"STRATFORD EVENING POST" SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1929. EX-MINISTER'S ATTACK.

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 81, 10 August 1929, Page 4

"STRATFORD EVENING POST" SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1929. EX-MINISTER'S ATTACK.

j OPENING the attacTv on the Budget, the ex-ALinister of l'inance, Mr Downie Stewart, caiiuot be said to have made any effective case against Sir Joseph Ward's proposals, Mr Stewart seems to have been led astray by the desire to make a. striking' remark when he suggested that deficit, left as a result of hisi own conduct of the finances, had been a Godsend to the Government. No Government likes to start with a deficit to make up, and to be under the necessity of imposing new taxation, which, however imposed, can never be popular. The reasons for the deficit are quite plain. Mr Stewart cut tilings very fine in his last Estimates. Previously he had done the same thing, in accordance with a perfectly justifiable policy, and hadjprov,ed right in his calculations but last year, adverse conditions, which he had more or less feared, were too much for him, and his calculations went wrong. It was unfortunate for Mr Stewart, says the Dunedin "Star", and I more unfortunate for his successor, on whom the unpleasantness falls of repairing the pos-j ition. When he framed his As-j timates the ex-Minister stated: "It must be remembered that | so far not onlv has the revenue I from Customs fallen substantial-1 lv, but receipts from income tax are estimated to show relatively ( little pnerense over last year, j TJertressiou nroverl more stubborn than be bad anticipated. In n*l- - ition there were expenses for loan conversions, romuroc! f/ur.e-- j what earlier (ban lind been ovneete'd, and b- one force nf rcumstances and another the m-v-

plus was transformed into a deficit. That has to bo made good. No one has stressed more strongly than Mr Stewart trie necessity for making it Rood. Did he not emphasise in his last 1 Financial Statement that " 'balance your Budget' is a maxim which bankers, financiers, and . practical economists ever since the war have been trying to impress upon the impecunious but improvident Governments of Europe." The principle is not one that has less importance for Sir Joseph Ward. Mr Stewart is in the weakest* position for contending- that the end sought would achieve itself, by a natural recovery of revenue, without any more'taxation, because Mr Stewart miscalculated before. The ex-Minister suggested that taxation is beinsy unduly increased now. so that a surplus may be'available at the end of the year large enough for the transference of something to the I Public Works Fund. We know Ino real reason for that conieoture though the country will be more fortunate than in some recent years if it can be done. Unusually wide of the mark was Mr Stewart's complaint against the Government that £b programme promised no*.un* to help manufacturers. A natural conclusion would be that its policy of increasing the numl ei 0 f prosperous consumers b> plftoinK more people on the Lanrt nnd otherwise oromised to assist them in the most practical manner. IM „ n ,