THE NATIONAL FINANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16007, 27 August 1915, Page 6

THE NATIONAL FINANCE.

Retrenchment in the Public Service is' clearly forecasted in Sir Joseph Ward's Budget. The necessity for this is summarised in the. following sentence : " The result of the four months' financial operations of the present year gives the Government some concern, showing as it does an increase of expenditure over receipts for that, period of £307,982, and an increase of £350,000 of Treasury Bills in comparison with the corresponding period of last year.'' It appears that—apart from the actual cost of the wardepartmental expenses arc increasing owing to causes indirectly connected with the war. The suggested remedy is unmistakably shown in the following sentence : " The times through which iwe are passing have adversely af-

i fected the various Departments. land an adjustment must be made to I ' i ensure that these Departments are i •i . . . | placed in such a position that the < I revenue will exceed the expendi- i jture." The public, which has to | face a considerable increase in taxes, | I ill welcome this effort to economise 'in the public services- This is the ! more necessary because it is shown beyond question that while expenditure is increasing revenues are decreasing. The annual statement -of receipts and expenditure gives rather a false, impression of the position. It covers the year ending on , March 31. which includes only seven i months of the war. For the year the revenue was only £44,800 below , the estimate, and shows an actual J inert ase over the previous year of , I £219,15 H. But this apparently ! favourable balance-sheet is to a great extent due to the prosperity 1 of the Dominion in the five months prior to the outbreak of war. This , is well illustrated by the Customs , j revenue. The total for the year was .only £130-000 under the. estimate, _ j but up to the end of August" the x I estimate had been exceeded— by ; . £-11,000. so that the returns for the .'.subsequent seven months represent 5 lan actual fall due to the war ap--2 I proaching £200 ; It is also , ! worth noting that as the strike, of v \ 1913 affected the income tax receipts v of last year, so will the war of 1914r 15 to some extent, counterbalance a the higher rate of taxation to be imr posed. There are many favourable e features in the. Budget, such as an d increase of two and a-quarter milil lions in the exports for the year i 1914 and the holding of nearly' j £-2,000.000 to the credit of depositors I in the Post Office Savings Bank, but

i so far as actual State revenues and expenditure are concerned, the out- ; jlook demands care and serious action - : ! in the direction of that retrenchment ' I which Sir Joseph Ward has fore- ' ; shadowed.