The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1909. THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 435, 18 February 1909, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1909. THE FINANCIAL OUTLOOK.

There havo been many indications lately that in spite of the Prime Minister's optimistic. assurances ■ to / the contrary tho Government roaliseß the necessity- for shortening sail in its financial operations. Expenditure is being restricted in every possible direction, although here and there, as in the case of the North of Auckland railway works, a show of expansive construction iB being mado. V/c should be' the last to object to any attempt by tho Government to abandon its role of the splendid spendthrift, but wo fear that the Government's object iB mainly to keep down oxpenses in ordor to make a- fair showing when the current financial year is ended. One of tho means usually, adopted to bocure this end is the postponement of expenditure authorised by Parliament; Nothing has lately been hoard, for example, of the new Wellington Post Office; nor is thore any indication that a beginning is to bo made with the rebuilding of Par* liainent House. In another column we give some account of the past expectations and the present position in respect of . tho, Hutt'railway duplication, and it will be pretty obvious that the Government is not hurrying, on the completion of that work. ■ Tho unexpected attention which the country, was forced to give to the financial position at tlio ond of tho September quarter haß had exactly the offect which Wo: anticipated, when >vo threw some light at that time upon tho drift of the Trca-

surer's. accounts. Sir Joseph Ward has determined to ondoavour to produce a result which will enable him to break forth, early in April, into a denunciation of ''the pessimists." He is devoting all his energy to keeping the expenditure during the remainder o'f the current year as low as is possible to his natural extravagance. This, if part of a fixed policy, would be most commendable. , It may be, however, and we fear it is merely a a matter of postponement, a matter of intensifying the habitual jugglery with authorised expenditure, in order that the year will close on March 31 with a sot of figures "far beyond my expectations," and terribly destructive of "the people who persistently decry tha country's crcdit." On Aprils —very appropriately—the pace will be again quickened. But the public is now not only a good deal less simplo than it used to be where the finances of the country are concerned: it is at last feeling tlie pinch of a dozen years of recklessness and Tvaste. It will not be at all surprising if, by a strategic management of the expenditure since November, the Prime Minister will have been able' by April to announce a. "surplus," much • smaller usual, but a good deal larger than he himself forecasted, and the figures of the first six months promised. But it will bo of little use to do this'at the cost of his prospects for the next financial year. That, however, is the kind of risk which his optimism may be quite ready to.take: it is'thoAvay of the spendthrift the world over. Unless he completely changes his financial methods, he can only defer tho day of-reckoning. He has a formidable task ahead, but the longer it is postponed the more difficult it will be.. No .doubt it would be unwise to go to extreme lengths in tho matter of curtailing legitimate expenditure. .The effect on the labour market would be farreaching, and, possibly, in tho present circumstances, vserious. But the waste and the extravagance of.the past must cease; and not merely for the few weeks remaining of the present financial year, but permanently. In his quiet holiday at Hotorua Sin Joseph Ward has probably been realising some of these things. He may be also 'the complete falsification of his assurance, given" during the. election campaign, that , the shadow of depression would have disappeared by December. We hope that ho is realising, as the public is realising, that his political fortunes' depend upon the thoroughness with which' he abandons the policy extravagance and vote-catching on which "Liberalism" has had such a long and merry innings.