NEW ZEALAND’S FINANCES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19008, 8 May 1924, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND’S FINANCES

LABOUR MEMBERS’ DEMAND TO BE TOLD EXACT POSITION. (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, May 6. The Canterbury Labour members have sent a letter to Mr Massey claiming that the public should be told at the earliest opportunity the exact position in connection with public finances, calling attention to the fact that the Hon. P. Snowden last month presented an eight hundred million Budget, and a surplus fqr the year ended March, and that while the revenue and expenditure figures are available for England in April, the New Zealand Statistician is prevented from publishing the January,, February and March figures until the Finance Minister chooses to declare the surplus for the year. They declare that there is likely to be a three million surplus, and urge that two millions should be paid to public servants to restore the pre-war standard of wages.

THE PREMIER REPLIES. LABOUR MEMBERS BARKING UP WRONG TREE. SOME STRAIGHT TALK. WELLINGTON, May 6. Referring to a telegram from Christchurch Members of Parliament, which he presumed appeared in the evening papers of yesterday, and which was in print before a copy reached him, Mr. Massey said: “It compares the date upon which the informatinon with regard to the public accounts is supplied in New Zealand with ihe date upon which similar information is supplied in England, but the two cases are not parallel, because in Great Britain cash is received and issued out of the Exchequer to various departments. On March 31 a balance is struck between reciepts and issues. This is regarded as a surplus or deficiency, as the case may be. In New Zealand all expenditure is made through the Treasury. To account properly for this expenditure it is necessary to clear all imprest vouchers received up to March 31 before separate votes can be charged. In addition, all revenue received into the public account at the bank at Wellington must be correctly credited, as various cash accounts are obtained from receivers throughout the Dominion. Consequently, it is a matter of several weeks before the Treasury can strike a balance. Cash in the bank at the end of March affords no criterion of the state of the revenue account, as the balance of the public account is made up of Public Works moneys and other loan funds, besides revenue. In the United Kingdom departments are allowed from ten to twelve months to complete their accounts, have them audited and presented to Parliament. In New Zealand, on the other hand, abstracts of receipts and expenditure for the year must be audited by May 14 and then gazetted. This, together with the appropriation account must be presented to Parliament, if then sitting, or, if not sitting, then within ten days of the next ensuing session. Details of revenue and expenditure are audited and presented to Parliament as soon as practicable. Law in this respect has been strictly complied with. There has been no suppression. The usual course is being followed. So far as information with regard to the financial position is concerned, I have already published figures of imports and exports for the last financial year, whilst the facts with regard to the revenue and expenditure of the larger departments have also been published, I presume, in every newspaper in New Zealand. I have also indicated that the surplus would be satisfactory and substantial. As the members who signed the telegram are absolutely wrong in their premises, so they are very far from correct in their deductions, which I am afraid they will not apologise for, or withdraw. As for the suggested surplus of ‘well over three millions,’ using the words of the telegram, I ant sorry that such is not the case, but it is a surplus which will satisfy the public, as it will be found to be the result of the industry of the people and strict economy on the part of Treasury and financial departments. To satisfy my friends,, and show them that it is not well to jump at conclusions, I may say that the surplus will be well under two millions. Only yesterdJV, in dictating an article which is intended to be made public in a journal well known to certain sections of New Zealanders, I intimated that within a few days I would be able to give the exact amount of the surplus and other particulars in connection with Public Accounts. If my friends will read the Public Revenues Act, they will find that I have still eight days to go. In their statement that without increasing taxation a single penny-piece the Government could meet the demands of the Public Servants, Messrs McCombs and Co. have again fallen into serious error. To meet the demands that have been made by the different departments (it goes without saying that an increase to one department means an increase to all others), it would have been necessary not only to refrain from reducing taxation during the coming session, but also to increase it by a considerable amount. Having after a long struggle got tho finances of the Dominion back to a satisfactory position, I am not inclined to take any such risks. I know exactly what a suggestion such as has been made to me would mean if given effect to another depression with very serious unemployment all over the country, because money that under ordinary circumstances is spent in employing labour would have to be handed over to the collector of revenue. I wish I could make the Labour members for Christchurch understand that all taxation levied upon industry affects wage-earners more seriously than any other section of the community. It is scarcely necessary for me to quote figures with regard to the wages paid to railwaymen, I should like to see every other worker in New Zealand paid as well as they are, but unfortunately it is not possible to do it. There was a table published in a Christchurch paper on 23 ulitmo, which must have been a revelation I to anyone who chose to read it, and which has caused somewhat serious dissatisfaction among workers em- | ployed in other industries, especially |in country districts. It is absolutely

nonsense to say that this Government has thrown the workers back to the position they occupied over thirty years ago. Genuine workers have admitted to me repeatedly that they were never so well off as since the present Government came into office. Salaries were increased to employers of the State in the first year after our taking office. During the war period bonuses were several times arranged for until the wai- came to an end, when it was calculated that the average wages had risen in the combined New Zealand services from £162 per annum in 1913 to £246 in 1923. This includes juniors and female employees, but excludes message boys. I hope my friends will be satisfied with the information which I have supplied. If not. Parliament will soon meet. They can then get all they want. ”