The Waipawa Mail WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1920. POLITICAL TOPICS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8362, 28 July 1920, Page 2

The Waipawa Mail WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1920. POLITICAL TOPICS.

The post and -telegraph i ncreases just announced will no doubt make the general public “sit up and take notice.” When the previous increases were ujade they were regarded as absolutely necessary as ft war measure. Now what is practically another all-round 50 per cent, rise is announced as a peace measure. It is a far cry to the universal penny postage and sixpenny telegram brought about by Sir Joseph Ward. But those were the days of Democracy. If the people will have luxuries like Reform rule they must be prepared to pay for them.

One of the most absurd proposals in the revised charges is the raising of the fee for the privilege of using a Post Office box from £1 to £1 10s. These boxes are certainly a convenience, but are not indispensable, as the postal authorities will probably find, with the result that the revenue will be lost and the work of the lettercarriers will be increased. We candidly admit that the subtlety of«this financial juggle is too deep for us to fathom.

To come down to brass tacks, as the Americans have it, the Government have now joined the merry throng which keeps the vicious circle of rise in wages and rise in prices going so consistently. The increased post and telegraph taxation will eventually come back on to the wageearner, who will naturally want to know what the employers are going to do about it. One would he a fool to attempt to prophesy what will be the end of it.

The one outstanding feature of the Budget, delivered in the House last night by the Hon. W. F. Massey, Minister of Finance, is the announcement of the intention to raise loans of £24,000,000. Of this sum £14,000,000 represents new money, and the balance is for the renewal of the £lO,000,000 war loan falling due in September. It is pleasing’-to see that £3,650,000 of the loan is allocated for public works and the development of hydro-electricity. It is no use preaching increased production unless steps are taken to provide cheap power. Let us hope that the new Minister for Public Works, with ample funds at his command, will stir up his department into unheard of activity.

Mr Massey, in his concluding notes, once more emphasises the necessity for economy, both in private and public matters, and point is given to his reference by the figures published in the Budget of the tax which the Government derived from the use of the totalisator. The revenue from this source last year amounted to no less than £413,653, very nearly double the amount derived from the tax in 1918-19. It does not seem that the call to practice thrift has yet been heard by thousands of people in the Dominion.