THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1916. THE IMPERIAL MINISTRY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16873, 9 December 1916, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1916. THE IMPERIAL MINISTRY.

Mr Lloyd George has apparently been meeting with a good deal of discouragement .from prominent members of his own party in undertaking liis task of re-forming the National Government at Home. Some of the foremost Literals in the Government which has just gone out of oilice have, out of a sense of ioyall ■* to Mr Asquith, expressed their indisposition to serve under a new leader of their own political persuasion. This is a circumstance which necessarily increases the difficulties that confront Mr Lloyd George, but he is not the sort of man who is likely to be dismayed by it. A certain amount of luck, if the expression may legitimately be used, has accounted in the past for a good many politicians attaining to Ministerial distinction and even to Cabinet rank. Family influence, social standing, and personal associations have all been' factors that have helped members of Parliament to i the attainment of coveted places in the Ministry, and it has not always been certain that they have not secured these places to the exclusfon of others in their party who would have filled office to the greater advantage of their country. Certainly some of the names that have been suggested as those of members of Parliament who are likely to become members of the Government under Mr Lloyd George do not precisely excite the most hopeful feelings. But it is not to be ignored that the Liberal party includes a large number of men of wide business experience and knowledge, from whom it should be possible for the now Prime Minister to make a selection of colleagues capable of rendering to the State a service not less efficient than that peiformed in the past by those fortunate enough to receive Ministerial appointment. Mr Lloyd George seems to have succeeded in assuring himself of the cordial co-operation of the Labour members of Parliament. His programme which will, he says, be directed to a vigorous prosecution of the war to a victorious conclusion will include proposals that will be particularly attractive to the Labour mind. Among them will be measures ensuring to the State the control of all industry and of the means of transport by land and sea in order that the man-power of the nation may be employed in the most advantageous channels. A gigantic scheme of nationalisation for war purposes will represent the fulfilment, at one stride, even though it may be only for the currency of the war, of the most cherished dreams of the Labour party. Those who would in ordinary circumstances stand aghast at the contemplation of any such scheme will not be disposed to oppose the application of it during the war if there is reason to believe that it will have the effect of contributing to the mobilisation of the human resources of the country in the most effective way possible, and if the system of State-control should prove as suc- ' cessful as its advocates believe it will the Labour party will lie provided after the war with a powerful argument in favour of the permanent adoption of the scheme. At any rate 1 it. is clear that there will be no lack of boldness or even of audacity about Mr Lloyd George's war measures. Their very boldness may commend them to a country that requires above all a Government with firmness of decision and with initiative— qualities which an unprejudiced Italian journal declares were lacking in Mr Asquith's Cabinet.

Tnrc Asquilh Administration, which came to an end this week, lasted eight years and eight months, so that Mr Asquith, who succeeded Sir Henry CampbellBannennan on April 8, 1908, has been at the head of affairs for a longer continuous period than any Premier since the time of Lord Liverpool.

Tho hitter reigned in Downing street for nearly fifiocjti years, from jane 9, 1812 (on the assassination of his predueessor—Spencer l-'wceval) to April 24, 1827. Mr Asquith's J'ecord falls below that of Lord Palmerston and -Mr Gladstone and .Lord Salisbury as regards total service as Prime Minister, —but of course it is conceivable that ho may yet have an. opportunity of altering the figures. The coalition of last year almost made the Government a new one, though tho presence of the same Prime Minister preserved at least nominal identity. Of Mr Asqnith'a original Cabinet colleagues Viscount Grey, Mr Lloyd George, Lord Crewe, Mr M'Kenna, and Mr llunciman stayed with him to the end, as well as two: or threo who held only subordinate office when the Administration was formed. Lord Lorcburn, Lord Wolverhampton, Lord ILalda'ie, Mr Winston Churchill, Mr Sydney Buxlon, Lord Morley, Mr Jiciberfc Gladstone, Lord Fitzmaarice, Mr John Burns, Earl Carrington, Mr Birrell, were members of the Cabinet of April, 1903. All these arc still living, except Lord Wolverhampton, though some of them have new names.

That portion of Mr Harold Beauchamp's speech at the half-yearly meeting of the Bank of New Zealand which related the trade and finance of the dominion presents several points of considerable interest. Not that the chairman of the directors of the Hank was able to contribute any fre=di facts bearing upon the existing situation, but his long commercial experienabled him to suggest conclusions to which his position as a financial authority lends unquestionable weight. Mr Beauchamp emphasised the fact that the period of phenomenal prosperity which the producers of the dominion continue to experience is due to the extraordinarily high prices realised for staple products, notably wool, meat, butter, and cheese—prices such as have never before been obtained in the history of New Zealand. In addition, the weather throughout the year has been exceptionally favourable, and there is every pro-peel of a bountiful harvest. Against this, however, must be placed the adverse influences—the first the increasing difficulty, though this is probably exaggerated at tho present time, of securing the necessary agricultural labour, and the second the temptation that high prices may lead to tho slaughter of stock to such an extent as unduly to deplete the flocks and herds of the dominion. The high prices realised for staple products and the large expenditure of borrowed money in connection with the war have brought about a general carelessness, almost amounting to prodigality, of expenditure on the part of a large section of the public. Unfortunately, moreover, this expenditure has in far too many instances taken the form of an indulgence in luxuries, which lias contributed during the past year to a grow tli of imports to a value that was over £4,000,000 in excess of that for the preceding twelve months. It is to be recognised that a good proportion of this increase is due to the increase in the value of the goods imported. Yet it is manifest that there is far too much expenditure that is wasteful in the sense that it is incurred in the satisfaction of a desire for the possession of luxuries.

