PROPOSALS FOR ECONOMY

Taranaki Daily News, 3 October 1932, Page 9

PROPOSALS FOR ECONOMY

SEVERAL ALREADY ADOPTED

SOM® DIFFERENCES OF OPINION.

CAREFUL INQUIRY NECESSARY,

REVIEW BY PRIME MINISTER.

(By Wir*-~'Parliamentary Reporter.) Wellington, Laet Night. Several proposals in the report of the National Expenditure Commission have already been adopted, according to * statement by the Prime Minister in the course of an interview to-day, but it eema that the Government will find it difficult to give effect to various recommendations upon which there is a difference of opinidn. “On. the Whole,” said Mr. Fdrbes, “the report is considered by the Cabinet to be a good one.” He added that the Government aprpeciated the thorough manner in which the commission had carried out its work. In accordance with its promise the Government had the commission to investigate State" expenditure, and it had now been presented with a report which might be said to represent th. 4 viewpoint of the country’s taxpayers. On first sight the recommendations were .valuable, but the Government would have to go carefully into them to see whether they were actually practical. It would be appreciated that various considerations would have to be taken into account in considering whether it would be possible to carry out the proposals for wholesale reductions in expenditure. For instance, the commission proposed that the Government should unburden itself of much of its present spending, the opinion being expressed that local bodies should be made to pay more extensively for the services they were now enjoying. The questiqn immediately arose whether this course would be practical. To give* effect to the commission’s proposals in thia respect would merely mean transferring the burden from the Consolidated Fund to the local bodies, and in the end the same people would have to bear the cost. In addition, the local authorities were going through difficult times as well as the Government, and they would be seriously embarrassed if they were called upon to bear heavy costs over and above those being provided for at the moment.

OVERSEAS REPRESENTATIVES. In one part of the report it was suggested that £26,500 could ba saved by reducing the vote of the Industries and Commerce and allied departments, and the commission considered that overseas trade representatives should be . abolished. In this respect the Government considered it was making a wise investment in having overseas trade representatives. Its activities in this field of commercial exploitation were not over-large, but it was considered necessary to seek out new markets, fester existing trade and thus build up exports, upon which the country was wholly dependent for its welfare.’ This showed that there was room for differences of opinion on the value of State expenditure. , Mr. Forbes was asked whether the view could not be sustained that if private enterprise could not foster its own trade the general taxpayer should not be called upon to bear the burden. He replied that this might he said, but the country was vitally interested in the question and the Government by reason of 'fhe ddpendance of the budgetary position on the national income had to assist to maintain a favourable trade balance.

Mr. Forbes added that the commission recommended the handing over to private enterprise of the tourist resorts, hut there was .a case to be made out for the value to the country of these resorts. Opening the report of the commission to illustrate the necessity for considering the possibility of giving effect to the various. proposals the Prime Minister selected the recommendation that the Te Kauwhata horticultural station should he closed. “I don’t think there would bo much demand for horticultural stations on the market to-day,” he said. However, Mr; Forbes added, there was much of value in the report and the recommendations would be carefully considered by Parliament, as they had been by Cabinet. He did not wish to discount the excellent work the commission had done, but it had to be pointed out that various considerations would have to be taken into account in deciding upon the action to give effect to tpme of the proposals. ,