WASTE AND RUTHLESS SPENDING

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 19, 17 October 1917, Page 6

WASTE AND RUTHLESS SPENDING

(To the Editor.) I _ Sir,—When one lifts a newspaper there is nothing but borrowing; by millions and waste, evcryono apparently trying how inuoh he can get out of the country ou Government owing to it being war times,, and they want the public to believe theyare very patriotic. Take war bonuses to. public servants,- and everyone wanting; ridiculous wages owing (g, it being war time. Is this loyalty to their eouufa-yr There is the excuse of high living. They know nothing about it. Take 51 or 5?. years ago. What were tue then, and what was the cost of living r Wages for labouring men were 4s. a day, with relief work from the Government at 2s. 6d. a day. What was the cost of living then ? Twenty-five shillings a cwt. for flour, 16s. for a pair of moleskin trousers, sd. a pound for sugar, and everything in proportion. And here wo have n Second Division League howling all. over the country about how much theycan get out of it before they have ever done a thing but howl, and yet think, or try to make the public think, they aro loyal, patriotic subjects. Those people say tako taxation out of the land; tho farmers can well afford it. But the taxation that is on the land now, according to the demands made- this year, will put many farmers under, besides what is to come. And there is no gainsaying' the fanner is tho backbone of the country,, and when they aro put under, wheTe will the country be, working man and every other man? It appears to me at present the working man and everyone that has. a vote for members of Parliament should pay their share of taxation, otherwise! they have no right to vote for same. Then take the Government. "What amount are they wasting keeping men in. camps hero for an endless time of waste when they should be at the front or in camp in England, where they would learn more in a day than they do here: in a month, gadding about tho country on full pay. Then what is the waste of money to "the country in tho hundreds and thousands of what can you call them but wasters who are sent Home. When, thev arrive there go into hospitals, then, have a trip through tho Old Country, and aro then returned as unfit. I call this waste. Our Government is paying away thousands a year as retiring allowances to wealthy men because they have been in the service of tho Government for a number of years, drawing big salaries; but because they, in many caecs through influence more than ability, held big positions in the Government, most get a retiring pension oi ! hundreds a year. Such is a sheer waste of money, and should be stopped when the country is taxed to the hilt, as it if at presen-, and all extraordinary salaries should be cut down, and those objecting, Jet tho C4oveniment advertise for the position, as. they should do in all Government work. The Government of to-day wants to> take a leaf out of the late Sir Harry Atkinson's book, who was allowed to he the Ijpst financier south of the Line.—l am, etC " i A SUFFERER.