BELATED BUDGETS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 132, 5 June 1937, Page 14

BELATED BUDGETS

NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

SHOULD BE PRESENTED EARLIER

The lack of proper Parliamentary control over Government expenditure is the subject of a statement issued by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand. 'Parliamentary control, it is asserted, was seriously weakened under the present system of bringing down the. Budget in July or later. "Before discussion of the national finances, consequent on the statement on the budgetary position by the Acting._ Prime Minister, is ended, there remains a matter of considerable moment to which public attention requires to be 'drawn, namely, the lack of proper Parliamentary control over Government expenditure," says the statement. '.'The Acting Prime Minister in his statement certainly gave • figures of Revenue and expenditure which have I never before been given at so early a date. "Last year, similar figures were not available until published in the Gazette on June 22, three months after the close of the financial year to which they related. The usual practice is for the Budget then to be brought down in July or later. By comparison, details of the British budgetary position were given this year almost immediately after the close of the financial year on March 31, as is usual, and the Budget was then brought down in the House of Commons on April 20. MONEY ALREADY SPENT. "It is a very important matter that Parliamentary control over expenditure should be in ho way weakened, as unquestionably it is seriously weakened'under the present .system in New Zealand of bringing down the Budget in July or later. "Last year it was August 4, when a good deal...of the votes asked for have already been spent in that part of the new financial year since March 31. In such circumstances there can be little effective examination, discussion, or criticism of the Government's financial policy, added to which Parliament loses effectve control of expenditure, it becomes a rubber-stamp, and is able to do little more than formally endorse the policy of the executive. "It is the expressed desire of the Government to shape a new course so that the country's affairs could be discussed at the earliest possible moment after March 31. The Acting Prime Minister has at any rate attempted this year to speed up publication of the accounts, and it is to be hoped that the complete reform will be effected next year. Unfortunately, owing to the fact that three Ministers, including the Prime Minister 'and the Minister of Finance, are in England, Parliament will not meet until August, and consequently there is no prospect of the Budget being brought down any earlier this year. PERTINENT QUESTIONS. "There are many questions of public concern awaiting ventilation in Parliament in regard to expenditure. For instance, what are the details of current financing and costs in the Government's housing scheme? What is it costing the country for the Government to conduct the producing business, it bought from Picot Bros., Ltd., without ai specific vote from Parliament? What are the commitments for the current year on the Unemployment Fund, and is the» fund being spent as usual, or is it being built up with a view to taxation remissions because of the fact that the fund is now relieved of the weight of thousands of unemployed and unemployables? What rate of interest (if any) is being'paid by the Government for the substantial accommodation being given it by the Reserve Bank? What is the full cost of the reduction of working hours in State services for the current year? How many jnpre public servants are being added to the .country's already overloaded pay-roll? How much money will have been spent, by the time Parliament meets, on the acquisition of goods services which are competitive with the railways? How much will have been .spent in possible excess of the £10,000 voted last : year for the purchase and maintenance of B stations? What is the deficit in the guaranteed price account, and what contingency is the country carrying for the current financial ■ year? When Parliament is given the, Budget some five months after ttie beginning of a financial year there is little it can effectively say or do in exercise of its office of 'effectively controlling expenditure'—a hollow authority. "A. POLITE RECORD." "It may. :b'e contended that Parliament gave-:the executive broad authority under different Acts to enter into certain forms of expenditure, but it is most unsatisfactory that the executive, after determining the degree of expenditure, should then present belatedly to Parliament estimates which are not actually expenditure proposals for Parliament to consider, but are merely a polite record of moneys that have been, substantially spent. What prospects are there of a financial programme emerging from Parliament which gives some relief" to overburdened taxpayer's? An instance of how money which was not a specific appropriation from Parliament is being spent is provided by the Housing Construction Department,- which • recently sprang into existence, with a Director of Housing Construction and a staff of public servants: Why was : the proposed expenditure on this new Department not included in last year's estimates to Parliament like that of any other Department, or reserved for this year's estimates? ' It 'might be'that expenditure on this Department is excessive, but Parliament will not ever, know until August what has been spent on the new Department, or to what the Government has committed itself- for the current year.

"As already stated,j nothing .pan be done by the calling of an early session of Parliament this year to restore authority and control to representative government in the. .matter,; of national expenditure, but.-it is '/a reform of major importance for early attention next year. •. In the meantime, the executive of Government can preserve some shell of authority to Parliament by refraining until Parliament meets from entering into new expenditures for the current financial year- for which it has not yet obtained specific appropriations from Parliament."