the burden; of civil administration to enable the taxpayers to meet their demands for war expenditure without undue strain. Drastic action is needed in this connection.

A T3AD BLUNDER. Recently a body of invalided soldiers, men who had seen fighting - in Greece and Crete and had emerged with the wounds of battle, returned to this country. Their reception in Wellington has been the subject of adverse comment. It was allegedly performed in the cold official manner which has become rather prominent in other directions, and many of the men who have returned to their home towns have not been slow to express their feelings on the subject. It, has beeu different in other places where knowledge of the men's arrival was given to the local authorities. In Christchurch, for instance, the men were cheered to the echo as the Mayor told them, "We are proud of you; we honour you and thank you." This was the way in which to receive returned wounded soldiers. Palmerston Worth, however, was denied the opportunity of giving the men from this district the welcome that was their due because some one in Welling!on blundered bv not informing the Mayor of their arrival. Napier similarly was not advised. It is a matter of regret that official circles can be so indifferent in this respect, and it will be sincerely hoped that in future, when men return from the war, the Mayor will be extended the courtesy of information of their arrival here so that a fitting reception may be accorded them. The matter should have the Government's attention at once.