THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1911. A MINISTER ON HIS DEFENCE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15300, 14 November 1911, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1911. A MINISTER ON HIS DEFENCE.

The electors not only of Dunedin We«t but of Uio whole Dominion will bo interested in the defence which the Minister of Railways set up last night to the indictment tHftt hae been framed againet the Government. What they know of Mr Millar hae convinced them that ho will, at any rate, meet his political opponents in tho gate nnd not dodge behind fences in order to evade thorn. Hut whon they lo.irn what Mr Millar lias to eay in answer to Die charge* against which Uio Movcrnment hae to defend iteelf they will probably conclude that there ie a good deal of worldly wisdom in the plan which must of hie colleague*) have adopted of raising clouds of duet over the issues before the country in tho hopn that by doing po they may blind the public and delude the electors into tho belief that the worse ie the better cause. Mr Millar's reply to tho allegation that the Government has been rocklew in its borrowing policy is that Uw burdens of the people have not been made any heavier ae a consequence of thn increape in the public imlcbtulnew. Aw\ ho particularly cites the borrowings for tho varioua State undertakings [hat are admittedly btercet-earning. TJw clec- i

tore arc, however, probably aware that separate accounts are»kept for thcee opeciul undertakings, and thnt the Consolidntwl Fund doce not directly bencfii to the extent of a einglo penny by the profits thiit aro shown on the operation of the Advance* to flottlera ochcnie and the land for settlements policy. On t!:« oilier hand, it is a fnct that during 0i« period of 'five yean, for which Tllr Millar

acknowledges his responsibility as a .Minister, tiro amount of tho public wvcnues, provided chiefly through the ngctrcy of taxation, that line been paid annually in intercut and sinking fund ctargee hae increased from £2,132,112 to £2,458,452. Tho bent Ust, however, of whether tlio burdens of the people havo or have not been increased is supplied by the return showing . tho amount of taxation pet head of tlio population that is collected by tho Government The figures aro very iiiatructlvo, indicating a* tlf?y do that, while for two yeare the Government lightened the burden of taxation, it increased it List year to nn excep.

tional extent. Tho following is tbo comparative return of taxation per head:--1906-7 £4 14 ? 1907-8 6 0 4 1908-9 4 n it 1909-10 4 6 10 1010-11 5 8 7 In the faoe of these figures, it is idle for any Minister to declare that tlio Government hue not added to the burdens of the people. .M r AlilJar'e reply to the charge that tho Government has been extravagant in iu administration is equally unsatisfactory. It is breido tho question to awert, ae he does, that the Opposition has not shown wherein it would effect a reduction in the expenditure. The Opposition is not called upon to show how economies can be effected until tho responsibility ie placed on it to effoct them, but it may be said at oiico that it would not reduce cxpendituN by cutting down the old-age pensions or by depriving tho back-block eettlere of any of the few advantages they now enjoy. Tho sufficient proof of the exietence of extravagance on tho part of the Government was afforded a few years ogo when the Primo Minister, smitten with a sudden wal for retrenchment, announced that the Government could nave £250,000 by reducing the departmental expenditure without impairing the efficiency of tho public services. Sir Joseph Ward did not, ae a matter of fact, reduce the expenditure by £250,000, and before twelve months had pawed, tho chock on tlio prosperity of [be country liavir.g proved to bo only temporary, vm once 'more gnily increasing the cost of government; but the admission ho made that this largo er.ving could be effectej without injury to the administrates machinery woe n« complete an acknowledgment of extravaganco on the part J the Government ae could be desired. In hie attempt to disprove tho allegation which, ho fays, has been made that the administration of the Government hae bten corrupt—the allegation really being that the Government has not ecrupled to

I —■- • — r .— — secure the appropriation of public fu'iJs in a dircctiou that will wrve ill party' oncte, Millar, following in this' inelancc the example of the Prime Minister and the" Minister of Public Worke, q<uote.s speeches that haw been made by Mr Fowlds and Mr leitt. Aβ, however, Jlr Fowltts id implicated a« -well ae the rest of the Ministry if the allegation W wellfounded, hie testimony may be dielegarded straightway as that of an accomplice, and Iho opinion of Mr ieitt, expressed when ho had been a member of Parliament for about a fortnight, is en-

titled to no more weight than that of the man in the street. The negative ovidence of both Mr FowWs and Mr lait't i« thewforo practically valueless. It cannot be placed in the scales ogaine't the positive evidence of the Minister of Public Works, who hae more than once blurted out statement* that, the Government is in effect influenced by party considerations in it* treatment of the Public Works Fund, while the action,of Mr Millar himself in Iβferring the granting of increased <vag« to member* of the railway service until the very eve of an election, at/which those who receive the increased payments may show in a practical manner their appreciation of tfie Minister's concern M;r their intoreste, possesses a significiiwe that hae not been last on tho rlectore n< a body or oven on the railway ecrvania thcmeelrcs. Upon the different counts to which we haws' referred the indictment against the Government still holds good.