PRACTICE OF ECONOMY.

Northern Advocate, 28 September 1920, Page 2

PRACTICE OF ECONOMY.

NEED OF BEGINNING NOW

MR MALCOLM ON POST-WAR

DEPRESSION.

Counsels o_t economy from members, of either branch of the Legislature are becoming fairly common now. The Prime Minister (Mr Massey) ihas repeatedly said that the country .must produce more and con-1 sume less; tiie Upper House only tn<_ other day carrined a motion urging upon :the people and the Government the pracrtalce of economy; and on Ftfjday night Mr A. S. Malcolm (chairman of committeles lof tiie House) spoke at some length upon the danger of depression that confronted the country as a result of the war. Mr Malcolm said he had investigated as well as possible in the brief time at hits disposal the eft'ec'ts of wars upon .trade. W<ith one exception, all wars of any magnitude had been followed by Very sever© depression. During wars inflation and depreciation of the currency occurred; after the war depression supervened. The greater the war, the greater the (inflation while it lasted, and the severer the depression when hostilities were concluded. Generally, .the depression began about two years after a settlement had be'en ia_.rived at between the belligerents, and borrowing for war purposes had practically ceased. Thus it would probably not be far wrong to suggest that the depression or tightening .of the money market thai

would follow the Great War was due at the end of a period of some two years from the settlement. What he dreaded most was the prospect of such uiieonployent as had followed other wars. He trusted .that the troublteis to be met with in this case would not be so severe as the .troubles that had occurred in the past. But at the same time it was wise to take warnfeg from the past, and the Government and the people would be well advised to practise new the economy that bo imany werte preaching. ft would be .much kinder to think of reducing expenditure now than at a time when depresisuon might have overtaken the country. It might be possible to effect'economies in the various Departments of State without dismgissing officers. He dl_d not know whether that would be possible. Another member had pointed out that possibly .economies .might be effected' event dlt would Ibe kinder ibo the service and to the public lif economiies were effected \vhile employment was still freely offering and poverty scarcely existed.

The Prime Minister (Mr Massey) had something to say on the subject opened by Mr Malcolm. He told the House that he liked to hear members advocating leconomy. The Hon. E. P. Lee: They never wanted it litn their own district. Mr Massey said that that was a point he had proposed to make. A member 'had only a little while before urged with all the vigour at his command that .the country should practise economy—and had wound up with a request for the establishment of State farms in his district. He (Mr Massey) would have liked to produce a return showing how many requests members had made durfing the past four or five months for the 'expenditure of public moneys. Thiei only trouble was that such a return would cost too much to produce. It would be ;as big <as a family Bible. Members talked about (economy, and all the time they wene asking for money end seeking iniew reasons for expen-dli-ure upon 'the districts to which they belonged.

The Government would show no favouritism. It would to do justice to all requests dsn proportion to the importance and urgency of the wonks asked for, whatever the district interested happened to be.

Mr Malcolm had said that thiei travelling expenses of Departmental officers .might be reduced. It was, however, important that officers should move about the country freely for purposes of supervision. Retrenchment fjh the dh.e_*km suggested by .the member for Clutha might only lead to the necessity for heavier expenditure. The increase in the cost of DMng had served to increase greatly the travelling expanses of officers.