CORRESPONDENCE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Waipa Post, Volume 45, Issue 3253, 10 November 1932, Page 6

CORRESPONDENCE

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

TWENTY YEARS' PROGRESS?

Sir, —In 1910 the population of New Zealand was 1,002,679, by 1930 (twenty years later) it had risen to 1,488,595, an increase of 49 per cent. For the same period the public debt (increased from £71,778,580, or £72 13s 9d per head, to £207,383,343, or £179 12s 5d per head, an increase of | 148 per cent. Certainly loans for j war purposes accounted for over sev- | enty millions, but even allowing for j that the debt increased one hundred and twenty-five (over £6 000,000 a I year). Ordinarv revenue in 1910 ! ,was £9,238.917 and was found suffi- ! cient; by 1930 it had increased to £34,317,803, and was not enough, as the j Budget was not balanced. Expen- I diture increased from £8,990,922 (of which interest took £2,632 534) to £34.415,004 (£9,134,972 being for interest). Social services account for a very •considerable portion of increased cost. I For instance, income for hospital and charitable aid in 1910 from all sources was £391,880; by 1930 Government subsidies alone amounted to £732,456. Old age pensions received by 15„320 persons went from £362,490 to £1.107,993 paid to 26,909 persons. Education in 1910 cost £936 875; twenty years after it cost £4,058,222. Sir Ernest Benn, writing in the Empire Review, on over-mortgaged future, said: "The plain fact is that while we enjoy these things we fail to pay for them. Our grandchildren are already over-mortgaged by ouri extravagance. The growth of pub-' lie service, and the consequent wholesale d'stribution of pension rights, has created a liability for the future of which no account is taken and no calculation made. Within twenty years from now the cost of pensions of officials will exceed the cost of the public debt;." Annual appropriations in 1910 totalled £7973,277 or £7 9s per head of population. In 1930 the amount was £25.200,882 or £l6 18s 7d per head, an increase of 128 per cent. In 1910 exports were £21,944,163 and imports £16,748,223. By 1930 .exports were £49,058,817,. and imports £49,167,914. In 1910 exports showed a credit balance of £5,195,940, two and a-half millions more than the interest bill. 'ln 1930 there was a debit of £122,000. Is it any wonder that th© present Government finds it difficult to balance its Budget ? The same state of prodigality in idealing with public funds exists in local body finances. In 1910 their debt amounted to £14,937,685, or £l4 17s lid per head. By 1930 the debt had increased to £70,674,645, or £47 9s 6d per head, an increase of 206 per cent. ... Local bodies did not borrow for war purposes. Of course, allowances have to be made for increase of population and the change in money value, but allowing for this the cost of governing so few people seems to have increased in an alarming manner. T)he only conclusion is that we were Tinder-governed in 1910 or over-gov-erned in 1930. Whatever the cause, the time for a halt has arrived, and to are feeling the pinch to-such an extent as to cause widespread hardships, yet we have people clamouring for the squandering of public money to be continued. ' Under existing methods the Government seem almost powerless to do much, as witness the howl from certain sections of the people whenever a move to economise is made. To the Government's credit they at last see the danger, and are attempting to do something. ■ One thing seems certain and that is if a lialt is not called there can only be •on© end. Taxes have already reached the breaking point. Of course there is a solution, but We wont allow it to be nut into practice. Why? 'Simply because some'of us will be

submerged, overlooking the tact that if we carry on all will be.—l am, ec, J. SIDDELLS.

Wanganui

THE HONEY INDUSTRY. Sir, —The attack on the Honey Export Control Board by Mr Henry Geddes, which appeared in a recent issue of your paper, is so much in buna with the views of certain vested interests that one might be pardoned for questioning whether your correspondent comes within the category of a commercial honey producer. Mr Geddes might be inspired to write in a very different vein had he been pursuaded to attend any one of the meetings of honey producers held recently throughout New Zealand. At those meetings producers unanimously passed resolutions expressing complete confidence in the board and absolute satisfaction with the existing marketing arrangements. In his letter Mr Geddes states that the board "made it compulsory to export all honey through the New Zealand Co-operative Honey Producers'* Association. This is incorrect. That nearly all the honey exported went through the association was due to the voluntary act of the beekeepers themselves.

The writer during a recent visit to the United Kingdom took advantage of the opportunity to obtain first hand knowledge of the results of organised honey selling, and it may interest Mr Geddes to know that New Zealand honey is sold in more shops than any other New Zealand produce is. Prior to the formation of the Honey Export Control Board, the system of selling favoured by Mr Geddes was open to all, and agents and private firms had not found a single foreign market for New Zealand honey, but now, thanks to the Export Board, the sale of New Zealand honey is worldwide.

The abolition of the board would undoubtedly result in dealers and speculators obtaining control of established overseas trade.

Vested interests always operate by buyers as cheaply as possible, and turning over the goods at the greatest margin of profit to themselves. It is to their advantage to create selling competition among producers. The unpayable returns of beekeepers last season were-the direct result of the very selling methods prevailing on the local market which Mr Geddes now so strongly advocates for our export trade.

The- views of your correspondent coincide exactly with those expressed by outside interests which never showed any interest in honey until the produce, through their own organisation, established solid business connections abroad.—l am, etc. t WALLACE NELSON, President, South Auckland, branch, National Beekeepers' Association. Otorohanga.