REFORM BUDGET.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1515, 10 August 1912, Page 14

REFORM BUDGET.

FURTHER OPINIONS. i CIVIL SERVICE POINT OF VIEW. FARMING AND. LABOUR OPINIONS. (By Teleffraph— Press Association.) Christchurch, August 8. It was ascertained by a reporter that local Civil Servants aro greatly satisfied with tho intention of tho new Government to deal justly and fairly by them. It is, howover, difficult for them to make up their minds as to whether or not tho proposed Civil Service Commissioner will bo an improvement on tho old conditions until tney have considered tho actual details of the proposed scheme. They appear to consider that a step in. the right direction is indicated, but that all depends upon the qualification of tho commissioner, who they consider will have to be a man on whom the service can implicitly rely, a man of wide experience and independent and fearless. Being a permanent officer, there was little doubt that he would get into closer touch with the Civil Service, and that the organisation and discipline would be considerably improved as a consequence. Comment was made at the absence of reference, m the Budget to tho work of the Public Service Commission, and the opinion was expressed that they thought that tho Government would havo waited till the Commission reported beforo outlining their proposals lor the reform of the service. Those Civil Servants who gave evidence before the Commission were much impressed with the earnestness and the desire of tho three Commissioners to produco a report of considerable interest and vaiuo to the country. It was also commented that the Budget makes no mention of the classification schemo which was put before the Civil Servants of the Dominion, and which brought forth eo many objections, and it was supposed that this indicated that the scheme is to bo shelved altogether. ' Many Civil bervants held that faulty though the scheme was its anomalies ought to be rectified, and tho scheme brought into operation. Instead of doing this the Government appeared to have formed an advisory coininittco from the heads of all unclassified Departments to recommend to Ministers what claims foi' increases in salary should be granted. Cml Servants ■ would Hko to know the officers who comprise this committee and .whether provision, will be made for some appeal' against their recommendations. Apparently "no" increases are provided for on tho Estimates and apparently tho work of tho Advisory Committee will notbo disclosed till the Supplementary Estimates appear. Generally it appears Civil Sen-ants would prefer that this work should be undertaken by a properly conHtitutcd Civil Service Board. As to tho shortage of cadets it appears that there havo boon plenty of application's locally and it is considered .probable that, if tho shortage exists applicants will be forthcoming if provision is made for increasing cadots' salaries from ,£4O to per annum, "and for giving a larger yearly increase to JGIO. Banking institutions, it was stated, had found it necessary to increase salaries in order to attract suitable juniors. Satisfaction was'expressed with the new arrangement whereunder an officer in one Department may have the chance, of competing for a post in another Department. In the past "no" information has been given officers in the service outside Wellington of such vacancies the new. arrangement -would, considerably strengthen the. staffs of the different Departments. ■ ■ ■ • . . - . In industrial circles the ' Budget' was most favourably received and general satisfaction is. expressed that, the -arbitration system is not to be done away with, but improved.

