WELLINGTON NOTES

Hokitika Guardian, 31 May 1924, Page 1

WELLINGTON NOTES

THAT FIVE MILLIONS. NEED FOR PUBLIC ECONOMY. (Special to “Guardian”.) • WELLINGTON, May 27. It would be both ungenerous and unjust to deny Mr Massey a considerable measure of credit for the economies he has effected in the public expenditure since his attention was pointedly call-

ed to this urgent national necessity. Every reader of the newspapers knows that during the twelve months covered by the statement of accounts lie issued the other day he was assailed in his capacity of .Minister of Finance by deputation after deputation with insistent demands for additional grants for one purpose or another and that many

'f these demands were supported bv a

large volume of public opinion. It would have been much easier for the -Minister to say ‘•Yes” than to sav “No,” and yet in the great majority of

ea.scs lies held firmly to his pledge ol economy and bore with a {soml grace

the denunciations that were lumped tpon his head. When the expendilur ■ or tho financial year just ended is

compared with that for the financial year 1913-14, however,- it is impossible, even alter making allowanbe for the huge cost of the "real war and the inerea.sed obligations it imposed upon the Dominion, to believe that the last effort has been made in public economy, and that the huge increas-s in the administrative expenditure of tin country during the last eight years have been inevitable. Of course the permanent appropriations, amounting to something like £I2, oOIUSIH) and having to cio with interest on the largely increased public debt, pensions and so forth, cannot be controlled by the t!o----veinment. These obligations have been accepted by the country and lhey must be discharged. GROWTH OK EXTENDITI'RE. Hut the annual appropriations, whin,, represent the cost ol administering the affairs of the c ountry, stand on a different footing. They are within the dis motion of the (lovernmeut, anti, no initially, at any rate, under the control of I’arliainent. Let us then see how they have grown during the last leu years, from 1913-14 to 1923-24.

I lioso figures slum wlnit the increase s <>l' expenditure ill tile Post and Telegraph Dol>artiiiciit dining the decade has ln‘i'll £O-17.0(38, in the Wui-).-inn Railways Department £2.1-18.900. in tli' Kdu< at ion 1 )>i>a it men t £1.172.7-13. in tlin Just ire Department £283.327 and ill all oilier Departments £ I .255.548, a total of CO,It 17,8-70. oi' an increase of just over 80 per cent, upon tlie figures of 1010-1 I. And these figures do not tell the whole story, for the amount -set down .against the Kdiication Department i-i only the amount expended from the Consolidated Fund. In addition to this the Department has obtained from the Public Works Fund £1.081.0(12 and from loans £1.139.959. and. as far as can he made out from the public accounts, it is correct to say that the expenditure of this particular Department has crown from Cl .120.0-71 in 11)1:3-1-1 to £3,20.7.20:3 in 1023-2-1. These increases, it must he remember-

ed. were not due to the war. nor in any croat measure to conditions arising; out of the war. unless in this catecory tail be included the habit of spending; contracted during; the period of borrowin'.' and “booming;." .7113 MASSFVS fiOOD IXTKNTIO.VS. MV Massey himself recognised the perils of the position in his Budget ol 1021-22 when he strongly urged the need for public and private economy and the concentration of the efforts or the Dominion upon increased production. lie ihoug'ht then that the aim of the Chivernment. and of Parliament should be to reduce the lulmini-trative expenditure bv £5.090.00:;. No doubt the Prime Minister spoke xinoorelv. and no doubt he has striven earnestly to reach his allolted coal. But ho i far he has failed may be judgred from a comparison between the expenditure of 1922-23 and 1923-2-1

It is obvious that, while every credit must he given to Mr Massey for his hottest effort to reduce expenditure, he has signally failed to realise his desire and his expectation. The peak year of expenditure tinder annual appropriii- 1 ] tion was 1921-2“, when the ,smn of £ 15.834,905 was expended. The year following 1921-22, showed a decrease I of £1 on these figures, being £15,834,-1 004. I lie first substantial decrease I was made in 1922-23, when the figures came down to £13,289,847, a reduction of £2.544.158; hut in 1923-1924 the year just closed, the expenditure rose to £13,607,432, an increase, as just stilted, ol £407,585. To redeem his I good intentions, therefore, Mr Massey will require this year to reduce the expenditure under annual appropriations h.v nearly £3.000.000. EXCESSIVE EXPENDITURE.

To accomplish this there must he drastic economies all round. Just where they should begin and where they should end tiro questions which only the Prime Minister can determine with full knowledge and effective authority. It i- a difficult and ex-

tremely disagreeable task for any Government to under-take while the public. so far from approving of the only course that could lighten the burden of taxation, reduce the cost of living, restore trade and industry to their former hoiiynncy and place the finances of the country upon a thoroughly sound basis, is clamouring for additional services, larger grants and the 'more active prosecution of public works. Here it is only possible to indicate one

or or, directions in which savings might he effected, 'file post stud Telegraph Office is, in a .sense, a trading concern, with a very valuable monopoly. ami any increase in the cost of its management should be covered by an increase in its business, or, at any rate, by additional facilities given to the public. IL exoenditurn between 1914 and 1923 increased by £94.7,008. which would not be by any means a

large amount, if its services showed a corresponding increase. But between 1911 and 1923 the matter handled by the Department— let let s, telegrams, newspapers, parcels anil so forth--showed an increase of. approximately, two thousand. Thu Railway Department increased its expenditure by slightly over £2.000.000 between 191 I ami 1924, and it. .still fails to pay anything like an adequate rate of interest upon the cost of constructing its lines. The Education Department, during the same period, increased its expenditure by £1,784,322, or approximately 125 per cent., while the population of the country increased by only llij per cent. Here arc three big departments of State whose expenditure ought to be receiving a very searching over-haul from the Ministers immediately eoncerned.

1913-14 1923-24 Increases £ £ IVsi ;ui(l Tolegrajili ... ... 1,170.883 2,117.fl.11 9-J7.0(i8 W orhiiiff liaiUvav.s ... IMKM.ISO •1, l.l.'1,110 2.148,900 Kdnratioii 1.13 1.7.15 2.0*14 .41 IS 1.472.74:1 •Iiisi.ii.i•t 19.749 7o:i.or<: 283.327 Utlici- IViiiiriiiK-iH.s ... ... 1 .So:). 209 3.118.7.17 1.2.11,5 IS jj 7..1SU, rm f 13.097.432 .20,107,010

1022 -23 1023-21 £ 1 ucri-asi'.s £ WWkiilJ.r | ... -Ml-.••.4:; 2.i 17,051 5,408 Jaihvays ... . . -I.JM'i, Iff) 5,153,140 200,000 Kdui-:iLuni ... r. )1 2.004, 500 80,515 .InstillI.Ml, w!) 703,070 50.007 (Hln-r Di -i: <:’liiii-i:ts ... ... 0,1 18,707 ■IS,703 £13,28:), S!7 C13,007,432 £40) ,5S3