The N. Z. Times (PUBLISHED DAILY). FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1905. SONUS DISTRIBUTION.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 5736, 3 November 1905, Page 4

The N. Z. Times

(PUBLISHED DAILY). FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1905. SONUS DISTRIBUTION.

«TH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE “ VTELLIKOTOJI INDEPENDENT." ESTABLISHED ISIS-

A few querulous people have been wont to qsk, ivhen the annual surplus in the country’s accounts was announced—Of what nso is a surplus, if the people get no benefit from it? A surplus, said others, is not only bad finance; it is in addition direct robbery of the people by taking too much money from them in tho shape of taxation. To these critics the best reply is that their faultfinding is based upon a misapprehension and misstatement of tho case. The surplus is a direct benefit to every one in the colony, because it is chiefly applied to tho execution of public works. Nay, more, after large transfers have been made to tho Public Works Fund, there has generally been a further division of tho profits among tho people. Every year, for a considerable time past, tho distribution of tho State bonus to taxpayers has been on a generous scale. Sometimes it took the shape of reductions in Customs duties; at other times it assumed tho form of railway concessions in the interests of producers and merchants; in fact, the surplus has in every case been returned to the people, and frequently in a way that conferred far greater advantage than if a few ponce per head had been paid back to the taxpayers. During tho past fourteen years a million and three-quarters sterling has been saved to the pcoplo hy remissions of Customs duties, revenue amounting to £680,000 has been remitted in railway rates, and sums aggregating £4,1155,000 have been transferred to Public Works Account, From last year’s surplus of £761,036, a sum of half a million sterling was similarly transferred; and, following the usual practice, concessions equal to the balance have been made by Parliament.

It is interesting to not© that on this occasion the distribution of bonus has taken a new form. Instead of remissions, increases of salaries and pensions have been granted. The chief of these are as under:—

Old age pensioners ... £IOO,OOO Railway servants ... 63,900 School teachers ... ... 30,000 Tho two latter classes have hitherto received no direct benefit, though, they, of course, enjoyed some advantage from the reduction 'of Customs duties. In each case the increased payment has long been promised, and will ho sanctioned by public opinion. Although tho old age pensions this year are expected, at tho increased rate, to reach a total of £321,516, the finances of the country seem perfectly able to stand the strain. No one will begrudge the school teachers the improved position in which them, seeing that they have got they have been placed. The last session lias been a notable one for their long anticipated superannuation fund. The financial critics of the House have from tho outset questioned the stability of the fund. Tho-State pays into it only £SOOO, but gives its guarantee against any deficiency. The fact that tho Government ignored tho recommendation of .tho Education Committee, that £17,000 per annum should ho paid into tho fund, to make it actuarially sound, was based on the conclusion that tho actuarial estimates of the world in regard to superannuation funds had invariably proved wrong. Time, of course, alone can. show how the scheme will work out, and well-wishers of education in this country will hope that the pessimistic views of some members of tlie Hons© regarding tho unsoundness of the Government’s proposals will not ho realised.

When one recollects the discontented state in which the railway servants of the colony wore some months back, when their grievances formed tho subject of lengthy deputations to tho Minister for Railways, it must bo pleasing to Ministers to find that they ar© now being blessed where formerly some harsh things were said. Increasing the pay of the railway servants to the extent of £63,900 is a considerable concession, but it is thoroughly deserved by a hardworking and efficient body of State employees. Tho alteration in tho system of payment, from monthly to fortnightly, is also a concession that has continually been asked for, and it is an important one, for it means that the discount given by storekeepers to cash purchasers will now be participated in by the railway servants. It may be only a coincidence that this direct bonus distribution to pensioners, railway workers, and teachers should have taken place during the last session of a Parliament, hut, of course, there are some very acute and pure-minded people who will characterise the action as “bribing tho electors.” The plain fact is that the distribution is an annual one; and if this year it has assumed the form of direct increases, instead of indirect concessions, that is because these increases were necessary and desirable. No doubt the session of 1903 will he held in grateful remembrance by those who participated in the boons it conferred, but the general public will agree that Parliament did no more than justice in tho matter, and would have been blameworthy had it acted otherwise.