PUBLIC MONEY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 13 June 1927, Page 9

PUBLIC MONEY

HOW IT IS EXPENDED

NEED I<W INFORMATION

(By "TVrpayer

The Prime .Minister recently announced his internum to set up a special committee consisting of well-known Governmenl officials to examine the departmental proposals for next year's' expenditure with a view lo effecting reductions wherever possible without impairing the efficiency of the services concerned. The underlying idea of the. scheme is admirable. The Minister of Finance is far 100 busy a man to give his personal attention to every item on the Estimates, while the members of the I'ublic Accounts Committee., sitting only when Parliament is in session, may find it extremely difficult to maintain an entirely disinterested attitude towards proposals for lessening public expenditure. Whether or not a special committee composed of "well-known Government officials" would bo better able than the Minister himself or the Public Accounts (ommiltee to discharge such an extremely delicate and difficult task as the one ,Mr Coal.es is contemplating would depend largely upon its constitution, forty odd years ago the. Government of the day, hi response to-.au insistent public outcry for "retrenchment," appointed a, .Civil Service Commission to inquire into the. organisation and expenditure of the various State departments, selecting commissioners of proved integrity and known business ability, arid 'the net result, of its scathing report was a reduction of 10 per cent, ail round i/i the wages and salaries of civil servants, irrespective of grade, and service, a palpably harsh and unjust, proceeding which cost several of its members the .'.eats they had occupied in Parliament. Theoretically, of course, the duty of watching and checking the public expenditure rests with the members of the House of Representatives, but, as a plain matter nf fact, the .system of "party discipline'' has been converted into so fine an art that it is nnly a small minority of the Opposition, for the, time being, that think? it, necessary or even desirable to investigate at all closely the minutiae of the Government's financial operations.

SOME EXAMPLES

This being the case it, may not be out of place on the eve of another meeting of Parliament to mention two or three matters associated with the Government's finance which appear to require further elucidation. In the. absence, of any later detailed information if will be. necessary to take as a basis the Estimates for the financial year 1926-27, which were submitted to the House of Representatives on 9th July and finally carried through committee, in smaller or larger instalments, often at express speed, on 10th September. The Supplementary Estimates followed at accelerated speed, being the vehicle, as from time immemorial, for the passage of votes bearing more or less resemblance to the notorious "Washing-Up Bill," and members' responsibilities in this respect for another year were deemed to be fully discharged". Among the items of expenditure authorised were several applying to the administration of the Post and Telegraph Department, perhaps the most efficient of the Dominion's big services. One of these items, to take an example almost at random, was a vote of £45;000 for "overtime and meals" for the staff of the Department. It was explained in a marginal note that the yearly increase in this vote was due to tlie growth of business; but a reference to previous appropriations under this heading shows that in 1915-16 the comparatively modest sum of £13.000 was sufficient to satisfy the demands for "overtime and meals." Meanwhile the staff of the Department had increased from 5961 persons in 1915 to l 8426 in 1926, the number of telegrams dispatched from 6.872,950 to 7,225,615, and the number of letters, letter cards, post-cards, hocks, parcels and newspapers delivered approximately by eightysix millions. These figures need not suggest that the increase in the staff was unnecessary; but thev leave the increase from £13,000 to £45,000 in the vote for "overtime and meals" unexplained. It is only fair to repeat, however, that they are taken from the latest returns available to the. public, and may be subject to some revision when further returns are produced.

OTHER MATTERS

Then there were quite a number of other items of considerable magnitude m the Estimates for the financial year just closed which seem to have been endorsed by the House, in "committee of supply," ( without enquiry or comment, A sum of £70,000 is set down for motors, motor lorries and motor cycles. This, it must be admitted, is a mere (rifle in an appropriation of some thirty millions; but many people, professing to be acquainted with the uses to which the vehicles are put, declare that the services in winch they are employed could be carried on efficiently at a cost of not more than two-thirds of the amount of last year's vote. There is no need to quibble over the, use made of the. vehicles for private purposes — that would be a comparative trifle in any case—but it may be. suggested to the responsible Minister that it might be worth his while, ascertaining from a competent independent authority if that £23,000 or £24,000 could be saved by adopting the up-to-date methods and discipline of private enterprise. So far private enterprise appears to be getting the better of State control in many branches of transport and perhaps th e Government's motors, motor lorries and motor cycles might provide an opportunity for learning 'definitely why this is the case. There is another; item in rast year's appropriations which particularly concerns members of Parliament and which necessarily must, be mentioned with baled breath. Free railway passes lo the members of both Houses of Parliament, their wives and their relatives, cost the taxpayers, it appeai-s, no less than £24,708, an average of over £2OO a year for eacli member. It is conceded by everyone that members of Parliament should learn by travel as much as they can of the needs and potentialities of the country they assist, in governing; but surely in the discharge, of this duty free passages for themselves would be a sufficient inspiration so far as the public purse was concerned.

THE WAY OUT These observations are not intended as an impeachment of the present Government or of any previous Government. Thev deal with a condition of affairs which has grown up during a long series of years as a result of widespread apathy concerning the administration of the various State departments. Once in every three years the electors are stirred into some sorl of enthusiasm for a month or two by the activities of the contending political parties, but when the general election is over they relapse into their old state of somnolence, content, if would seem, that the party in office should do its worst or its best, as the case may be, until another appeal to the constituencies comes round. The Labour Party, as at present

constituted, provides the inevitable exception In this general rule. It maintains its activities from one. triennial period to another, without abating its enthusiasms <>r its efforts one jot, and always keeping its platform anil precepts before the public. As its influence rarely is east on (he side of economy, however, its activities can be of little assistance to the taxpayer, be. his burd'fri great or' sinalß What i;i wauted id the politics of tin.-: country more than anything else at'' tin? present lime i;< an alert public thai would divest itself of mere parly prejudice and insisi upon its representatives in Parliament serving the interests of the Dominion as the directors of a great mercantile company are expected lo serve the interests'of its shareholders. II is the fault of successive Ministries and of an apathetic public that such a. system of administration has not yet been initiated in this country. The present Government, with a leader that, dares to do things, with a Minister of Finance in vision and understanding the peer of any of his predecessors, and with a majority almost unprecedented in the strife between the parties, lias an exceptional opportunity to repair the existing defects in "the. Government. machine and to lead the. country back to sound financial administrative methods.