THE FINANCIAL DEBATE.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 251, 16 July 1908, Page 6

THE FINANCIAL DEBATE.

■ «- Little will bo lost should tho Financial Debate torminato during to-day's sitting. For themofct part it ».as boon a dull affair. It was not to be expected that the Leader oi the Opposition would say much that was new, but ho very laid much stressnipon the financial condition of tho .country. Tho counsols of pvudonco and caution that tho Piiime Minister so resonts cannot be too often or too strongly supported in Parliament, and Mr. Massey's criticisms wore of just tho right kind J He admitted that tho last financial year was " particularly prosporoußj" and^

that the Treasury was " freo from all anxieties incidental to the position." But while Sir Joseph Ward sees in those facts only a reason for crowding on all sail and bringing in a Budget of plunge, Mr. Massey profcrs to look ahead a little, and to advocate a policy determined,- not by the fact that the " surplus " was so-and-so, but by the facts that our Public Debt is over £60,000,000, our annual payment in interest greater than our annual borrowings, the taxation per head much greater than it used to be, our staplo products depressed, our exports falling off, a'j compared with our imports, our financial administration unsound, our Public Works expenditure allocatod according to the Government's political needs, instead of the country's requirements, and the Government deeply infected with the virus of Socialism. The most significant warning of the financial tendency of New Zealand, as it is almost the least regarded, is tho increased taxation. Of. course, we shall be told that the rate of taxation has not been increased, but that is a mere quibble. Tho public paid £4 9s. lOd. per head in 1907, as compared with £3 16s. lOd, in 1900, and yet tho public debt increased by some £16,000,000 during the same period. With a long series of most prosperous years, the Government should be decreasing taxation. What will be the position when tho lean years come? Tho public will then realiso the folly of the Government in not having so reduced taxation as to allow the millions wasted to fructify in the pockets of tho people. As Mr. Massey pointed out, the spending power of tho people is further contracted by the falling-off in our exports. During 1907-8 our exports fell off by £1,600,000, as compared with the preceding year, while our imports roso by £'2,600,000, and the two now about balance each othor. Since wo have to pay £2,600,00 in interest on loans, it is clear that economy is very urgently necessary. There seems small prospect of any early improvement upon what Mr. Massey calls " tho wretched systenrof Parliamon-' tary grants in the matter of road improvements," but wo aro confident that reform will make itself necessary. Some day a bettor system of local bodies' financo will secure the economy and,efficiency so woofully absont under the present system, but election' year, when the biggest bid must bo made for support, and when what has boon " saved up " from tho two preceding years is drawn upon to influence tho constituencies, is not a favourable time for tho reformer to obtain tho Government's ear. Mr. Massey did well to remind tho House that the Government i* not tho originator—it was onco the opponent—of a national annuities proposal, but wo hopo ho will confino his criticism of this part of the Government's policy to tho .details of a schcmo that will require many safeguards if it is not to become a ruinous load on tho Treasury. Thcro is little to bo said concerning Mr. Fowlds's speech, which was of tho pattern, that ovory loyal member of the Liberal and Labour Federation has got by heart. On one point Mr. Fowlds requires correction. He objects to Mr. Massey's claim to bo called a Liberal, or, rather, he urges that Mr, Massey is " coming round." We believe that Mr. Fowlds pretends to something more than a nodding acquaintance with political history,'that ho is by way of I being a " student," If so, he must know that Liberalism has a perfectly dofinito meaning, and that the founders of it aimed at liborating the individual from restrictions. As he aims at placing Statebranded fetters on* the individual; substituting a Stato tyranny for the personal tyranny that the original Liberals overthrew, and crushing out all individual energy, ho is the very reverso of a Liberal himself. Ho' exactly qualifies •for classification as an advocate of what Herbert Spencer properly called 'the '' new.Toryism." Mr. Fowlds, wo regrot tc note, gave no indication that ho appreciates, or has any sympathy with, the counsellors of prudence.