The Tuapeka Times AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, Not Men." SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1912. THE REVENUE AND THE NATIONAL DEBT.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 5968, 10 August 1912, Page 2

The Tuapeka Times AND Goldfields Reporter & Advertiser "Measures, Not Men." SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1912. THE REVENUE AND THE NATIONAL DEBT.

Years ago, in the days when Sir Joseph Ward was king, wo expressed the (.pinion thai there wus little practical diiierenco between tin. 1 policy of the Government and that o 1 tho Opposition led by Mr Massey, The lion. J., Allen's Budget hixls support to this theory, declaring as it does, the poliey ot the present (joxcrmnciH. When thu Upposition i'ress declaimed ugahjst the extravagance of the Ward Government, and its proneness t* levy new taxes, wo always maintained that there was no escaping the bjcreased cost ol Government, because pressure of public opinion would always force the Goveruau'ut to extend its functions, and we predict, d that wlicn, in th« fulno&s of time, a Massey Government look ikarg,. of tho country, it would ha\e In do the very things its supporters wciO| condenmiug. Thus borrowing was condemned, yot tho Minister of Finance iinds himself constrained to a- v for authority to raise a new loan of £1:750,000. Many, a time were Mr Seddon and Sir Joseph Ward criticised for undor-ostimotini; the revenue with a view to increasing the apparent surplus. Though the revenue has b»ca increasing regularly lor many years Mr Allen thinks ha is justified in sotting down a less revenue for next financial, year than has Imn raised during the year just elapsed. According to his compntatioit the present revenue is £11,032,5-11, an increase over tho estimate of' £603 534, For noxt year ho reckons onlv ClO,1)48,101 can be raißed, though, still borrowing tho precedent of the luto Continuous Ministry, he proposes another turn of the land-tax screw, on large landowners We aw at a loss to conceive what reasons warrant such a peseimistio viow of the progress of the Dominion undet ihejproh-

able rule oi a Bcfonn Government. Why does the Minister o! Finance think oU» revenue will docre»-e by no less, a sum than £84,110'.' He estimates that Customs will hr short by £7i»,012, Stamps bv CH.:N-. li.tristration' and other fees bv C 13.330, and other items of revenue liy smaller suns, including £2051 lc~- r-nts from tho national endowment land-. Tim only items in which Mr AM.--n admits a probability of increa.-.> are Railway*, I'ost and Teh-graph. Land i Tax and Income Tax. He even esti- ! mates the Beer Duty will decrease a little. Now, no Minister of Finance, for a long time; in presenting his. a »- nual financial statement, has ever admitted the possibility of an u l 'tual decrease* in the revenue. Yet they i have always been prudent enough to under-eatimate considerably the actual increase, for doing which they have been keenly criticised by the Press which supportß the party of the Present Minister of Finance. lie has betteied the prudential precepts of his predecessors. We shall see how ho is eriticised, a nd thus learn how much genuineness there was in former criticisms. Another point in which Mr Allen justifies the contentions of his predecessors in office in hia estimate of the reproductive investments for which loans have been raised. He gives the _gross debt as £b-l,: J >.">'.s,t)l'.l, but acknowledges the following amounts to bo self-supporting : Kailways £26,154,970, purchase of Native lands £2/715,217, purchase of lands for settlements, £6,313,638. Total of Belf-supporting loans, £35,188,825. Moreover, he classifies the following amounts as revenue produrin; : Telegraph «nd telephone lines, £1,601,767, loans to local bodies £3,507,000, Reserve Fund securities £BOO.OOO. Total revenue producing investments, £vv 908/1& I. Finally, proceeding in the same reassuring way, he actually state* that £9,703,815 bring in more income than is paid out for interest. These transcendently profitable loam were raised for purchasing Dank of New Zealand shar»s, and for advances to settlers and workers. Now, the full total of these invested funds amount* to £50,801,407, leaving only £33,552,506, of which the interest has to be provided by taxation and which, therefore, should 1>; considered as the real national debt. Has there ever been published a better justification of the financial policy- of the Liberal Party than this report oi his investigations by a leading political opponent ?

A «DUNCIL OF EDUCATION. The Education Commission ha> prepared and presented its report with commendable celerity, but, the recommendations contained therein seem t» argue )hasty digestion of evidence, that is, if relianeo is to be placed on the imperfect summaries published by the daily iPres3. Some i>[ the Commission probably had their sands made up before the sittings commenced, and they have used the evidence only so far as it tended to oonfinn their preconceived theories. For example, the brilliant idea of a Council of Education can easily be traced to itß origin, without takim. note of any ofythe evidence offered to the Commission. If the end sought is the furtherance -f efficient administration a Council elected bv .m<?an3 of the familiar device of postal voting is not likely to secure it. We are told that there are to be elected to this council two representatives of the producing interests, one ropresen- . tative of the inspectors, five representatives of education boards two representatives of primary school - teachers, and one representative 0 f the iUwversity senate. There is a Pftty hotch-potch of learned pundita_ And what are the producingi„ .wnet* doing appag them f JRjy are

I (hu manufacturing and distributing in!crests unrepresented ? And where, art.' Religion and Labour '! Do not- the churches and fche' Labour Unions take a- much interest in educational questions as the Farmers' Union '.' What arc to be the duties of this remarkable dozen of remarkablo persons sifted from the common clav by -a sieve full of gaps '! To go twice a year to Wellington to advise three ollicials, to wit, a Minister »f Educai'mn, a

Director of Education, uu d a Supervisor of Technical Education. During the remainder of the yar, presumably, it is anticipated" that these High Councillors will be diligently collecting information and the oi the people they are supposed to represent. Otherwise what is the use of having- them elected as representatives ? And the Commission, with the exception oi Mr Pirani, affects to believe that representative men will d 0 this work efficiently without pay. Hut. if thj Council is set up, everybody knows its elective and honorary members will have other matters to occupy their spare time, and their advice will be simply their own opinions based on information gathered haphazard. Their election by small sections of apathetic ami uninterested voters will not makr their aavice one jot more valuable than that of llu man in the street. The floating opinions of mankind on education can be easily and cheaply obtained by the chiefs of tho Education Department through the medium of the daily papers and the favourite device of circulars. W§ cannot find anv grounds for supposing that the administration will be rendered any !iiore_ efficient than it is at present by giving three permanent officials ten amateur advisers to' converse with. The proposed Council of Education seems to be mcrelv a device for giving ten busy little local men 1 unother little public- perch upon which to hop and preen their feathers for more ambitious flights.