RETRENCHMENT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1596, 29 June 1887, Page 2

RETRENCHMENT.

TO THB EDITOB.

Sir,— Your contemporary, the "Mail," m yesterday's issu., expatiated upon the fact that tho' Ministry, last session, proposed a reduotion m the publio expenditure of £150,000, and held^t. forth as a reason why tho Vogel-Stout cabinet should be continued m office. The Colonial .Creapurer, m his last Financial Statement, ' did certainly assert that' ri aftei deddtoting tho itemTrf iritore it from both statements, the votes wo submit thi. yoar are less than those of .last year by the large earn of £150,212,]' and} your contemporary, with the ohildlike confidence which is a feature io the character of Ministerial journals*, accepts- tho Treasurer's statement as gospel. A very Slight examination, how- : ever, will suffice to show that the eO-oalled reduction is, tea large extent, "ft delusion nnd a snaro, and does not indicate real retrenchment.. In the first place, tho Government last year asked the House to vote, and tbe House did vote* £65, 511 for expenditure on working railways moro than was actually required. The money was not saved: it was not wanted: the TlZ^™*.' •*." f-wnins'.the Estimates for 1886-7,Bimply miscalculated tlje probable expenditure upon working railways by the sum of £66,511. -Therefore, m, order to gat .at the reai difference between the ex-" penditure of the last and tbe : proposed expenditure of the present year we must deduct the sum of £66,511 from the £150,000, Then, the Treasurer propose! to diminish the subsidies which have hitherto been payable to local bodies, and consequently £20,000 less will have to be taken from the Consolidated Fund for this purpose:, .but this, of course, is not a real saving : it will not lighten the burdena of the people m any way- it simply means that the local bodies will have to raise so mt_oh mora money by way of rates. Last year £10,000 , was voted for tho Indian aud Colonial Exhibition— a charge which obviously could not be made this year ; £11,680 was also required to defray the cost of taking tho census ; and £7900 more for expenses connected with the property tax valuations— neither of whioh will recur during the present year, even if tbo Government wanted io spend the money; Adding these items together, wo got the -esppot-iblo total of £116,091, as follows : — A Railway expenditure not reT V£*s ._, - - •« 65,5U Local Bodies' Subsidies : docked r __- off *_•_- * - "• •••" 2 °.°00 Indian and Colonial- Exhibition.; . 10,000 Census ...^ t ... W. 11,680 Proporty tax: valuation ... . 7,900 r_ __' ■_■ . "a--' '.•""'/ £115,091 Deducting this £115,091 from tho £150,000, wo find thd real difference between tho two Estimates reduced to £?4t,d09. There aro, however, several smaller, items of a casual aature, whioh had fo be provided for last veaift and whioh tho Treasurer has .included lb his V reduction," and m ono instande a saving is supposed to be effected by charging £2600 of tho cost of the Permanent Militia to loan instead of. tb* ordinary revenue ; which the Treasurer says ia " thoroughly legitimate," though why it ' should be the correct thing to charge it 1 against ordinary revenue lastyear, and quito right and proper to pay it out of loan this yt ar, is one of those finanoial mysteries which nobody but Sir Julius Yogel oan be expected to understand. At all events, it. is ridiculous to Bpoak of it as a reduotion m the publio expenditure* But, m t addition to the items already mentioned, i ths votes taken iaefc year included tho I Supplementary Estimates, amounting lo about £42,000. The Supplementary Estimates for ihe present year had not, of I couree, been brought down when the Treasurer mode his Finanoial^tatement ; , but theee Estimates are always heavy, and i when we make dud allowance for them it , will be seen that the supposed retrenoh- ( ment of £160,000 is pretty well disposed of. In truth, the Ministry's ideas of re* trenchment and the ideas oljhp Colony . on tbat subject are as wide as the poles : oßunder i The " Mail " has itself pointed ont how , large retrenchment can be effeoted with- . out In the least degree injuring the efficiency of the publio servioo, and this is the kind of retrenchment which tha , colony wonfs. The Ministry, perceiving that the • eleotors " mean business ' m the way of retrenchment, are now discovering that retrenchment is the very thing Which their own souls are thirsting after j bat thoy have chosen to go to the oountry oa their Budget, and by that Budget they must stand or fall. Now the Budget is not a Budget of retrenchment j it is m Budget of increased taxation to the tune of nearly £300,000 a year. I am, etc, Chas, W, Pum.h.l.. Ashburton, 29th June.