• Views of Mr. C. A, C. Hardy. Mr. C. A. C. Hardy, who for a numl)©r of years represented Selwyn in Parliament, expressed his strong approval of the elective UJpper House proposal. Hβ thought, however, it would be on improvement to make one-half of the members of tho House retire in threo years and tho remainder at the end of six or seven years' as the caso may be,. That, ho thought, -would enable publio opinion to express itself better, for public opinion in New Zealand very often varied a good deal in si short space of time. Generally the Budget was bold and practical and certainly, was a great improvement on tho vftgne expressions which had composed many of the Budgets in the past. • "I am not surprised," added Mr. Hardy, "at seeing in tho Budget so many of tho proposals which are considered advanced for- our partv, as I have often heard them discussed in" tho Whip's room in Parliament, and in this matter Mr. Massey. is only carrying out the feelinge of the party generally. The Budget Eeems to be finding ready acceptance everywhere." The Farmers. Several farmers were interviewed at the Addington stock sales, and the general impression seemed to bo highly complimentary to this effort of the Government s to deal with the various complex problems that are now before it. "What strikes me most forcibly about tho Financial Statement," said one man, "is its openness and frankness, and there seems to be a really earnest desire on tho part of the party in power to give everyone a fair and square deal, so far as is humanly possible. I am exceedingly glad to note that the most important question of the settlement of the lands is going to be dealt with without gloves on. I seo that the Native lands question is to be held over for the present, so far as any active steps are concerned, but 1 presume that tho Government will spend the time between now and when they take the matter up in earnost in gathering, all the information available about the question, so that when they do deal with it they can do so with vigour and finality. Of course, I realise that is a question that affects the North Islanders very. much more acutely than down south, but no South Island man will deny its vast importance when the good of the whole Dominion is considered. I think the present Government fully realise that tho prosperity of this country rests upon the land. It is New Zealand first, and last, and no attention that can bo paid to all the intricacies of the question will bo work ■thrown away." It was somewhat surprising to meet with almost perfect accord with the Government's expressed intention to increise tho graduated land tax. "Not a reasonable man," said another farmer, "will object to increase of the graduated land tax, or, rather, tho lowering .of the value of an estate that is subject to the 25 per cent, increase by .610,000. Another good point is tho apparent intention of lightening the burden on the man who owns an estate worth ifiSOOO or under. I take it that this is all ia the scheme for promotion of land settlement, and personally I have nothing but praiso for the proposed reform. I believe that a distinct lino should bo drawn between two owners of estates worth, say, -EaO.flOO, one of whom is working his estate up to its fullest productive capacity, and who is a very large employer of labour, as against tho other who is merely working his place as cheaply as possible and is just content with making a gCod living off it, and who ie neither working his estate up to its fullest . productive capacity nor employing much, labour. There is a very wide difference between these two men. The first is doing as much for the (food of the Dominion as could bo done. Presuming the Government took his estate from him and put settlers on, and in my opinion it would bo on injustice to take his place away from him. With the eccond man I, as a patriotic citizen, have no sympathy, and 1 consfder he is fair game, for the 'bursting up' policy. Probably in actual practice there should not be much, if any, injustice done, because I think that few of the very large estates are really being worked to a productiveness comparable with what, would be tho case were'they closer settled."

The provision in the Budget for dealing with workers' homes, agricultural education, the widening of the optional freehold tenure, etc., wero all very warmly commended, but. some surprise wa> expressed in soino quarters that more ricUiils regarding the Labour question iiad not been incntiouod. The Labour Standpoint. A. "Red" y»dero.tionist expressed groat, eatisfnetion with the land policy laid down in tho Budget, but questioned whether it would be carried out. He admitted, however, that Mr. Massey was more likely to give effect to his proposals than any [Liberal Government,jwjnjs to th,e diTe^

eity of opinion on tho lnnd question in the Liberal ranks. Although not 11 believer in tho Arbitration Act, ho was opposed to tho proposed alterations. Another Labourite remarked that if tho present Government intended to carry out tho policy of recent Liberal Administrations, as is averred by some Opposition organs, then there could not be u'lieh difference between tho two parties, lie did not think that the proposed alterations in respect to the Arbitration Court would be on improvement.' The unions would still have the same difficulties that they had experienced in the past, arising* out of the applications of the legal mind to industrial matters. "If a capablo business man was the President, of the Court," ho added, "and only acted as arbitrator after hearing tho evidence, nfter the parties failed to agree, the settlement of disputes would bo more, a Question of equity than of law. Too much imp'ortanco is attached at present to legal points. These may bo inseparable from compensation cases, but when it comes to questions of wages and conditions of labour, tho necessity for tho President being ii legal man does not exist." Speaking as a member of tho Labour party, Mr. I , '. Burgoyno said that ho did not see how that parry could object to tho proposals regarding the Legislative Council, though it stood for the abolition of the tipper House, yet the adoption of tho elective principle would be a step towards that. Until he had before him the details of tho Government's proposals in connection with the Arbitration Court, ho did not think he could ;ay i:.uch about them. He was adverse to Judges sitting as Presidents of tho Arbitration Court, and believed that better results would bi> attained by matters being threshed out between the masters and the men. Expenditure on defence required to be watched caTefully. The Dominion could not bear tho present heavy charge under (hat heading. As to the If nd question, he was opposed to tho State parting with the freehold of ."ny hind it possessed, but ho was quite in accord with tho land settlement proposals in other respects. Personally, he would like to have seen the graduated land tax made heavier, in order to ensure the breaking up of large estates by the owners themselves. He -warmly approved the proposals in regard to the Public Accounts Committee.