The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1914. FINANCIAL CRITICISMS EXAMINED.

Timaru Herald, Volume CI, Issue 15502, 12 November 1914, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1914. FINANCIAL CRITICISMS EXAMINED.

Probably there is no aspect of politics the discussion of 'which does so much to confuse and so little to enlighten the public .".6 the discussion of finance. It hfis been said that "nothing lies Hire statistics," and the figures quoted by politicians on both sides of the House, comparing the financial record of the Government with that of its predecessors, differ jo much, that the plain man must often think it hopeless to decide where the truth lies. Whatever story they appear to tell the figures are correct, in most cases, but a great deal depends on !-ow the figures are selected. Th.3 "Official Year Book," which can be purchased for a shilling, gives most of the figures on which politicians and political candidates build their various cases, and the information "which it does not supply can be found in the "Monthly Abstract of Statistics,"' which is now issued every month by the Government Statistician. But in quoting figures from both these sources, for the purpose ot comparing the finances of the present Government with those o? their opponents, candidates .ire very apt to forget a simple point. The Reform Government did not come into office at the begina.ag of the financial year 1912-13. It came into office on July 10, 1912, and for three months prior to that date the control of expenditure and borrowing- was in the hands of the Mackenzie Government. When it is stated, therefore, by arc Opposition candidate—as they all do state—that in two years, 1912-1914, the public debt was increased, positively or inferentially by the Reform Government, to the amount of over nine mil - lion pounds, it should be remembered" that this period includes the term in which the Mackenzie Government raised a loan of 4A- million pounds. Opposition candidates commonly discuss the finances as if no Mackenzie Government ever existed, but it is not fair that either their borrowing or their expenditure - should be made to swell the totals of the present. Government. The Opposition candidate for Oamaru, Mr j to have gone I still further back in his anxiil.y jto make a case against the Government. He is reported to have stated that in 1911 the gr :ss national debt was ,£81,078,000 and in 1914 it. had risen to £99,730,000, an increase of over eighteen millions. • These figures are correct, but twelve months after the date on which the gross debt stood |at 81 millions the Reform GoI vernment had not come into office. What then has been »the actual record of the Reform Government? All that the Year Book shows, beyond dispute, is that for the year ended 31st March last the net public debt was increased by £4,232,000. That sum may be accounted large, but it is smaller than the additions made to the debt by Sir Joseph Ward in either 1909 or 1911, which were, according to the same authority, £4,274,000 and £5,936,000 respectively. Mr Anstey's statement that "the most the Liberal Government ever borrowed in one year was 3£ millions," leaves us wondering where he got his figures. The official —and non-political—statistics tell a different tale.

Tlie fact is that the Government have increased the public debt, but they have not increased it at the same rate as their forerunners. It stands to their credit also that their loans have, been raised on better terms than the last loans of their predecessors, Expenditure aLso lias' continued to increase, as it must do in n

growing country, and it- is true that, between the years 1911-12 and 1913-14, the increase s of expenditure was £316,000 more than the increase of revenue. That increase for two years, however, does not present much of a case for the Opposition, since between the years 1907-8 and 1909-10 Liberal finances, as shown by the same statistics, went back to the amount of £602,029. The Opposition candidates are glad to quote the figures which show that, in the two years 1912 to 1914, taxation was increased per head to the amount of 6s 2d, but they say nothing of the two years preceding, when it was increased by the Liberal Government to the amount of 18s 4d. No Customs duties have been increased by the present Administration, though the amount of Customs revenue has increased, naturally, with the increase of importations. Opposition candidates quote the fact that a balance of £807,000 stood to the credit of the Consolidated -Fund three months before the Govei'nment assumed office, but they seldom state the condition of the Fund when it came into office, or refer to the much worse conditions of the Public Works and Advances Funds, which made itb real anxiety at that time. There is no doubt that in many respects the Government has strengthened the finances, and if it has failed actually to reduce borrowing and expenditure, it has had a quite abnormal period to deal with, and the money raised by it has been well spent. The smallpox epidemic, the national strike, and the war have all caused exceptional expenditure, ' pension schemes have been extended, wages have been increased in many public departments, and Advances to Workers and Settlers have also been increased. The best evidence of the efficient way in. which the finances have been managed by the Government is afforded by the fact that though the Empire has been at war for three months there is little unemployment in New Zealand, and the financial effects of war have scarcely yet been felt by the community. .