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Hokitika Guardian, 22 November 1921, Page 2

THE IMPORTANT SPEECH. The dpeeeh with which Mr Massey closed the lludget debate on Friday night had been so widely advertised as the most important pronouncement delivered in the House since the spacious days of Mr Seddon’s Premiership, thal if is not surprising there.

was some disappointment when it wns actually delivered. The public had expected to be hold of heroic measures for dealing with the; financial difficulties of the country, and they heard only of economies and promised economies with wh,icli they already were familiar. Apparently the Prime Alinister was not yet ready to give all his confidence to the House. 1 hat tlieic would he a reduction m thr* salaiics of the Civil servants he made plain, but whether it would Ik; little more or IcsjJ than ten per cent, whether it would begin at salaries uf (.'209 or L-SOO a year and whether it would be graduated or not. be left to the decision of the future. Meanwhile he would be J glad to bnvo tile views o| the House , on all these points, and to give them his earnest attention. If we were per- ' mitted to offer Air Massey a suggestion on the subject, it would be that lie should seek no further views from the House on his schemes of economy, but that lie should submit tliom to a Committee of independent business men of high standing and unassailable repute for critical examination. Never before lias New Zealand had a Parliament so lacking in business knowledge and experience as in the one now sitting in Wellington. In the last Parliament, which was not particularly strong in this respect, there were at least Sir Joseph Ward, S'l' Janies Allen and the Hon. Arthur Afyers, tierce gentlemen of wide and varied experience, whose guidance on commercial and financial matters tlicir fellow members could safely accept. In the present Parliament there is no member nearly so well qualified as any one of these gentlemen would have been to give tlie Prime Minister the assistance of which he stands in so much need. The result is that Air Alassey who docs not profess to lie a financial expert, is dependent almost entirely upon the official heads of the Treasury, and its Allied departments for his financial pnlici and administration. These offi- , cers are among tuc most capable members of the Civil service, and they have given ungrudgingly of their best to the country, but they have not the quick perception or the long view of the business man whose mind has been broadened and wits sharpened in the exacting school of competition. Perhaps the most capable of them all is at the head of the Land and Income Tax Department, and yet this gentleman mnintajinA in his official zeal, that the most inequitable system of company taxation must he continued because an equitable system would involve greater cost and trouble in collection. The policies of other departments are influenced by similar considerations. It is not that their heads are failing in administrative capacity. Simply that their Ministers are leaning upon them for initiative and vision when the AI blisters ought to be providing these qualities themselves. For this reason we should like to see AJr Alassey taking counsel with a eornmit--1 tee of Imsiness experts belore lie finally decides upon the details of his remaining economics and the incidence of his additional taxation.