PROSPERITY'S RETURN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20898, 13 June 1931, Page 6

PROSPERITY'S RETURN.

. / r THE LESSON OF HISTORY. PREVIOUS SLUMP RECALLED. f REMEDIES OF THE 'EIGHTIES. There is nothing new under the sun—not even an economic depression—and those disposed- to regard with pessimism the difficulties of to-day may take heart of grace from the fact that New Zealand has always recovered completely from such setbacks, even when, as now, the depression has been world-wide and relatively just as severe. It is almost a truism that history repeats itself. More remarkable still is history's habit of repeating itself at stated intervals. For instance, there is a familiar ring about certain statements in the newspaper files of 50 years ago, when New Zealand waa experiencing a phase of economic depression in many respects resembling the problems facing the country to-day. "We have had very dull times, and many a struggling settler has had no income whatever," complained a correspondent in a letter to the Herald in June, 1881. "The salaried civil servant has quietly been eating the cheap produce, of the starving farmer. It is to be presumed the men were making both ends meet before the reduction, and, taking their pittances at £IOO, the loss of £lO spread over the whole of 12 months is all they will suffer." " Cuts" In Civil Service. The reference to the reduction in Civil Service salaries is interesting, for just over half a century ago a Royal Commission was set up to inquire into the constitution and organisation of the service, and to consider by what means the cost of it might be reduced without impairing its efficiency. While the commission recommended a reduction of not less than 12' } per cent, in railway wages and salaries, the crux of the report, dealing generally with Civil Service economies, was contained in the following passage:— 'MVe cannot recommend any mere automatic scale of reduction in salaries in order to bring the cost of the service within the means of the colony, but a total reorganisation that will retain all the necessary power and skill, and put all the main work of the service into the hands of those willing to do it at its mai-ket value. Such an arrangement, if unflinchingly and impartially carried out, would greatly decrease the present cost of the service, and at the same time add to its discipline and its efficiency." Around this report, incidentally, waged a fierce political controversy, but ultimately it was decided that all Civil Service salaries and wages should be reduced by 10 per cent., the ratio adopted this year to meet a similar period of difficulty. Overhauling the Railways. Fifty years ago Civil Service salaries cost New Zealand £1,000,000 a year, so that the 10 per cent. " cut" represented an economy of £IOO.OOO. However, in half a century New Zealand has so developed that it is estimated the 10 per cent, reduction enforced from April 1 last will amount to £1,391,697, which is considerably more than the whole of the Civil Service wages bill of 50 years ago. In several other respects the economies instituted to meet the needs of the times 50 year 3 ago have been paralleled in recent experience. With slight variation the following summary of Parliament's work half a century ago might serve to describe the recent programme for overhauling national expenditure:—"Owing to the cessation of borrowing and the limited amount of money which could be devoted to public works, it became necessary to consider the programme, to drop some of the railways which it had been proposed to construct, and indefinitely to postpone others. " It was also expedient and necessary , to arrange that the money still at the disposal of the colony for public works should be husbanded so that there should he no collapse from the cessation of employment. With these objects it was agreed io appoint, a commission which should go over the whole colony, take evidence as to the railway lines which had been proposed, and make recommendations. They were also to report upon the important subject of railway management, as the receipts from the railways have, in many cases, been unsatisfactory." History Repeats Itself. Parenthetically, it may ho remarked that once again the receipts from the railways have been unsatisfactory," to use a mild expression, and this week brought the announcement of the personnel of the Railways Board, belatedly set up a3 a result of one of the recommendations made by another Royal Commission which investigated tho working railways last year. The problem of railways under construction has not been approached ii) exactly the manner adopted 50 years ago, but the Government has on its own initiative announced the abandonment of certain projects. Curiously enough, it was from the South Island that the loudest protests came 50 years ago when the cessation of various railway works was recommended by the commission. Then the principal hone of contention, apparently, was the Otago Central railway, which the commission said should never have been commenced. To-day a somewhat similar controversy rages about the bouth Island Main Trunk project. After referring to the many objections raised against various phases of the economy programme of 1880-81, the tfERALP said : " But with all this feeling, - and notwithstanding its strong manifestation in the House, there is a general determination in the colony to support-the Government (then headed by . Sir John Hall) in bringing the finances and general expenditure into a healthy condition. Powors o! Quick Recovery, " Throughout, the colony the expenditure on the working of the railways is to bo greatly curtailed, which will materially increase tho percentage of the returns; almost every department of the public service has been greatly curtailed; ;i number of offices has been abolished; and there has been a general reduction in tho pay of the Civil Service. This means a great deal in a country where the Government carries on extensive public works, and conducts the whole railway and telegraphic services." . Subsequent events showed that, in addition to salary reductions, a certain measine of retrenchment was carried out in Government departments, a procedure which has also been practised during these days of later difficulties. Although New Zealand, from a settlement point of view, is more than twice as old as she was in 1381, this confident prediction then made may justifiably be repeated without loss of emphasis half a century later: "We have no doubt that the recovery of the country from the depression .'under which it has suffered will be rapid. A new country has powers in this way hardly to be appreciated by residents in old settled countries, where every avenue of enterprise has long been occupied " New Zealand, which has yet to celebrate the centenary of her colonisation, is still " a new country," and the lesson of her past history is that happy davs will . soon be hero again.