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Hokitika Guardian, 29 August 1922, Page 4

on that sum, and Hie. railways without paying'rates or taxes to -municipal (bodies- could only earn? £210,000 last year without paying . interest on capital In 1920 coal had to bb imported, hut in 1922 c-oal was as cheap as in 1920 and 1921, and wages were no higher,, yet there had' b'eefi-’ this startling-’ increase. Could - his hearers, as

business men, see any problem or difficulty in connection with the running of "the railways which they themselves had not had to meet and overcome? And ought not public departments 1,0 required to meet them by reorganisation and efficiency. Instead, they 'had put up the price and reduced the service.

OUR NATIONAL RAILWAY TARIFF An illustration of the wisdom of the

Department during.' the cut was that it had put in the schedule of essential goods fencing wire; and in the schedule of non-essential- goods, staples. The- present statesmen were proceed- I •ing on wrong lines, and should 1 confine- the management of the railways ■to business men and their working to experts instead of making a mess of the. business as at present. (Ap-

l>laU C®NEKA T; ICXPENDITII RE. Mr Sk'errett gave tlib folMwmg 'figures relating to general' expenditure :

So the expenditure had increased 100 per cent over the whole period and 66'per cent, in the last few years.

iThere was no gainsaying' that. He now- wanted to find out. how” much of , that was due to departmental run- i ning, In his following figures lie omitted, therefore, railways, post and telegraph, education, defence, public works, and Crown law office. The purely departmental expenditure figures were :

That showed an increase' of I*2o per cent and of that 90 per cent hiid’hnppeiied since 1918-19—or since the war ended. He would not take up the ti„ u . of his hearers by endeavouring to account for it. It would be- said that the bonuses, and so on, w° ukt account for it, but the cost of living bonuses were first granted in 1916. What better results, or benefits, had they got • from the departmental scr- , vices for that huge increase in expenditure? 'l'lie total financial burden Interest and pensions • 1911-1 o £3.738^4i11; 1918-19, £8,.102,610; IJ2I--2, ' £11 ? ;r,26!‘277. ir ' Public Serviced, 19W-10. .t<, •625 ■ 191801), £9.404, 1 48; IJ2I-—,

“SSiiui. £11,13.n0, 19, £17.817,358; 1.021-2*2, | The 1914-15 figures included wai expenditure, which-could, pot: b»JtvoKl ed Tin* increase since 1918-1.) "as «>. uev cent. AVhat- was the revenue? Hesubmitted that a good case had been, '.made for an impartial, '"'lepcmh . T l “,, 7i i

incss hum — not xutl . .. t ! ,to the public administration the oi-! •T-inis itioii of public administration. | the efficiency of public administration ■uid particularly the system of accountancy which obtained ... the pm;l i( . se rice. The League was ftstieii that no thorough reform ol > public -»dliiinistration could he obtained MSe^ r £r , ‘v l^ 1 ' ' cTiminated W effibioney 1 “Our view is, Mini, * • department should he run on the sound lies of a business organisation; that it should l»e insisted that regard should 1, 0 had to efficiency and economy as 'primary considerations— not secondary ( ,„.sidorations; and that the accounts should be kept on the newest and accepted lines of business accountancy. W( . arc not advocating the wholesale . immediate discharging of, public sorvmts That would probably mlliot needless hardship. But the investigation has to lie undertaken some time or other. AVe cannot go on at the present increase. Wo have to know what has to be clone and how best to do it. If you are going to have the public service of the colony utilised to a partial extent as a relief for unemployment you are going to produce a state of affairs which will bo disastrous

to the country. “We are on the eve of a general election, and this we think is the appropriate time to insist on an inquiry into the reform of public business; it is the time to create a sentiment or atmosphere in favour of economic reform. Tice re are always sections of the community who are necessarily interested in opposing economic reform, and you cannot expect candidates for Parliament to pledge themselves to this inquiry or economic reform unless you create an insistent demand on the part of the public for that reform. We aro making no attack on the present Government or any Government, personally we don’t care who has the government for the time being, but it is our duty to point out these problems and difficulties to you, and you have to see, by whatever way you can, that they shall be regarded as public questions nt the next election. (Hear, hear).

