FISCAL POLICIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19858, 31 January 1928, Page 12

FISCAL POLICIES.

Sir, —C.H.N, thinks ho sees some contradiction in my assertions that the "cost of production is not the vital spot," and later, "that the ma.sses get caught upon the hook of rising jp-/ces." If fiscal policies are of such vita) importance, how is it that unemployment and distress and discontent are as evident in free trade England as in the protectionist Dominions ? A fiscal policy may perhaps influence the direction and nature of employment, but to expect it to create a new heaven or even bring peace on earth is like trying to heal moral, disorder by a political shin plaster. The "vital spot" seems to be concerned more with the distribution of wealth than of its production, and C.H.N, has not shown that a change in fiscal policy will alter the ultimate destination of profit margins. Before we can hope for this better distribution of wealth, we must have an altered and & better view of the function of wealth in relation to life, to health, and to happiness and social order. So it was in order to emphasise the point that a "widow's mite" may be as important as a rich man's pound that I wrote of the "absurdity of prices" which are extra,neous to the value of a service or gift iu the cause of humanity. The effort and the motive are "vital spots," not the £ s. d. collected by the customs tariff for purposes of revenue, etc.. nor vet the incidence of this taxation. E.N.D.