The Waikato Times With which is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1926. THE YEAR'S ACCOUNTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16811, 1 June 1926, Page 4

The Waikato Times With which is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1926. THE YEAR'S ACCOUNTS.

The statement which has recently appeared giving the position of the country's lluaneos is satisfactory as far as it goes. There was a surplus on the year's working of £1,155,679, which shows that the position of the State is perfectly safe, and also raises the question of whether reductions should not he made in taxation. For some years past the surplus of revenue over expenditure has been substantial, but the only remission of taxation has been that made to the wealthy few; that is, the highest rate of income lax has been somewhat reduced. Thcce can be no objection made to this; any reduction in taxation is good, but it is certainly the turn of the poorer members of the community who suffer from the high rate of Customs duties. Last year these Customs duties showed an increase of £814,488 over those of the previous year; and this sum is equal to about 12s 6d per head of population, which is heavy on a man with a family. Mr Coates might signalise his advent to office by a reduction of these duties, and by so doing he would give a desirable fillip to trade. The increase in Customs duties and in post and telegraph revenuo makes up the year's surplus, and the post office owes much of its success to a reduction in charges. It would bo worth trying to see whether the revenue might not bo as great or greater with reduced Customs duties, and certainly the public would be better off. On all sides there is the complaint that life in the town is more attractive than iu the country. The Census points the same moral. We have ~ot yet had the complete llgurcs. Auckland City shows an increase of Gll7—being now 57.829, and so far the metropolitan areas show an advance of some 23,000, while the rural areas showonly 7000 and the counti— towns about 8000. Customs duties protect town industries and draw 'lie population to the centres; the duties bear especially hard on dwellers in the country, who leave for town when they have the opportunity. For M icsc reasons the Government should frame their budfet, with a view to reduce the duties, which at the present time are making production and industry equally difficult. The financiers who made a reputation in the past worked on tlie principle that it was good to let money fructify in the pockets of the public. At the present time imports arc swollen by the motoring trade and its accessories which puts money into the coffers of the Stale. There is no reason why State funds should be swollen in addition by a duty on imported wheat. Such a duty is negligible to the rich man; it is the young man with a family who suffers, and it is difficult to see why he should be singled out for heavy taxation. It is not generally recognised that taxation is much heavier in New Zealand than in Australia or Canada. We are lower than in Britain, which is comprehensible when we remember that we leave the Mother Country to provide the defence of the Empire und to pay the debt to the United Stales, but it is hard to see why our taxation should be heavier than that of Australia or Canada and nearly double that of the United Stales. As long as taxes arc paid without complaint wc may be sure they will be collected, and the Government is in the happy position that I lie prelected industries call out for duties and thereby save lliem the odium Of proposing fresh taxation. The duties do not keep out Ihe goods, and when they arrive the Government collects the increased duties to the extent or £BOO,OOO more than the previous year. There should bo an exhaustive inquiry why government is such an expensive matter in illls country. A population of less than 1,500,000 spend £24,000,000 per

annum on their government, and it certainly seems an extravagant sum. It cannot bo said that our public services arc especially good. 11 used to be a boast that our trains wore Hie mosL punctual in the world, but that was when they were so slow as to remind us of Marie Twain's joke about taking the cow-catcher off the Iron, of the train and putting it on the back. Our post office is reasonably pood, but not. up lo pre-war standard, our roads leave very much to be

desired. We pay heavily for government, but, gel nothing special. We develop the country by means of money borrowed al Home. Tim annual loan is now offered on the London market at a somewhat higher rale of interest than was paid the year before. Interest on these loans has 10 be paid, and accordingly our bill for interest grows larger each year. If population were growing rapidly or if production were increasing fast, there would be justification for these loans, but in present circumstances they should be raised in the country. 11 is the succession of loans that enables a surplus lo bo shown each year, and until we cease lo borrow annually wc shall not know whether wo are actually paying our way or not. Politicians arc proverbially shortsighted; if they can sec their way for the current year they arc content. There should be some wider grasp of the country's condition. A Public Works loan each year should not be regarded as inevitable. Wc arc not even certain whether the railways wc build will ever pay; wc know thai some built in the past have never paid. If railways were the one form of transport wc must take the risk, but roads ofrer an alternative at a smaller cost. The first requisite is a reduction of taxation. We should then seriously enquire whether an annual loan is a necessity, and whether economies in State expenditure might not provide the funds required for opening up the country.