FINANCES OF N.Z. ARE SCRUTINISED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18544, 18 August 1928, Page 1

FINANCES OF N.Z. ARE SCRUTINISED.

PARLIAMENT TO-DAY IS BOARD OF DIRECTORS. (Written for the “ Star ” by E. J. Howard, M.P.) "Once more we must call to mind the initial fact," says our historian, " that the State was. in its origin, a military organisation. For many years after its establishment, it consisted of a comparatively small body of warriors and officials, under the headship of a king, controlling by force a much larger mass of people who inhabited a definite territory.” From the days of “ Merrie England,” when Hodge planted his rotation crops, put in his one or two days’ work fQr the lord of the manor, until to-day, when the State official enters at every door, and even the very air we breathe iis under some control, seems a long way, and yet back to the industrial revolution is but a small span. The King's highway is. no longer kept in repair so that his Majesty can move his troops from point to point. The King’s highway to-day consists of wellmade roads so that the farmer can more quickly move his produce from farm to market. Who thinks of troops to-day when they think of good roads? Poising the Money. Parliament has also altered. Parliament at one time was a place where a few peopje had to come together to see how they could raise money for the King. Taxes are levied to-day in the name of the King, but the King is on a fixed salary, and has even had that salary raised on account of the depreciation of money. Parliament to-day is a board of directors. In New Zealand the company known as New Zealand Unlimited is controlled by a board of eighty members, eighty ordinary men drawn from all ranks and all professions. We have doctors, lawyers, farmers, painters, engine-drivers, a seaman, a journalist and other trades and callings represented in the House we call Parliament. We have four members of the Native race who also watch the interests of those 40,000 people. Parliament deals with all sorts of questions, from the repair of children's teeth to the making out of a will and administering 3'our estate when you “go west.” It takes from 1.250,000 people something over £25,000,000 in one form and another, and it expends this huge amount in many ways. There are thousands of people who try from time to time to dip their hands into the purse that contains this money. So, then, eighty men have been studying the balance-sheet of this very successful young company called N.Z. Unlimited. For a week they have sat day after day, night after night, and dug and delved into every avenue of income and expenditure. There is a tendency on the part of a few young journalists in the reporters’ gallery to decry Parliament and its debates. "Exceedingly dull week,” says one writer”; “Drowsy day,” writes another; but to those who take life seriously, and to those who want to know just where this young country stands financially, there is no better book published than what is described as Hansard Reports for 1928. Looking back over nine years, there has never been a more clear and a more thorough examination of our national affairs than has taken place this year. In Opposition.

There are, of course, a number of handicaps for any member in opposition. Especially does this apply to the Leader of the Opposition. Until the House meets at half-past tM*o in the afternoon, no one knows just what business is coming on. Say, for instance, the Minister of Lands presents his report on lands. No one knows what is in that report, but the Leader of the Opposition must be ready at once to jump to his feet and intelligently discuss the land problem. The Leader of the Opposition is as hardworked a man as any Minister, perhaps harder, but he gets none of the privileges of a Minister of the Crown. The Minister of Finance has the most expert brains at his command in the preparation of his budget, experts on finance, on banking, and even on political economy. And the Leader of the Opposition is expected, after a few hours’ swot cf that Budget, to get up and analyse its every detail. The Leader of the Opposition gets an ordinary member's pay, and he is doing as hard, if not harder, work than any man in the House. And, so last week was spent in studying and criticising the way the money has been spent. The Members’ Job.

This company called N.Z. Unlimited deals with shipping, with railways, with radio, with aeroplanes, with insurance, with fishing, -with mining, with the posts and telegraphs, with a thousand and one things that the State a few years ago did not touch. Every member is supposed to have soma knowledge of the land, the soil, the mountains and even the waters surrounding New Zealand. He must know scms» thing of irrigation and transportation He must know something about tit working of a railway and the flying cf an aeroplane. He must know the rea« son why the petrol car can compete so successfully with our State railways.

“A Good Sign.” There were thousands of good generals who never left the street corner of their home town during the war. There are thousands of people who look upon Parliament with pitying <&ntempt and feel they could do the job much better than the crowd now in Parliament, and perhaps they could. •There is not an editor who uses the mighty “We” but what knows he could do the job better than the whole bang eighty members. That is a good sign. It is a sign of progress, but don’t let anyone think that it is an easy job. To a certain extentTt is a laacLAting job, but those who think they can drop their editorial pens and come to Parliament for a spell are making the mistake of their lives. The past week in Parliament has been a most useful week.