The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1922. THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

Southland Times, Issue 19512, 11 May 1922, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, Luceo Non Uro. THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1922. THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

It would not be surprising if Mr Massey had a suggestion of triumph in his voice when he was speaking at Feilding on the Public Accounts for the year that has just closed. The Prime Minister is too wise to allow his satisfaction at the discomfiture of his critics to blind him to the fact that the current year’s problems still bristle with difficulties and that the revenue under certain headings will be lower this year than it was in the twelve months just completed. The striking feature of the accounts, which will appeal to all observers who are not blinded by party prejudice, is that the Government’s retrenchments are already beginning to make themselves felt, leading to the hope that the results achieved between now and next March vzill permit the Government to relieve the country of some of the heavy burden of taxation it is now carrying. Those people who cannot see any good in anything the Government does, anticipated the Feilding statement with declarations that there would be a “deficit this time,” and they made their forecasts with party relish. They will hail Mr Massey’s figures as a coi»plete confirmation of their statements, since the Prime Minister sets out a difference between revenue and expenditure of £339,831 in favour of the latter item, but they will find that this apparent shortage is not actual, since the Government holds stocks of coal purchased this year, which will be charged against the railways as they take them over for use. The value of this coal is enough we are assured, to wipe out the deficit. In a general sense the figures are much better than most people expected them to be, and the fact is that accumulated surplus now amounts to £7,531,367 and £13,500,000 invested in Discharged Soldier Settlements, making a total of £21,031,367, which is some £2,500,000 lower than the total at the end of the financial year 1920-21. The difference, however, does not represent a loss. Reference to the Prime Minister’s figures will show that the Public Works Fund, as in other years, has absorbed a large part of this £2,500,000, and what other votes have made up the remainder. The largest individual decrease in the year’s revenue comes under the heading Customs, which is £3,313,290 lower than the extraordinary total of 192 Q-21, and the second largest falling off is on Income Tax, which has shrunk by £2,245,958, compared with the return in the previous year. Those critics who pointed to the Customs revenue in 1920-21 as evidence of an increase in taxation by the Government, will doubtless compliment the Prime Minister on having reduced taxation during last year. The falling off in the Customs revenue reflects the change in the balance of trade, which is readjusting the difficulties caused by over-importa-tion and giving hope that the bank rate will be lowered before long. Next year we must expect a bigger drop in the return from the Income Tax, even if the Government does not readjust the taxation to suit the changing conditions in the country, but there is some ground for hope in the fact that the last quarter of the year 1921-22 discloses a substantial drop in the expenditure. The figures given by Mr Massey are: £ March 1920-21 7,699,468 March 1921-22 6,731,449 Decrease £ 968,019 This represents a saving of more than

£4,000,000 in the year, since the economies were not in full effect over the whole period. It shows a substantial saving, but Mr Massey knows, as well as we do, that it is not enough if the current year is to conclude with our expenditure inside the revenue. The Government is facing its most difficult year under circumtstances that give hope that in spite of the prospect of smaller revenue it will still be possible to afford industry some relief from the burden of taxation which is now throttling it, if not in a large measure, then in the shape of the removal of many small imposts which are now disconcerting business concerns. Reductions in expenditure must go on and further economies, real economies and not the shifting of the burden from one shoulder to another, must be effected, but taking all the circumstances into consideration, Mr Massey is entitled to say, we think, that from a financial year, bristling with difficulties, he has emerged with honour.