PREFERENCE TO UNIONISTS. “We have determined to go out on a determined campaign for the abolition of preference to unionists,” Mr Skerrett said. He stated that undor the present system there could bo only one trade union to each trade, and preference gave a monopoly of the supply of labour, to tliat union, giving those in control of the union the right to practise a sort of tyranny over the worker, und'er which excessive calls were made on the worker before he could earn his living. Preference to unionists was inimical to tho community and had to go. THE LEAGUE’S POLICY. The League would oppose the revolutionary Socialist on every occasion, hut apart from,that would not oppose any man of stability and good character. The administration of the oountry could well he entrusted to honest, careful men, whether they were of the Reform Party or the Liberal Party; hut the league would arrange and negotiate to prevent triangular contests which were likely to result in the return of a Labour man. The true Labour men, however, was entitled to his fair share in the representation of tile country, and 'the league would support such men ns the late Mr Kcllett. Mr Ye itch and Mr Smith, of Taranaki. Rut the league drew the line at those whose avowed object was to tear down the economic institutions of the country and substitute the Soviet. (Prolonged applause.!

A VOTE OE THANKS. After eulogistic speeches by the mov-

er and seconder , a vote of thanks was carried unanimously. Mr Skerrett m acknowledging the ■ vote said; “It has been said" that the "Welfare League make too much of the ‘Red Menace.’ By ‘Red Menace’ I mean the revolutidaiy Socialists who are now represented" b<y the Labour Party in Parliament. I venture to think' thht if you don't scotch the revolutionary Socialists they will scotch yon. There is on e ' thing to be said I in- their favour, and that- is their al- I most fanatic zeal for their cause. But I want- you to understand that that is almost automatic. There is a momen-

tum behind them, gentlemen, a momentum pushing them forward; and that momentum would submerge and

destroy them if they did not keep in advance of it. They are the leaders, but they are at the mercy of the frenzy. they affect. Would you see these hands control the forces of this country? The league lias the balance.

sheet of a union and it shows that £9OOO was spent in one year in salaries, organisation and other expenses. AVe know that the Seamen’s

■Federation, contributed £2OOO to the ‘Mfioriland Worker,’ that the Railway Servants’ Association contributed £IOOO to the ‘Mhoriland Worker,’ and the watorsiders contributed £ISOO. Where amongst you business men have you an organisation or series of organisations that is able to make handsome donations to a newspaper sup-

porting your cause? There is no such organisation in existence. Put the matter in the language of the “Mnori--1 aiid Worker.’ They -say that they

control all that counts in the transport coal, metal n.nd freezing industries. We know that the railway servants are affiliated and that the. most strenuous efforts are being made to rope in the officers cf the Post and Telegraph Department. I want you to think, gentlemen, what would be the result if von are to fight a. strike where every communication connected with the fighting of that strike would have to go through officers who are members of that organisation. I sav that to contemplate such a pcsition is to slmw how undesirable and inimical to the country it is.”

Of late the Labour Pary has tried to conceal their disloyalty’, Air Skerrett said, and they were inclined to use Air Wilford’s phrase in another connection, “to use the soft pedal, hut the danger was ever present. If they did not fight it. they must go under j

ABOLITION OF RESTRICTIONS, i The time had come for the abolition of all restrictions on trade and comnidrce. All ’the moratoriums and :

things of that sort must - go. The cm- , plover must meet the worker on common ground and arrange fair terms of , service and wages. The must deter- , mined enemy of such a scheme, how- j ercr, was the unionist whose- strength j

lay in making temporary arrange- j incuts so that his services would lie ,

essential. The league was opposed to ' the principle of the unionist- that there : ought,to he no relation between wages j and tlie production of the workers. |

That was a completely fpjse doctrine. All schemes which promised high wages without relation to production were, mere will-o’-the-wisps, because there

was a constant relation lietween n high standard of comfort and the production of the worker.

.0 1914-15 ...' 7,874,625 1918-1!) ... 9,454>748 1921-22 ... 15,592.677

1914-15 £ 1,870,504 1918-19 2,22(5,200 1929-21 4,271,000