THE PREMIER'S FINANCE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1036, 27 January 1911, Page 4

THE PREMIER'S FINANCE.

There arc several .points in the Prime Minister's Stratford speech that call, for comment, but we must content ourselves.to : day with some observations upon the principal subject of his address, namely, the public accounts for the quarter and for the nine months'ended December 31. We give the leading particulars, as published in the Gazette, in another column, and it will be seen that these aro in some respects slightly, but not materially, different from those given by Sir. Joseph. It will also be seen that he presents the figures in a topsy-turvyfashion, designed to confuse the public into believing that somo marvellous have been achieved. The outstanding features are the large increases in both revenue and expenditure. The revenue increased by about £700,000,' but the expenditure increased also by nearly half a million. The bulk of .the increase in tlw revenue _is due to increased taxation and. increased railway rates. If the'already high taxation, direct and indirect, nad not been increased, and if the railway rates had been left;untouched, as a couple of years ago Sir Joseph Ward implied that they ought to be, and would be, the revenue would not have increased by more than the increase in the expenditure. Even so, the figures reflect the recovery of trade, and a buoyant revenue is a good thing. It would bo a better thing if this buoyancy were not largely due to the enormous borrowing indulged in by the Government; loan-made booms are not good. It would be better, too, if the Government had not increased the expenditure even more rapidly than the revenue has increased. The first_ financial year for the rcsul'ts of which the present Government was entirely responsible was the year 1907-8. Wc give the revenue and expenditure (the Gazette figures) for the first nine months' of the last year for which the late Mr. Seddon was responsible, and the revenue for the first nine months of the current- financial year:

Revenue. Expenditure. ' £ £ 1906-7 5,82G,060 5,569,626 1910-11 7,201,457 6,991,832 Increase... 1,378,397 1,425,206 That is to say, under the Ward regime, the growth in revenue cannot keep pace with _ the growth in expenditure; and this despite the constant new taxation, direct and indirect, that Government is imposing, and despite the frantic borrowing of the past' five years. Loudly as the head of the Government talks of the wonderful growth of the country, wildly as he borrows, yet his extravagance is such—due partly to his-inability to understand the national value of economy and partly to the fact that he can no longer.' keep in office 'excepting by a fierce policy of indiscriminate largesse— his extravagance is such that even-so lie could not" make' 'ends' moot ■ without imposing new and higher taxation. Ho has increased the income tax and the land tax, he has raised the > Customs charges, he has raised the death'duties, he has levied higher tolls upon the banks, he has raised the railway rates, and he has reached tho point of borrowing £6,850,000 in one year—and still the expenditure has increased faster than , the revenue. In face of these facts it seems to. be almost an unimportant detail that his "economies" in the Departments have been such that the Departmental ■ expenditure for the nine months is over £200,000 more than for the preceding nine months.