It is when the export returns of the dominion are analysed' that the full financial benefit conferred by the war upon the producers is realised. In the course of his speech at the meeting of the Bank of New Zealand yesterday Mr Beaucframp presented tables comparing the escorts for the two years before the war with those for the two years following the outbreak of hostilities. From the Ist October, 1912, to the 30th September, 1914, the excess of exports over imparts amounted to £3,517,025. From the Ist October, 1914, to the 30th September, the excess increased to £21,059,599. Consequently the financial benefit to the dominion averaged between eight and nine million sterling for each of the past two years. The real value of this benefit is even more strikingly shown in an analysis of the figures for the twelve months ended on the 30th September last when the increase in the excess of exports over imports as compared with the previous twelve months totalled £5,216,107. This increase was due mainly to thi? higher values of products and not to increased quantities of exports for, while all the principal products that were exported show an increase in value, there was a diminished volume of exports in the later period of both wool and butter. The tendency is, moreover, in the direction of a still heavier increase in the value of the exports. This increased value is directly attributable to the war, and it is a reasonable and, in our judgment, unanswerable argument that the Government is entitled to appropriate for the service of the war the war profits that are secured by the producers. The war expenditure of the State, it is to be remembered, must necessarily increase to a large extent if the obligations of the Government to the married men who are called up for service are to be recognised, as they must be.

As each successive monthly return of the State's revenue and expenditure is published during the present financial year the effect is to increase the certainty that the complete returns will demonstrate the absurdity of the official estimates of the receipts for the year.' The source of revenue from which the heaviest increases will be obtained in the current financial year is necessarily that of income tax together with excess profits tax, and no attempt was made in the Budget to estimate closely the yield from this source. It was roughly suggested that two millions might be obtained from the excess profits tax and three-quarters of a million from the special income tax. If this calculation, however, is not nearer the mark than the official estimate of the receipts that would be obtained from other sources not affected by any proposals contained in the Budget, it seems highly probable that the proceeds of the excess profits tax and the special income tax will greatly exceed £2,750,000 in all—as, indeed, the data that are publicly available strongly suggest they should. In no previous Budget have the estimates of revenue from sources from which it should be possible to gauge the return with some approximation to accuracy been so excessively conservative. as in that of last year. It was estimated, for instance, that the customs revenue for the year would be £66,170 below that of the preceding year. For eight months of the year the receipts from this source show a comparative increase of £465,232. The official estimate was that the revenue from stamp and death duties would be practically stationary. There is actually an increase of £309,957 in the eight niOTiths. A decrease of £34,340 was reckoned upon in the case of the railway receipts. For eight months an increase of £283.935 is recorded. Beside these figures an increase of £144,110 in the postal and tele-graph receipts, in respect of which an increase of £60,000 in the year was officially anliripated, is a trifling circumstance. On the whole it Ls fairly evident that the complete returns for the financial year should cover the Minister of Finance with con fusion.

With a modesty that is natural to him and that is one or his personal qualities to which no direct was made by the other speakers. Dr Marshall protested, at a pleasant little ceremony at the University yesterday, that ho did 'not merit the appreciative expressions that were employed concerning the services he has rendered during the period of his residence in Dvmedin. Those services divide themselves necessarily into two branches, —those which he has rendered as a teacher at the University in the past 15 years and those which ho has rendered as a nwmber of the community as a whole. His services at tho University speak for themselves. The chancellor, Dr Inglis, and Professor

Thompson referred to different aspects of them in terms of the warmest eulogy. The fact- that their commendation of Dr Marshall's work was completely justified is shown )>y results. No more eloquent testimony than these afford could he adduced to the value and success of Dr Marshall's teaching. They are just such results as might be expected where a teacher was fortunate in the possession of the gift, which is ascribed to Dr Marshall, of being able to inspire his students. They are results also which will fill Dr Benson, who has been appointed Dr Marshall's sucee-:-or on the staff of the University of Otago, with some measure of trepidation. But it is of the services which Dr Marshall has rendered as a private citizen prepared to perform his part, as any University professor may do without derogating from the dignity of his academical office, in the discussion of public a tilth's and in the promotion cf the public interest, that a public journal is in a position to speak. It involves no exaggeration to say that Dr Marshall has been a publicspirited citizen of the best stamp, ever ready to devote his abilities to the furtherance of causes, social, industrial, and Imperial, that seemed to him to merit his support, and that, as was declared by the Ma;, or, whose presence in his otlicial capacity at the farewell gathering was a distinctly fitting compliment to him, he has been "a tower of strength" in this community during the critical period from which we have not yet emerged. The Wanganui Collegiate School is much to bo congratulated r,n the fact that, in depriving the University of Otago of an able teacher, it has secured as its head master a man in the prime of his life who may confidently be expected to add lustre to its record and to exercise a wholly beneficial influence upon its pupils.