The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1939 Gambling and Prosperity

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21531, 19 December 1939, Page 6

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1939 Gambling and Prosperity

IN his broadcast address on Sunday evening the Prime .Minister attempted to counter complaints against the high cost of living by declaring that the totalisator figures were going up all the lime. People, he added, seemed to be able to invest their money at the races after enjoying their standard of life. Mr Savage was right in stating that the totalisator figures are going up. Investments for the racing year ended duly 31, 1930, were £7,981,442, an increase of £780,000 on those for the previous year. There has also been a substantial advance in the first three months of the current year. Most people would scruple, however, to produce this as an argument establishing the fact that the people are in a secure financial position generally. The prosperity of a nation can hardly be judged by the volume of its gambling. The first fallacy in the argument is the assumption that people bet with money which is left over after they have met their ordinary commitments. Tradesmen would probably be able to give the Prime Minister disturbing information on that point. Another alternative reading of the totalisator figures is that people are being driven to the hopeless expedient of attempting to make money easily so that their income may keep pace with the rise in the cost of living.

No evidence beyond that provided in the Monthly Abstract of Statistics is needed to prove that the cost of living is rising. The average housewife knows this without being guided to knowledge by a Government publication, but to establish the fact beyond doubt figures must be quoted. For statistical purposes the average of prices in the chief food groups for 1926-30 are set at 1000. In October, 1938, the combined food groups stood at 988. In October of this year the figure was 1066—and all that, the housewife may add. Kent in October, 1938, was 870, but in October of this year it was 893. The price of clothing, drapery and footwear has increased, as well as miscellaneous items, the final result being that when all the cost of living groups are combined the figure for October of this year is 997, as against 953 in October, 1938.

There is another tale the Prime Minister refrained from telling because, no doubt, he thought his time at the microphone could be better employed castigating those resourceful persons who used school breaking-up ceremonies as an opportunity ‘•to get in subversive propaganda against the Government.” Surely the best indication of what the people have left over after enjoying their standard of life would be the savings bank deposits, not the volume of money passing through the totalisator. The total deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank for the first seven months of the current financial year were £14,924,386. In the same period last year the deposits amounted to £18,967,355. The excess of withdrawals over deposits for the first seven months of the 1938 39 financial year was £873,963. This year it is £4,303,619. The story told by these figures is self-evident and it can be modified on one point only: money was admittedly withdrawn from the Post Office earlier in the year for investment in the Government’s internal loan. This, however, does not affect the moral to be drawn from the declining deposit figures.

The most disturbing tendency exhibited in the Prime Minister’s latest address, and it has been evident as well in some of the others, is the Government's refusal to meet certain facts. No loss of face would be involved in the admission that times are not as good as they were. The Government’s whole programme has not gone according to schedule, and no harm would be done by a manly confession of failure at some points. A Government cannot hope to be victorious along the whole line. The gravest present danger is that the Government will become more and more prone to describe fair and legitimate criticism as “subversive propaganda.” This is a tawdry device and can only harm the reputation of the Government. Candour, surely, is an essential preliminary to complete co-operation.