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The Press Saturday, March 12, 1932. The Economy Report.

hi- necessary to say at the outset that the Economy Report, published almost in full in The Press this morning, takes a very wide sweep and strikes hard. It will not be easy for the various sections of the community, coming within its range and feeling its force as they all must do, to recognise that these are the two fundamental reasons «vhv it should be commended; but even where particular recommendations threaten great hardship, possibly excessive and unfair hardship, the, tffort should be made to view the Commissioners' work as a whole. It is nol a disastrous misfortune if the Repoit here and there offers faulty recommendations. They may be coolly con--idercd and either rejected or modified. It will be disastrous, however, if section by section the people of the Dominion denounce the Report because they see only the blow aimed at themselves and flinch from it, and if in this way the Government is shaken in its determination. It would be foolish 'o fancy that the Government's determination is unshakable: the Report is itseli a sign to the contrary, because there is very little in it which Cabinet might not have set out and shaped independently to the same or similar conclusions. But the Government wanted independent support, in submitting proposals of drastic economies to the people, was wise to seek it, has received it, and with that advantage again faces the original difficulty, of making its decisions and carrying them out. If iL is to decide wisely and act confidently, it must have the fullest possible measure of public-spirited help and sectional tolerance. That is the first thing to be understood, most necessarily by those who will have reasonable protests and representations to make. What is next the most important characteristic of the Report is one which will be widely and strongly approved, its insistence that the Budget must be brought under much stricter control. It urges, for example, that the system must no longer be followed of estimating the cost of some desired work or service and then of finding the revenue to.pay for it; and that the Budget should be freed as far as possible from the rigid bondage of the Permanent Appropriations. Both of these recommendations, which are rooted in common sense and fiscal sanity, should be accepted at once and faithfully adhered to. As for the more specific recommendations, we deal with some of them in other articles to-day end. shall take an early occasion of taming to others; but at the moment it may be pointed out that the Government has increased its difficulties and aggravated grievances that may be felt by failing to keep several promises. There were, for instance, promises tr> provide special investigations of the problem of highways finance and of educational costs, while the Government has allowed itself to be brought hard up against the general question ot' reducing pensions without first takingsteps to see how much could be saved without all-round reduction. The Commission's recommendations on the last head are, however, soundly based on the broad fact that the total cost of pensions-is excessive, and if the Government, cannot under the spur of necessity save enough on the lavish ones to spare the rest, it will not be j.ble to escape a most distasteful responsibility. But the recommendations affecting motor taxation rest ori much more dubious ground, since they 'propose to appropriate to general purposes a great part of a revenue contributed for others, and on this distinct understanding. It may be true that it would be better to pool all taxation in the Consolidated Fund; it cannot be jnst to raise special taxation very high, by consent, to meet a high expenditure which gives a return for ir, then, to reduce the expenditure and the return and seize thq surplus. It i ! unfortunate, finally, that the Commission, though agreed on the general principle that fixed interest incomes should bea? a due share of the sacrifice, could not carry its agreement further and produce unanimous recommendations. On this question, and on. education, pensions, wage reductions, and motor taxation, protest and controversy are bound to be heard; but, we may repeat, the first need of the country is that even the strongest and apparently best founded protests should be moderated by a clear sense of the Dominion's position and its widest interests. The Commission's work shows that it has steadfastly refused to consider anything else.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19320312.2.94

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20494, 12 March 1932, Page 14

Word count
Tapeke kupu
746

The Press Saturday, March 12, 1932. The Economy Report. Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20494, 12 March 1932, Page 14

The Press Saturday, March 12, 1932. The Economy Report. Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20494, 12 March 1932, Page 14

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