REDUCED STATE EXPENDITURE OF THE DOMINION.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19375, 27 December 1932, Page 11

REDUCED STATE EXPENDITURE OF THE DOMINION.

To the Editor of “ The Tlmaru Herald." Sir—Trusting you will grant space in your widely-circulated and popular paper, for a few remarks concerning the position of the country and the possible remedy, will not be amiss at this juncture. The minds of politicians and others are exercised in finding a way of helping the ruined primary producer, and are suggesting ways and means of providing him with necessary finance. Drastic action to lighten his burden of abnormally heavy costs, and not heap more responsibility upon him is what is required, as money lent has to be paid for, and if prices were at present to rise 100 per cent., it might enable the producer to pay his current way, but not relieve him of the burden of unpaid interest. Compared with the primary producer, the salaried individual is in a luxurious position, as the former is now dependent on the goodwill of the mortgagee or stock company for his daily bread. Compare this with the desirable salaries of Ministers of the Crown, and lesser Members of the House, and it must be admitted the distribution of the essential is very unfair, and I am of opinion that to save New Zealand, and resume a sound and steady basis of business, a 50 per cent, cut in State administration is very necessary. The Government leads the way, and when the State acts in this direction, artisans, tradesmen, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, will fall into line, or go out. of business. The Government' will not provide money for more than the fifty-fifty basis, and the traffic jam will begin to extricate itself, and business move along. It is better to do this than have the position forced on us in a few months' time, for the heavy and cumbersome structure of State administration cannot for long be secure on its weak and tottering supports, and the obvious remedy is to lopp off part of the structure. Mr Forbes and Mr Coates may be likened to two ostriches, who hide their heads during a sandstorm, trusting it will blow over, leaving them unhurt. Before Christmas they dug in. and sometime in January will have a look out, and if the storm has not abated, call their army together and run around putting temporary props to their swaying structure.—l am, etc., TIN TACK. THE SITUATION IN EUROPE. To the Editor of “ The Tlmaru Herald.” Sir, —I started this correspondence with the object of pointing out to your readers that the situation in Europe at present is anything but cheerful; and that there is a distinct danger of war in the near future. Others joined in the correspondence, among them, Mr Carr. As the orjg- : mator of this controversy, I take | strong exception to the attitude adopted by Mt C,*.rr. Everybody has a wrong opisviiv, Gut himself, and yet,

with all his bookleaming he does not advance one valid reason for his contention that, was must do. At the same time, he, quite unconcernedly rules me out of the discussion. But, I will let that stand for what it is worth. Now in one part of his letter to you Mr Carr addressing “Touchstone” says: “Have you never read, ‘Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you.’ ” Sir, I will admit that the above text is quite an admirable lesson for a Sunday School class, but, what in the name of goodness would be the use of quoting that text, if your enemy came at you with a loaded machine gun or a few gas bombs. Can you imagine the result, if the Belgians had adopted that attitude in 1914, at the time of the German invasion. There is one other item in Mr Carr’s letter to you on the above subject, that I consider most remarkable, it reads as follows. “Is ‘Touchstone’ for peace or war? If for war. he will find few to support him to-day, though he may do his damndest to stir up international hatred and strife. As duelling has gone, war must go. Human nature does change for the better,' That statement coupled with the Bible text quoted above, reads to me as so much cheap propaganda. It cannot, by any stretch of imagination be called an opinion on the present situation. It certainly is one thing to say war must go, but it is quite another thing, to tell us how that can be done. Perhaps Mr Carr would oblige me by telling me. how it can be done. And as for his human nature stuff, I can only surmise that Mr Carr must go about with his eyes shut. The friendliness, and gqpdfellowship of forty years ago are absolutely dead. The world and its people are getting more selfish as the years go on. But to get back to the subject. Mr Carr absolutely ridicules the idea of any danger of war, and to back up his opinion which strictly speaking is not an opinion at all, he quotes part of the Bible, and for the rest he asks you to take note of what Mr so and so has said on the subject. Unfortunately for Ml - Carr, the opinions of the men he quotes dre out , f date, and can have no practical bearing on the present day situation. Since I started this correspondence, the Press Association has at different times, sent us news of what three of the ablest British statesmen think of the situation. Mr Stanley. Baldwin, a former Prime Minister of England, Issues a warning of the danger of another war, in the near future. He states quite frankly, that England is absolutely unprepared to repel an air attack. Mr Churchill also issues a warning on somewhat similar lines. And Mr Lloyd George, in a speech in London, said that, “war organisations are now more powerful and potent than ever they were, nobody wanted war, but that did not mean that there would be no war." And a little later on, Mr Lloyd George said: ‘‘The German's feel quite frankly that they have been deceived, cheated, and that there was no greater peril for the peace of the world than a people who were justly angry at their treatment.” Sir, what I have quoted above, is, I take it, the honest opinion of men, who, as a rule know what they are talking about. And although I am in every way sorry that war seems inevitable, because it will mean extermination of millions of innocent people; at the same time, I am satisfied that I struck the right note when I stated or rather gave you my opinion on the situation in Europe. In a recent issue of your journal, “Touchstone” suggested the policy of keeping Germany utterly crushed—financially, militarily and socially—as the only safeguard for a European peace. Now that idea may be alright in theory, but honestly, I do not believe it would work out satisfactorily in practice. There are still some of the old military party’s officers willing to lead. There are millions of young men eager and willing to be led and to fight for their Fatherland. Just combine that with the resourcefulness, and the up-to-dateness of Germany to-day, and it must be quite evident, that to keep Germany down as suggested by "Touchstone,” would be a superhuman task. Personally, I am of the opinion that nothing short of control of the atom can prevent war in the near future. The scientists have told us, that the country that first finds out how to control and utilise the atom, will be able to dictate to the rest of the world. Already we know that science has made great strides in that direction, and any day now, ws may learn that our scientists have achieved their object. I cannot finish this contribution without thanking you for the valuable space accorded me, and for the courtesy you have at all times shown to me which, needless to say I appreciate very highly. Wishing you and your staff the compliments of the season.—l am, etc., W. N. CLAUSEN. Timaru, December 23.