The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MEROURY (TUESDAY. OCTOBER 13, 1931.) THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 4048, 13 October 1931, Page 43

The Otago Witness WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE SOUTHERN MEROURY (TUESDAY. OCTOBER 13, 1931.) THE WEEK.

The Revised Budget.

"Ntinquam allud natuia, allud sapientia dixit. 1 ’ -Juvenal. “Good nature and good sense must ever lom.”** Porn.

Generally speaking, the Supplementary

F in a nc i a 1 Statement which was presented by Mr Downie Stewart last week is no better and no

worse than the public feared. In one important particular it is to be approved, in that it to some extent adjusts the burden by requiring the towns to carry more and the country less. Xew Zealand depends on the farmer, now and at any other time, for the main stream of her income, and the farmer must be enabled to carry through the present difficult period. Air Stewart's main task was to provide against a revenue shortage of £1,250,000 not previously anticipated, in order that there may be no deficit at the end of the financial year. Provision for a State subsidy on fertilisers, an increased subsidy to hospital boards, and a readjustment of the land tax bring the amount to be prot ided to £1,595,000. Taxation could not be expected to supply all of this sum, but the screw has been given another twist of £550.000 on income tax, including the bringing of farmers with an unimproved land value of £3OOO under the operation of the income tax, a raid on reserves is to yield £350,000, and new Customs taxation and an increase in the petrol tax are expected to bring in £240,000. In addition, fresh Government economies of £400,000, in which education presumably will share, are contemplated. It is a Budget that will make further demands upon most members of the community, and it cannot be cordially welcomed. The country will, however, appreciate that it is better to be taxed than bankrupt, and that was the alternative.

I Helping the ! Farmer.

| The intention of the Government, as

expressed in a practical manner in tliis Budget, of giving the farmer

some assistance, must, as i has been stated, earn approval. Those on the hind may feel that more might have been done for them, but they will realise that their present difficulties are shared by the urban population, and that any concessions they are receiving have to be borne directly by the rest of the community. Compulsory interest reduction is not favoured by the Government for reasons which are clear, seein" that the State is the largest mortgagee of rural land, and it relies on intere-t payments to it to repay moneys borrowed overseas. It is proposed, however, that the provisions, of the Alortgagors Relief Act shall be enlarged to enable the court to make an order for such remission, reduction, or postponement in respect of principal and interest as may seem equitable. It is also intended to afford farmers some relief from the burden of local rates. This purpose is to be achieved by the diversion of an anticipated balance of £250.000 from the Main Highways account and the application of the sum by way of special subsidy to rural local authorities in relief of rates. The other proposals come in the financial statement proper, and are referred to above. The farming community will derive some benefit from the overhaul of the finances of the . country, and it is needed. Settlers may feel that more might have been done to make this first pronouncement of the new Government a ’’ farmers’ Budget ” indeed, but even a cursory examination ! of the state of the country’s finances should convince them that it was net possible to act on a generous scale.

Co-operation in Industry.

Another proposal of the Government

may be welcomed which is intended to bear on the operation of the

Arbitration Act upon farmers’ costs. • mployment. and the industrial situat ini in general. This is in the direction of amending the Act on the lines suggested at the representative Industrial Conference of 1925. It is recognised by employers and workers alike that the most satisfactory way of fixing conditions of employment is by agreement between the parties concerned, and the Conciliation Council has served to bring them together for that purpose. In the minds of both parties, however, the reservation must have lingered that if the matter is not settled by conciliation it can go to the Arbitration Court for adjudication, from which there is no appeal. Naturally, this knowledge has led to a needless reliance upon the court, and has. to some extent, militated against amiable agreement by mutual consent. The amendment of the Act to introduce compulsory conciliation, and to leave the Arbitration Court as a last resort, should tend to make both employers and workers more anxious to negotiate on their own difficulties round the table, and will permit of special conditions being agreed upon to meet special cases in any industry. The fixation of wages and conditions of work necessarily becomes somewhat arbitrary under the existing system, and the terms laid down by the court are not always sufficiently flexible to meet changing conditions in industry. A loosening of the sometimes hampering restrictions of industrial employment should have a good effect in bringing necessary adjustments about and making it possible for employers to find work for men and boys who are. under the present award system, debarred owing to the inflexible conditions of employment in industry.

European Crises.

The decision of the National Government in Great Britain to go

the country is both well timed and brave.

Affairs at Home had reached such a pass when the Government was formed that immediate action had to be taken to restore foreign confidence in British credit. The real reconstruction work, however, can scarcely be said to have commenced as yet. and the Government feels that the electors should be asked to give it their mandate before the unpleasant task is undertaken. The Government, in fact, is placing its political future in the hands of the people, confident that the decision will be to face the straight and narrow path of rehabilitation rather than the dangerous but broad highway along which the Labour Government proceeded. The Government is in a difficult position owing to the conflicting views on Protection held by its members, but the signs are that the majority of the Liberals are prepared, in the interests of the people as a whole, to adjust their political traditions to the needs of the moment. Great Britain provides, of course, but one instance of the economic distress that has shaken the whole of Europe in recent months. Germany, despite assistance received and the dogged determination of the Government. has not yet found a basis for rehabilitation, and the stern measures now enforced suggest that the time of greatest tribulation is still ahead. Other European countries are labouring under difficulties almost as perplexing, and the future of Europe is dark. Thoughts turn more and more readily to a wholesale amendment of the burden of war debts and reparations as offering the means of relieving the international situation.

The Condemned Railways.'

It is impossible not to feel very

sympathetic towards the people in those districts whose hopes have been

dashed by the decision of Parliament to discontinue the construction of the railways already commenced. They have a grievance to the extent that work had been prosecuted, giving them every reason for looking to the time when railway transport would be available, and now the chances of the lines ever being finished has become remote. But since the lines were commenced two important changes have occurred, one economic, the other in the management of the railways. The financial consideration is unanswerable. The completion of the lines would cost some six millions, which the country cannot in present circumstances afford, and when completed the lines would run at a loss estimated at about £OOO,OOO a year. The country could scarcely afford such a luxury at any time, particularly when the whole of the money would be expended for the benefit of comparatively small sections of the community. Had the railways still been politically controlled, the lines might, in face of these figures, have been put through, but the Railways Board, by its independent and damning report, left the Government no alternative but to move to cease construction. Any other decision than that arrived at by Parliament was unthinkable. Ihe taxpayers as a whole must bo the first consideration at such a time, and it would have been scandalous if they had been asked to pay for the completion of these unsound railway construction proposals.

A General Election ?

It is quite possible that the New Zea-

land Government may be influenced by the British Government in regard to

the general (‘lection question. A lead which- is given by the Mother of Parliaments can very often be profitably followed by other legislatures. There would, however. scarcely seem to be any cause for the people of the Dominion to follow the examule of the Labour Party and become great Iv agitated anent the prospects of election postponement. At present, thanks to the broadmindedness of the United and Reform interests in recognising the ci isis as a national emergency more important than party politics, we have a Government in office that is composed of the best brains in Parliament, and is sufficiently strong to take any steps that are regarded as necessarv for the rehabilitation of the country's finances. An election would serve a good purpose in allowing the electors to express their opinion on the Coalition Government, but whether by the present Government or some other, measures must be taken to balance the Budget ami restore financial equilibrium. It is extreinelv doubtful whether aiy. election, if the appeal is made on the existing policy, would materially alter the constitution of Parliament.