REFORM AND FUSION.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20098, 29 November 1930, Page 19

REFORM AND FUSION.

M tbz wrros ok rar. pbess -:. Bv vour grace and tolerance, I Jiiave a few more words with Mr by affirming tliat this . perfect good humour 1 "tt. kindliest focUugs towards Mr t,r ' /hmself and all other poliirSective of party, though 1 W"* 8 ' fin eush about it as my honhaa done, in regard to rK But I regret that in tins Wter Mr Howard appears to have £$ geniality and humour The W .c with which he has r.v «*«JC is a vc v poor substitute. "tfbSS by eluding P .ne-by iuipliJ&-& dealing with porsoi.al.tius leTtban with tho ostensible subjeet'fZ "do not think I was guilty, fvtfT were, does not censure lor m fJi"om 'grace come badly trom fjSJSdalist, who opens his letter wldUnc m" that * am "f?*",'' JfflTstreet called straight that *• i« iffh t " By the way, my litertSS would be much gratified SKWd Vould tell me where he i fcmnd the authority for the statoSt'ttJt the street called Straight „„* atraieht. I will be very pleased tfS knowledge correet'Sh* news, indeed, to the public *.hirn that in Parliament, "we atlv the matter before the House and wMlus individual who brings the ruat- ' n» forward." When did this consumption devoutly to be wished for, oc- -. I'm P.11M9 has never recorded it 'gad Hansard passed it by in sileue Perhaps the remark as a subtle nece of humour. We certainly cannot itwpt 1' »" ' aet - Tie chief P° mt oi importance in this ucoad letter from Mr Howard arises is the amplification of his original re■iikispon our national indebtedness. 3tr Coates put as one item of Roform policy a return to the '' late'' Beform GoTfrnawat's tapering off of public borntwisg. In commenting upon that, Mr Howard went back to 1912. Mr Coates tsi not ia power till 13 years later. Jle Wbt, with ita inevitable and extraordinary expenditure fell in tho intertiL Mr Howard ignored both. Ho jlowed how our indebtedness had increased from 1912 to 1928, but he did sot quote, as lie could have done, from He Official Tear Book (from which prcisaaMy he got his figures) this poignant statement: "Of the total gross debt, 139 millions were incurred since 1914." That discounts' Mr Howard's stateKent very heavily, and if one could believe that he knew of the statement quoted, but withheld it, his statement would be discounted to the point of woTthlesanees. Will the reader sean these figures from the Tear Book, and set them against Mr Howard's? I nse round numbers tor the sale of brevity. In 1626 (the tot year for which Mr Castes was responsible), the public inbSttdoesa was 2238,000,000, or £169 per Hit of 'population. In 1927 it was 118,000,000, or H7O per head. In M, it was £251,000,000 or £172 per ad,aa increase of £13,000,000 in three jaiHa the public- debt, and a rise of Ojer head in taxation during his ton. Ia 1989, the first year of the United, rcty'stem of office tho indebtedness. «• to £864,000,000 —an increase < 115,000,000 in one year, equal to tte increase during Mr Coates 'h *lale.term of office. The taxation per tad increased from £172 to £179. Wtt again the matter of taxation, "fisg Mr Coates's term of office the tafitt per head ran: 1926, £l2 7s lid, AS flB 6s 6d, 1928 £ll 17s 7d. In . ™i tt« first year of the United JBty'i tena of office, tho taxation per *** Me merrily bumped up to £l2 *& Nest year will see it bumped "» wrr maeh higher. driw attention to a fur--s?"**ement * rom tne Y * ar Book: Jhjfloly two occasions in the history **«* Zealand has a reduction in ajpoas public debt been effected durfinancial year. The first occasion £» ut 1890-91, when it was reduced 91117,000; the second in 1922-23, 22r*»W reduced by £101,000." ."■«amply add that these two very «2u?» Mhievements go to the reZT* «f°«» and its immediate pro- £?*«■ Sir Harry Atkinson was Prime ■"""won tho first occasion; Mr Mas"v« the latter. ■rS'K"*" 3 for the inelegancy of yet my withers are unttWtl - aaply refuse t0 be correcttie erode dialecticians of Pari J*"™. who ße efforts in the wav of ejZr ,** ut erary grace of diction are " hsXr . e one wno has a tolerable *l W * ' and re B aTd for our g°°d to H»T t . o,l f ne » w eep tears of shame. *JJj«4 doM not deny the "rotJJ"? *ad •attempts by a piece of ffi ■**• tne Lab °" r Party, ?l;W«ZV h J! rott enness in power, i«»k « P * CtSble - Bttt « will not do! *L. °* thAt opinion too. His SVI," the Politician is evident. "J*le Wlth him heartily. Sen!i*S<Rj° ? ot tak e the average I'Ktt. ?' but for the average b»iRS **}** Btreet has »°°*t F> , «uieTi ß ?l d f". &r a fl ea, which may t**«t WS ~ B aot w <> r th worrying f *MrtIJ el take a flea seriousi!. *w*.»k „ JOHN STRAIGHT | w «"al»r 28th, 1930. oIKAXUtLi -