The Dominion WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 24, 1919. THE BUDGET

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 308, 24 September 1919, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 24, 1919. THE BUDGET

Those who expected to find in this ,'ear's Budget a glittering array ol dcctionecring promises will be igreeably disappointed. Its' ruling wte "throughout is the serious emphasis It lays upon the. obligations ihis country has incurred during .hi; war years, and the imperative lecessity of making provision on sound lines to mcct .them. In this •espect ; t.he Budget is in creditable :ontrdst to sonic political prolouncements that have been made ately with an eye rather to electioneering vffect than to the'prac;ical necessities of the time. If any-. ;hing, the Minister of Finance has Iv/clfc too exclusively on the note of caution, and has taken less account, ;han he. might of the hold enterprise which must go hand in hand ivith carc and forethought if the problems that confront _ the . Doninion arc to he satisfactorily lolved. But full approval must he riven to his dictum that as a condiiion precedent to a policy of enterprise, "our finances must be cst-ab-islied on a solid .basis, fori without lound finance national progress is mpossiblc." The very fact that. ;he country is faced by heavily inTeased recurving demands upon its irmual vevemte—demands from rbich there will be.no direct_ relief 'or many years to come—dictates lie energetic,development of its untouched or partly-develoncd reiourccs. The first essential, _ how!vei\ upon which everything else mist he based, is prudent manapenent of its finances and an orderly idjuptment, to new and . exacting ionditiors. It is_ obvious enouuh, ■hough the fact is sometimes forgotten, that there must be a srreat :Kan«C over from, the conditions .vl.ich obtained during i the war ■■'•ars. "In these years this country, ike others, drew to an enormous stent upon its capital '.*n4 d*wl- - n rate of sne.ndinor which :6iild not have been continued ver* nuch longer without disaster. _ At :.lic same time, there are serious i.rrear? to be. overtaken in the maintenance and expansion of national 'ijd other assets which contribute n an.important-.' defrree 'to production. Roads and railways are conmieiiojis examples in this category. Hv full magnitude of the financial 'problems to be faced will nnicar only when the needs of tho Dominion under-the. head of develipnient have been s|:t out in a comirehen'sive way. It is already evident that these needs are-enormous, md the extent to which the Dominion is handieapned in moetirig'hem is sufficiently indicated in the tremendous increase, in permanent impropriations as compared with sre-war days. Although the particulars jriven in the Budiret of debt md other recurring charges .011 reyenne. are not there announced for the first- time; they will bear repeating. • Permanent appropriations, covering chiefly interest and sinking fund charges and war and pthef pensions, amounted in 191819 to £9.218,850. It is' estimated, i.owever,. that the outlay in war nensions will be increased this year 3V £800,000, making the_ annunl charge under this head two millions. Irrespective of some additional borrowing for gratuities and . •■ther purposes vet to be nrovjded , for. the total of permanent apprnnriations will thus shortly exceed ten millions stewing, an increase of blosp on six millions on the corresminding expenditure for 1913-14 Th" increase is eoual to just about half the total revenue raised in that year, and by the end of the current year permanent .annt'onriafcions, which nrovid" for little mow than debt and neiision charges, will fall short by only about two millions of the revenue that sufficed for all purposes before the war. It must be clear ,to everyone, that the Dominion has incurred tremendous- ' Iv hcavv responsibilities, and that it has bccome essential not, merelv 1 tn terminate. Hie necessarily lavish expenditure of the war period, bill 1 to take such financial measures as 1 will brine progressive relief from burdens . that otherwise would become intolerable. If the Budget as it. stands views the position sob'crlv and sen'mislv. none but the unthinking will find i

any great fault with it on that account. On the eve of an election, and ■.with the country in a high state ot expectancy, it would have,, been easy to yield to the Icinntatioii I to. paint a rosy picture of benefits ' to come, but there is no doubt that Sin. James AhbEN has worthily discharged his trust in avoiding any approach to electioneering and directing attention chiefly to the need of cconoinyand thrift, not as a bar to progressive enterprise, but as determining- the only conditions in which it can be undertaken with hopes ,of profit and success. Unscnsational as it is in its-references to policy measure;!, the Bucket contains much that is of interest. The. provision made for completing the work of . repatriation naturally bulks large, and the proposal thai the sum _ of £12,.500,000 * required for soldier settlement should be drawn from the surplus revenue--totalling over £15*000,000—which was accumulated during the war years particularly commends itself as on right lines. Sm - Joseph Ward had proposed that the whole <>'. this surplus should be applied to the reduction of.war debt, but it is evident that his successor in_ office has 'suggested its utilisation in an altogether'more cf-cctivc and practical, way. The reduction in total debt aimed at by the late Minister or Finance will still- be achieved, since if the money required for soldier settlement were not drawn from the revenue surplus it vyould have to be obtained by'new borrowing. At the same time, the necessity of raising another big loan will be obviated, and in view of the heavy drain that has been made on our financial institutions and private individuals, .this is a weighty consideration. No doubt it will be generally agreed ' that the surplus revenue raised during the war years conjd be devoted to no more appropriate purpose than that of battering the lot of our returned soldiers. Another item which stands out conspicuously is the, fairly substantia] provision proposed for increases in 'teachers' salaries and the new arrangement which -is outlined in connection with the erection ana [improvement of 1 schools. Education calls, of course, for more comprehensive attention, but time will hardly be found iu the present session for. more than an instalment of reform. In regard to housing, immigration, and some other policy questions on which it touches, the Budget is rather disappointingly !;Vague, but in this it follows pro-, .cedent. The Board of Trade Bill, now before Parliament, is an example of the fact that the Government's policy proposals in .legislative shape may easily take much more positive and purposeful form than their anticipation in the Budget would suggest.'

One result of Sir James Allen's sober and workmanlike review of the country's fimuicial affairs ought to be to quicken the demand for the more eflicicnt organisation of national development. Loaded with 1 such burdens as it now has to carry, the Dominion simply cannot afford to pursue a policy of political drift in the construction of roads and railways and the prosecution of other national undertakings—a policy aiming less at profitable results and a quick return for expenditure than at pleasing as many electors as possible'at a given time. The necessity of conducting the promising enterprise of hydro-elec-tric development on business lines, with qualified experts exercising comprehensive- control, 'is recognised in political circles. The late General Manager of Railways made out an unexceptionable case for the application of.a. similar policy to railway, construction. It is, in fact, tlcarly enough established that rcsponsiblc management of national undertakings by experienced business men is indispensable if public benefits, .and not vote-catching, arc to be aimed at. Plain evidence is supplied in the Budget Submitted last night that it will be an exceedingly difficult master to find money for the prosecution of development works on the lines hitherto chiefly followed in this country. On the other hand, developmental work efficiently organised offers the one hopeful means of remedying in the comparatively near future what is Unfavourable, in the.existing financial situation.