BURDEN OF TAXATION

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19523, 24 June 1933, Page 6

BURDEN OF TAXATION

NEARING SAFE LIMITS. Special to ** The Herald ” WELLINGTON, June 23. At the annual meeting of shareholders of the Bank of New Zealand, Sir George Elliot said that taxation was nearing its limit; any increase may have a disastrous effect on the public purse. To attain a balanced budget there remained the unpleasant duty of cutting down public expenditure. "Our particular trouble has been, and perhaps still is, that we have not sufficiently realised that New Zealand is a small country with a relatively tiny population, and we'have followed in the footsteps of larger and more populous countries in setting up departments of State that are in our circumstances unjustifiable. Several of such departments brought into being during the past twenty years might well be amalgamated, and others abolished, notwithstanding the good work they are doing, simply because we cannot afford the cost, nor does the present population warrant their retention.

“No pleasant dreams of the visionary of fanciful forms of currency, of inflation, or reflation, will lead New Zealand, or any other country, into the Utopia so glibly promised by theoretical exponents. “The present British banking and currency systems may not be perfect, but they have been gradually evolved by succeeding generations of practical men to meet the intricacies of trade and finance, and they have undoubtedly had their part in the making of London the financial centre of the world.

“Until in the cycle of events good times come again, let us follow the high road of old-established methods, never forgetting the value of hard work and of living within our means.”