TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 138, 7 December 1929, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Co-operation between Capital and Labour is strongly advocated by the Reform candidate for Hutt, but the Labour candidate said at Moera that so long as he had known the Reform Party it had only thrown sand in the wheels of co-operation between employers and employees. At a later meeting, however, Mr. Nash admitted that Mr. Coates had been responsible for summoning the National Industrial Conference; but he said that when the Reform Party had the opportunity of legislating on the lines recommended by that conference it failed to do so. We cannot agree that this is a fair statement. The original Government proposals for altering the Arbitration Act were mistaken, and were opposed by bolh employers' and workers' organisations. When the difficulty of legislating without prior investigation was perceived, Mr. Coates arranged for the Industrial Conference. He should be given credit for this. It certainly was not sand in the wheels. That conference failed to reach an agreement on the most debatable points, but it made progress, and the Government did .not kill the effort by lack of support. Mr. Coates arranged for further examination of the unemployment problem by a small committee, and he proposed to summon a further conference to consider the arbitration issues which had been left undetermined. It was not his fault that the second conference was not held. This should be taken into' account when Reform is condemned as a sand-spilling party. Mr. Nash is not well advised to make such charges. The record of several members of the party to which he belongs has not to be searched far back to find evidence of a deliberate and determined effort to keep employers and employees as far apart as possible. "Class-war" talk is not heard in Hutt just now, but Labour cannot yet chide any other party for checking co-operation. ♦ ♦ • Having sought and obtained special advice on the lay-out of the municipal buildings surrounding the Town Hall, the City Council should not lightly abandon the plan recommended. Nor should it hastily depart from that plan in such a way as to hinder the ultimate completion of the design. Proposals for modification were submitted to the Council on Thursday night by the Libraries Committee, but it was resolved, on the Mayor's motion, that consideration should be deferred. ,The Libraries Committee was moved to submit its proposals by a desire to see some progress in the provision of improved library accommodation. We can fully appreciate this wish. It is one which must be shared by all who recognise that while reading may not_ be as important as motoring, its insignificance is over-stressed in the cramped and overcrowded library. No Wellingtonian, however loyal, dare claim for his city any high degree of culture while he must point for proof to the library, the art gallery, and the museum. A more worthy art gallery and museum will soon be provided, and a better central library is also needed. But we are not convinced that it is necessary to abandon the civic block plan to secure that When the Education Board property is released it should be possible to use the buildings there for library and municipal office purposes—at least temporarily. ♦ * * There has been some murmuring regarding the civic block plan as too ambitious and expensive. We can agree that it would be so if it were proposed to sweep away the present buildings and spend some hundreds of thousands in new structures. But this is not necessary, and we cannot think that it was ever contemplated. The recommendations of the Advisory Committee covered a plan to be built to for the future. In time buildings in the area affected will

be replaced, and they should be replaced to fit in with the new scheme. Admittedly, in such a mailer as this a wise and prudent economy is necessary. It is even compulsory, for ratepayers are unlikely to sanction heavy loan expenditure. At the same time, it is desirable to look ahead and to realise that a certain spaciousness and dignity in civic architecture is a good investment, even from the strictly business viewpoint. Already the municipal buildings compare unfavourably with many private edifices, and we should endeavour to make the comparison more favourable. There is another aspect which should not be overlooked. Municipal business premises arc spread over a wide area. There are offices here, there, and everywhere. This cannot promote good and economical administration. It must indeed be most expensive in actual cost and wasteful results. With belter planning some part of this waste should be slopped. We suggest that the special committee set up to consider the Libraries Committee's proposal should investigate this matter, and show-what economies can be effected by bringing the scattered staffs together and releasing some of the buildings and sites now occupied. We have for long enough been putting patches on to our civic plan. Let us now begin to work more methodically. * * * The United States Treasury Secretary, Mr. A. W. Mellon, has informed Congress that he will lake steps in future to give taxpayers the benefit of surplus revenues instead of applying such surplus to debt reduction. This may be quoted by advocates of tax-relief as a strong argument in iheir favour. America has not.hitherto committed herself to a one-track policy of debt reduction or tax-relief, and if Mr. Mellon's statement were amplified it would possibly be-found that the policy is still to be guided by circumstances. In the present position of the United States it is certainly desirable to apply all available Government aids to the encouragement of industry, and tax-relief is one of those aids. Debt reduction is also beneficial, but the benefit does not reach industry so quickly. As the debt is reduced the burden on revenue is lightened, and the same taxyield can be used to effect a further debt-reduction. The prudent treasurer does not, however, carry this too far. He takes taxes when he can get them without embarrassing industry, and the more he takes in time of prosperity the more he can give when depression sets in. Mr. Mellon has taken in good measure from the American taxpayer, and jiow he is able to give relief without straining the Treasury resources. "Our public finances should not be cut too fine when times are good," said Sir Joeph Ward in his Budget, and the sentence embodies the Mellon policy. If surpluses are returned to the taxpayer in times of prosperity the Government cannot give relief in times of depression, except by borrowing or incurring a deficit, and this is not relief, only postponement.