The Waikato Times With which is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1922. THE SESSION

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15034, 4 September 1922, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1922. THE SESSION

This is the last session which the present House will enjoy, and it is celebrating the occasion by postponing the work as far as possible. There have been long purposeless debates on want-of-confldence motions, which led nowhere. The Budget has been debated at great length, but few ideas have made their appearance. Members have fastened on the fifty million of debentures at 4J per cent which carry no income tax, and have made the most of the injustice. At the time they were floated no protest was made in the House, although we pointed out that the proposal was essentially unfair. It is done, however, and the country must keep faith. Proposals to pay off the debentures are futile, because a much higher rate would have to he paid to induce holders to surrender.

1 When the proposal to float debentures free of income tax was first made, no one anticipated that any such exorbitant rate as 8s 9d in the £ would ever be charged, and that is the only defence which can be put forward for the action. Sir Joseph Ward was always nervous about the flotation of a loan, and conceived that his credit as Finance Minister was bound up with its success, and he, therefore, attached terms to it which are now found to work great injustice. If half the attention had been given to the matter at the time which it is attracting now, it would probably not have gone through. At present it forms one more illustration of the absolute inability of the politicians to realise what was likely to take place in the domain of economics. It must be admitted that the country

gets little assistance of any kind from the House. The members quarrel, and reproach each other with various shortcomings, mainly with justice. Each side is solely concerned in keeping or obtaining a hold on the machinery of administration. The. Government carries out a number of functions which are new, and many of them are generally held to be futile, if not mischievous. The control of prices has done more harm than good. The pretence of fixing the price of sugar is ludicrous, as there is only one source of supply, and their price must be paid. Moreover, before the Government stepped in between the Sugar Company and the public, the prices were more favourable than they were after control, while the Minister had to maintain a higher price for several months to cover his shortage. Sugar can certainly be made a method of collecting taxation, but if so the pretence of looking after the public interest shQuld be dropped. The House is engaged in the discussion of these matters, but members do not ascertain the facts with sufficient clearness to bring the matter home to the public. It is to be hoped that the contact with their constituencies which a general election brings about will convince them that a more businesslike procedure is expected.’ The question of the day is finance, and we shall be able to say the same thing for a good many years to come. Mr Massey has essayed to explain how he came to express one opinion in his Budget speech, and a directly opposite one at the Foxton banquet. It cannot be said that the explanation explains anything. He says he is looking at the matter from different points of view, and that although the revenue is dropping now, he anticipates that in a month or two it will rise again. It will certainly increase later in the year, because the Land Tax and Income Tax are then paid, but unless they produce more than last year there is nothing to jubilate over, and it is’not anticipated that they will produce as much. Mr Massey conceives it his duty to be optimistic, and it is good to be cheerful, but it is useless to prophesy smooth things for which there is no foundation. He refuses to believe that the present shortage of revenue will continue, and does not face the necessity of reducing the scale of government. Yet it is certain that this must be done. It is impossible for one million persons to find thirty millions of revenue in normal

times. If prices fall, the revenue will fall badly, for the producing . classes will have smaller incomes to tax. If on the other hand prices rise, it will be expected that substantial relief will be given in an Income Tax which is working havoc in the country. It is impossible that government can be maintained in its present manner, for incomes will shrink under the blight of taxation at its present height. Mr Massey says prices show signs of rising, which may be true, to some slight extent, but it is to be feared that he counts on this as warranting the continuance of present rates of taxation, and that would cancel the benefits that might arise from any such rise in prices as we may reasonably expect. The various new functions and departments which were brought into existence during the war should be scrapped, and we recommend the advocacy of this step to any member who may be considering methods of commending himself to the electors. Such economies as reduction in salaries do not approach the amounts required, and they arc in addition very unfair, for they fall with equal severity on the man who is doing good work, and on the man who is simply marking time in some uncalled for occupation. Ttie House has apparently no conception of the necessity of altering our methods. Such criticism as the Opposition make generally lakes the line of complaining that some further expenditure lias not been indulged in, or some other article taxed, while the Labour Party would do ail that Mr Massey does and carry it a little further. Politics are not taken seriously in Ibis country, and have hitherto been largely a matter of

the disposal of the Public Works Fund. The next few years will see a change in this respect, and those who would not Interest themselves from any public spirit will find themselves obliged to do so from sheer necessity.