The sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1927. A CHECK ON EXTRAVAGANCE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 119, 10 August 1927, Page 8

The sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1927. A CHECK ON EXTRAVAGANCE

IF there still be any public interest in politics left, it will have been noticed that members of Parliament just now are earning their wages—an item of some £50,000 —by discussing the financial affairs of the country. The pretentious harangue is known as the Budget Debate. It provides a generous scope for talk on almost anything, everything, or nothing at all. There are times when the nebulous subject seems to be most popular. As a matter of fact as well as of tradition, finance is not tffe fancy of the average politician. Those members of the House of Representatives who do adventure into the financial Babylon discover very quickly that shrewd administrators take advantage of the general political ignorance concerning high finance and thus indulge in much extravagance. It has been discovered by Mr. T. K. Sidey, for example, that the'Reform Government’s financial policy is placing an undue burden on the taxpayers of to-day and probably is failing to act as a wholesome check on Government expenditure and extravagance. It is really not arguable that so long as the Administration can maintain high taxation without the risk of being flung out of office it will be tempted to spend lavishly and overlook the necessity for rigorous economy. Some wisdom from the far South was exercised in the course of the debate last evening by Mr. A. Hamilton, who shepherds Reform political interests along the outskirts of Invercargill. He ventured a prediction that if the Dominion were placed in the hands of a business manager there would be an immediate attack upon the waste that is manifest throughout the Dominion. Quite true, but an efficient business manager would first attack very ruthlessly the gross waste and extravagance which mark the work and activities of the Reform Administration and the feckless ways of Parliament. The Government’s estimates of expenditure for the current financial year bristle with evidence of an extravagant use and abuse of public money. For example, the innumerable votes for the travelling allowances and expenses of administrators, legislators and State officials aggregate £190,000. While much of the heavy expenditure is justifiable and obviously essential, such as in the case of the Agricultural Department’s officers, many taxpayers would challenge the item of £9,400 for the travelling allowances and expenses of Ministers, their private secretaries, and departmental officers. They have travelled so far and so frequently throughout New Zealand since assuming administrative office that they cannot have any more to learn about the Dominion. The whole system of travelling allowances requires thorough revision. A detailed recital of the proposed grants for the luxury of galivanting would almost cause a Diehard Tory to become a revolutionary Socialist.