The Wanganui Chronicle. “NULLA DIES SINE LINEA.” TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1924. “THE MOST RECKLESS PUBLIC MAN”

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXI, Issue 19033, 10 June 1924, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. “NULLA DIES SINE LINEA.” TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 1924. “THE MOST RECKLESS PUBLIC MAN”

When a mere politician sets out to discredit a statesman he is obviously handicapped, and there can bo no question as to the heaviness of Mr. Wilford’s handicap When he ventures to cross swords with Mr. Massey. The pre-sessional platform campaign of the spokesman of the Liberal-Labour party has been anything but impressive. Indeed, it may be said to have approximated very closely to a complete washout. None of the orators appear to have been taken very seriously by their audiences, and one of them had a particularly unenviable experience at Napier. Mr. Wilford, in the role of leader, has fared no better than his subordinates in so far as the utter failure to "rouse the country” is concerned. That the country has not been the least bit disturbed by the Wilfordian fireworks is not surprising, if for no other reason than that his most spectacular rockets have turned out to bo "duds.” For instance, in

one of his most recent utterances he declared that 4 4 the Prime Minister is the most reckless public man that one has ever known in regard to statements dealing with public finance.’’ He gave three illustrations of this recklessness: that during 1922, the public debt was reduced by £1,324,000, whereas the actual figure was £lOl,061; that the dead-weight debt was £74 millions, whereas the Year Book shows it to be £lO5 millions; that the capital cost of the railways was £46 millions, whereas it was £4O millions. Mr. Wilford has now given the references for these statements—speeches made by Mr.* Massey in Wellington and Christchurch last February. But as the N.Z. Herald promptly noted, he did not explain, either in Auckland or in Hamilton, that in each case the figures referred to different aspects of the same facts, nor that in his speeches Mr. Massey clearly explained what his figures meant. The figure quoted by Mr. Wilford as the reduction in the debt £101,061 is correct; it represents the actual reduction in the gross amount of the public debt, and was given explicitly in the last Budget. The greater figure is also correct; it refers to the net amount of debt, allowing for sinking funds. Mr. Massey explained that at Christchurch: ‘ ‘ The net decrease in the debt in 1922-23 was £101,061 and the increase in the sinking fund £1,223,862, making a total reduction of £1,324,923.” The Year Book shows the unproductive debt as £105,281,408, the figure quoted by Mr. Wilford to prove Mr. Massey reckless in saying the dead-weight debt was £74 millions. In his Christchurch speech Mr. Massey said: 1 ‘The gross debt is £218,953,324. . . i Against the gross debt there were on March 31 (1923) interest bearing assets amounting to £144,000,000, leaving £74,000,000 of the debt not covered by assets of this description.” Mr. Wilford quotes the amount of debt which does not produce any revenue: Mr. Massey presents a balance-sheet, showing the excess of liabilities over revenue - producing assets. Among these assets he includes railways, £46,400,000, the total expenditure, whereas Mr. Wilford quoted only the cost of lines operated by the Railways Department. Mr. Massey presented accurate figures, and stated definitely what they meant. Anyone who has been in Parliament as long as Mr. Wilford should have recognised immediately the figures quoted as the net amount of national debt and £46,000,000 as the total expenditure on railways. But there was no room for doubt as to Mr. Massey’s meaning. On his own showing Mr. Wilford had before him reports of both the Wellington and the Christchurch speeches. He selected certain figures, deliberately clothed them with a misleading interpretation, and presented the result as statements by Mr. Massey. No wonder our Auckland contemporary regards it as obvious that we must look beyond Mr. Massey to find “the most reckless public man” in dealing with financial matters.