NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18059, 6 April 1922, Page 6

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

ECONOMY ESTIMATES. A request was recently made hy the Commonwealth Treasurer to the Ministers in charge of all Commonwealth departments to forward bofore March 31 estimates of expenditure for the financial year 1922-23. The Australasian Banking Becord says it is understood that one of the reasons for the request i 8 that sufficient time can bo given to cut down the amounts. In accelerating the preparation of the estimates, which it is to be hoped will enable the Budget to be presented to Parliament at an earlier date than has hitherto been the custom, Mr. Bruce is following the accepted standards of British practice. Tho estimates of expenditure are usually presented to the House of Commons before the opening of the financial year, and usually about three or four weeks later the Budget is presented, showing how the expenditure is to be met and what, changes in taxation are proposed by tho Government. As Lieutenant-1 Commander E- Hilton Young, now Finan- j cial Secretary to tlio Treasury, points out in his work on "The System of National Finance," it is difficult, for estimates oncej drawn up and presented to Parliament to j undergo any further change, and he remurks : —"In tho chronic congestion of Parliamentary business, the demand on.o made and the form of the estimate fixed, tho thing is practically settled. If economy is to have its say, it must be before tho estimates arc taken in hand, and while they are being made out. In this connection economy has two chief functions. It must see that no services aro included that are not needed, that is, economy in matters of policy, and it must seo that in the provision for needed services there is no extravagance, that is, economy in matters of detail."

AUSTRIA'S BUDGET. . The continued depreciation of Austrian currency is attributed by a correspondent of the London Times to the fact that the country is a persistent buyer of foreign money to cover her adverse trade balance, which is mainly duo to imports of coal and foodstuffs. The country is almost wholly dependent on imported coal, and tho domestic production of foodstuffs is sufficient to supply the population for only three months of the year. The correspondent is, however, sanguine of the country's ability to recover its monetary position, and in this connection he draws attention to the Government's efforts to balance of budget. A superficial inquiry into the Austrian Budget might, he says, induce the erroneous opinion that Governmental needs are not met with adequate taxation, whereas the fact is that the present system of collecting taxes as employed in Austria and all over Europe cannot restore the budgetary equilibrium of a country whose currency suffers from a continuing depreciation. A sudden return to the pre-war (gold standard, which means tho stabilisation of the currency, is impossible. It is howover, possible to fix the actual rato between the pre-war gold crown and the present paper crown. Starting from this principle the Austrian Treasury a few moriths ago commenced to levy some taxes and duties on the basis of the gold crown. These " gold " taxes are to bo paid in papor crowns, but at the rate of the gold crown which is weekly fixed by the Treasury. At the time of writing (February 7) the gold crown is worth 1670 paper crowns. Austria has thus mado the first attempt to solve the budgetary problem of a country whose currency is in a state of continuing depre ciation. The attempt to collect public taxes and fees on the basis of the gold tiewn has, of course, nothing to do with deflation. The issue of paper money will not cease, but the huge deficit in the Budget will gradually disappear.

TURKEY'S WAR LOSSES. A revised statement of the Turkish military and naval losses during the war was recently issued by the Turkish Army Medical Service, but it is pointed out that the casualty list, though extremely high, is undoubtedly under-stated, since irregulars (Kurd and Arab unite employed on the Eastern fronts) and men who died of wounds and sickness after being invalided out of the army are not included. The following are the official figures:—Killed or dead from wounds and sickness, 501,091; admitted to hospital for wounds or sickness, 3,059,205; discharged as recovered, 2,167,841; inva'lided as unfit for further service, 891,364, The following are the official estimates of deaths on the various fronts;— Caucasus front, 218,578; Dardanelles, 101,147; Palestine (apparently excluding lobscs in North Arabia and in Syria, north of Damascus, during Lord Allenby's pursuit), 80,764; Mesopotamia (south of Bagdad), 44,721; Smyrna, Adalia, etc. (mainly deaths from fever among Labour troops, etc.), 9211; Galicia, 4272; Rumania and Dobrudja, 4166; Hedjaz (Mecca and Medina), Assir, and Yemen, 2527; Macedonia. 878; " various fronts," 74,872. The heaviness of the casualties on the Caucasus front was due to tho fact that the hardest fighting there, notably the sanguinary Sarikamish campaign and the battles round Erzemm, took place in mid-winter at a height of from 4000 ft. to 6000 ft. above sea level. In such circumstances most wounded men left on tho ground for one night died of cold or were crippled from frostbite. The great majority of those who fell at the Dardanelles—where the Turkish losses were far superior to those of the Allies-, owing mainly to the greater killing power of the British, Australian, and New Zealand soldier and of the French long service troops—were killed in action. Sickness was responsible for many deaths in Mesopotamia and Palestine. ,

THE V.A.D. NURSES. A strong appeal was made recently by the London Morning Post for official recognition of the services during the war of V.A.D, nurses. "To the official mind the V.A.D.'s are mostly undeserving of recognition. The statement may seem incredible; but it is the bare truth. Tho War Medal is given to those who served abroad; but for those who served at home there is nothing. It matters not that the work of the V.A.D.'s at home was more arduous than that oi their sisters abroad. It matters not that they were paid nothing for the work; that they were on duty ten hours a day—or on night duty, 12 hours; that they had to perform themselves all the work of the quartermasters and orderlies, and much of the work done by the sisters, of the hospitals in France. They carried the stretchers, did the cooking, and the ward-cleaning. The physical and mental strain upon what were often young girls was unspeakable. Peace-time work in a hospital is hard enough; but it is as nothing compared with that of the nurses in the war hospitals. Yet al! the. c e considerations are officially, as nought. No matter what the V.A.D. nurse may have done, if Bhe did not leave this country, there is nothing for her. In response to remonstrances against the slight which has been inflicted on u body of women who have deserved so well, officialism insists to-day that the matter has been finally settled, and that nothing more can be done. But is that so? Is it ever too late to repair such an indefensible blunder? Th« authority which closed the Question can open it again; and public opinion should compel it to do su. It is not much to ask for such splendid service and sacrifice—just a medal. In what other country in the world would it be denied?"