DOMINION’S DEBT.

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17995, 14 April 1930, Page 7

DOMINION’S DEBT.

ITS GROWTH. FROM 1914 to 1922. SOME INFORMATIVE FIGURES. (Taxpayers’ Federation.) The magnitude of the public debt is sufficient in itself to keep the people of the Dominion thinking very seriously of their -obligations. There is, however, no need to suggest, as some pessimists are doing, that these obligations are seriously impairing the credit of the country and prejudicing its standing in the world of finance. Some of the critics, telling only half the story, never weary of reiterating the fact that- on March 31, 1914, the gross debt -of the Dominion stood at £99,730,427 (including £4,976,000 raised in March of that year for redemption purposes early in the succeeding financial year), and the further fact that on March 31, 1929, it stood at £264,191,983 (including £5,379,105 raised in January, 1929, for expenditure in 1929-30). Curiously enough these two financial years, 1914 and 1930, are the only years in _ which loans have been held over in this fashion, and it is desirable their significance should be kept in mind. In 1914 Hie volume of the public debt (£94,753,827) represented the following accumulated expenditure — Directly reproductive undertakings (railways, telegraphs and so forth), £31,856,074; investments (advances to settlers, workers, local bodies), £30,352,131; indirectly productive (roads, bridges, immigration), £11,494,204; and unproductive (public buildings, Maori war, defence), £21,051,418. The. expenditure under these headings per cent is expressed in the following figures: — Per cent. Reproductive expenditure 33.62 Investments 32.03 Indirectly productive ... 12.13 Unproductive • 22.22

On March 31, 1929, the gross public debt was shown under somewhat different titles by the following figures Productive work, £77,466,438; land settlement and forests, £24,338,729; investments, £39,333,474; indirectly productive purposes, £25,005,501; and financially unproductive purposes, £92,668,736. The expenditure under these headings in classified as follows: Per cent. Productive works 29.93 Land settlement and forests . . 9.-40 Investments 15.20

Indirectly productive purposes 9.66 Financially unproductive 35.81

Unproductive Expenditure. Of the unproductive expenditure of £92,668,736 no less than £70,881,270 is a heritage from the Great War. But for this enormous drain upon the resources of the Dominion the amount of unproductive debt, in 1929 would have been less than 12 per cent., or, in proportion, little more than one half of the unproductive debt of 1914. New Zealand is not grudging the millions it contributed towards the conduct of Hie war, but it naturally resents the reiterated assertion that well on to one half of its borrowed money has been employed unproiitabiy. It has been admitted, however, tha„ in other directions the growth of public expenditure within the Dominion has proceeded with disquieting rapidity. In 1914 the gross public debt, including the £4,976,600 for redemption purposes already mentioned, reached £99,730,427; in 1918, £150,840,055: in 1922 s £219,054,385; in 1926, £238,855,478; and in 1929, including again the amount of £5,379,105 anticipated for the succeeding year, £264,191,983. During the fifteen years that have elapsed since the beginning of the w r ar the national debt has increased from £B7 10s 2d per head of population to £179 12s iOd per head, and the taxation from £5 5s 2d per head to £l2 4s 3d per head. In 1920 taxation stood at £l3 11s Id per head, in 1921 at £l7 14s 4d, and in 1922 at £l2 14s Sd; but since this last reduction, brought about largely by a representative deputation taken to Mr Massey by the Taxpayers” Federation, little progress has been made towards lightening the people’s burdens. Thorough Overhaul Suggested. It has been suggested that a thorough | overhaul of the administrative blanches j of the governing machine might revive many opportunities of averting waste and extravagance. A Wanganui business man, writing to the newspapers the other day, expressed in a nutstieli what is being siad by the business men in this respect. “The alarming part of the position,” he declared, is the great increase in cost of administration, and -until the brake is put on the administrative officers by.the Government matters will go from bad to worse. One reads in the Press ol economy being forced on other countries In New Zealand we read of increased expenditure. How 7 long can it go on . This is a question for the politicians to answer. The facts are plain enough In 1915 the number of permanent and temporary hands employed by toe Government was 41,217. the number had swollen to 50,91&. Dining the ten years the wages bill had swollen from £5,867,308 to £l3 281,838. The increase per cent, in ths ’ staffs between the two periods was 35.66, and the increase in salaries d f) 6 36 Unfortunately these iigiucs are taken only every tenth year and the taxpayer will have to wait another half dozen years for the next, ! ' r 't |,rn . Meanwhile a few examples of the increases in staff and salaries he tween 1914 and 1929 cannot fail to he ol general interest. 1914.

These figures do not include temporary employees. Increased Expenditure. \ bare recital of the increased annual expenditure in the principal legislative departments between 1920 and h.. must conclude this somewhat discursive review—(Continued in next column.)

£ Legislative Department 121,000 ■Stamp Duties 69,000 Native 9,000 Cook Islands 67,000 Prisons 29,000 Pensions 313,000 Internal Affairs 264,000 Public Health 84,000 Defence and Naval >.. 1,202,000 Labour 40,000 Education 841,000 Prime Minister’s 28,000 Mental Hospitals 148,000 Total ’£3,748,000 The increased expenditure in all departments between 1914 and 1929 amounted to £l2 6s 6d per head of the total population.

Department. Staff. Salaries. £ . post and Telegraph 5375 74 705,627 14,815 Income • • • * Mental hospitals . . . Public health G14 130 63,991 11,326 87,978 406 4-75 G 2,5 17 18 3,811 191 33,374 1929 Salaries. £ Department. Staff. Post and Telegraph 8787 170 1,650,537 39,823 Mental Hospitals . - Public Health .... 1259 T>27 628 228,938 131,94 1 ‘>02 899 720 1 82,262 1 i 6 084 Forestry Public Trust 188,630