The Christchurch Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1929. A CONTRAST IN QUOTATIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18900, 26 October 1929, Page 8

The Christchurch Star. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1929. A CONTRAST IN QUOTATIONS.

A REFORM JOURNAL to-day, commenting on the Public Works Statement, says that “to read some of the Minister’s observations is to gather that the main purpose of his department is to provide occupation for the unemployed.” It supports this opinion by the following quotation from the Minister’s statement: — It is the Government’s desire to employ on the development of unsettled and unproductive lands under the provisions of the Land Laws Amendment Bill of this session many of the more experienced Public Works employees. By this means the way will be opened for employment on standard works of my department of more of the ordinary unemployed. “ In other words,” says this writer, “ the very men who are of the most value to the department, and the men that any ordinary employer w r ould strive to retain, are to be turned on to bushfelling and ditching and other pioneering work, and their places on the staff of the department are to be filled by drafts of unemployed.” Unfortunately for the writer he omitted from the middle of the Minister’s statement (without even indicating that there was an omission) a passage that would have demolished his own argument. What the Minister said was:— It is the Government’s desire to as far as possible employ on the development of unsettled and unproductive lands under the provisions of the Land Laws Amendment Bill of this session many of the more experienced Public Works employees who, by their long and faithful service, have shown that they possess many of the necessary qualities that go to make successful settlers, and it is hoped that they will avail themselves of the opportunities of obtaining farms that are being offered' under that legislation. By this means the way will be opened for employment on standard works of my department of more of the ordinary unemployed. The Reform critic evidently believes in a policy of “ once a Public Works labourer always a Public Works labourer,” overlooking the fact that the very men who are prepared to go out into the country and work at railheads and on road construction, living in small canvastown communities, and moving on with their wives and families under difficult conditions, are the very men who have shown that they are not to be caught by the current that is drifting townwards, but are, on the contrary, of the type that will make the most successful settlers on the unsettled and unproductive lands that are about to be broken in under the Liberal land policy. Indeed, the very fact that Public Works employment under this policy may lead to something more than an old age pension is in itself an encouragement to the unskilled town worker to offer his services for developmental work in the country. “ THE TIMES ” AND THE TAXATION BILL. THE LONDON “TIMES,” reviewing the Taxation Bill which has just passed the New Zealand House of Representatives, expresses the opinion that there is little question as to the soundness of Sir Joseph Ward’s call for increased taxation to meet the deficit. It goes further and sounds a warning that exemptions and special considerations cannot be allowed to encroach far without depriving the proposals of most of their value. This comment is extremely timely in view of the desperate efforts that the Reform Party has made to defeat the measure. No Government likes to increase taxation, and apart from the necessity, in accordance with the Liberal policy, of introducing legislation for the purpose of bursting up large estates, the Government was faced with the task of balancing the national accounts. Sir Joseph Ward put the matter fairly this week when he said that he had no option but to do his duty for the sake of New Zealand’s reputation. It is the merest propaganda to say that he is budgeting for a million surplus. \ He has had to face a very complex situation, considering the state of international finance, for his predecessors left him not only to meet a substantial deficit, but to provide for loan conversions that were a legacy of Reform extravagance. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. IN PILOTING the Taxation Bill through the long and bitter stonewall set up by the Reform opposition, the Hon G. W. Forbes did great credit to himself and to his parly. He was called on at the briefest notice, owing to the indisposition of Sir Joseph Ward, to take chai'ge, in the difficult Committee stage, of one of the most important Bills that have been considered by Parliament for many years, and by a rare combination of tact and ability he met every objection courteously, never losing his temper, and in a very real sense suffering fools gladly, and had the satisfaction of seeing the Bill passed after a debate lasting forty-nine hours, with a continuous barrage of challenge and inquiry. When it is considered that stonewalls are conducted by relays of men sleeping and speaking alternately, and that the Minister in charge of the Bill, so far from getting any rest, must be not only awake but wide awake throughout the sitting, Mr Forbes’s performance becomes a notable one. It emphasises, too, the strength of the Liberal Ministry. Mr Forbes, as Minister of Lands and Agriculture, dealt ably not only with the land settlement aspects of the Bill, in the principles of which he was naturally well grounded, but also with the financial side of the measure, which called for expert knowledge of no superficial order.