WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 May 1930, Page 7

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE SURPLUS,

DISSATISFIED CRITICS

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, April 23

Both the Welington daily newspapers make light of Sir Joseph Ward’s surplus for the financial year ended on March 31 last. The “Post” h..ving only an hour or so between receiving the figures and passing them on to the publis, is less definite in denouncing them than is the morning paper. If obviously, however, Is “agin” the Government” and may he expected to express its disapproval later on. The “Dominion” had its mind made up on the following morning. “On general consideration of public credit and the like,” it told its readers on Saturday “New Zealand has preferred over a long series of years to show a surplus rather than a deficit. The Finance Minister’s announcement of a credit on the year’s operation will therefore be welcomed. It nothing lese, it at leastshows we have entered the current financial year on the right side of tie ledger.” So far so good. The mere fact was approximately stated.

THE TAXPAYERS.

Nor was the morning paper beyond its rights in pointing out that a surplus was not necessarily advantageous to the whole community. “If New Zealand were in the ful Itide of proserity, enjoying high prices for her products, taxpayers might not have look- j ed so narrowly at the accounts pointed out, But they can hardly he expected to rejoice that the State has enlarged its income by a million and three quarters at their expense while they are busy in tightening their financit! belts.” Here again the Opposition journal has a sound enough contention at hand. It rests with the Government, however to show that the increase of £1,023,072 could not, in part at any rate, have been lessened by' a thorough and impartial overhaul of its incidents. The “Dominion” is not quite Frank in its presentation of the fact, but it has made out a case needing an authorative answer.

UNEMPLOYMENT

The Prime Minister’s summary of the financial year was accompanied by some interesting particulars of the Government’s efforts to relieve the “unemploy ment” evil. Sir Joseph showed that immediately the Government took -ofC.' o arrangements were made for providing additional employment on public works i nvarious. parts of the country. The necessary financial provision he went on to say, was made during the short session in December 1828, when Parliament was authorised to increase from £300,000 to £400,000 the total amount of subsidy that could he paid to local bodies in regard to relief works undertaken by them. On the whole Sir Joseph put an entirely different complexion upon the unemployment relief effort from the one depicted by his less generous critics. If b>'<version is the correct one, he should have little difficulty in making his case good in Parliament. For the moment, at any rate, he has materially shaken the stories that are going rounds,

PARNELL BY-ELECTION.

Tlie progress of the Parnell by-elec-tion is arousing little genuine interest in Wellington, where, of coure it should be attracting the attention than in any other part of the Dominion, outside the city cf Auckland. Parnell for many \ ears past has been ,a women’s electorate, the fair sex contributing a substantial majority of votes polled at succeeding elections since before the war. 0! the 12,179 voes cast in this constitunecy at the last general election, that of 1925, 6686 were recorded by women and 5496 hv men, the women thus being in a majority of 1249 ,representating about the advantage they have enjoyed during the last sixteen or seventeen years. Apparently Mr J. t?' Dickson, who served the constituency well for a number of years, has dost favour with the ladies. He is now out of the contest altogether and Me Bloodworth, who was heavily defeated in 1919, is the only candidate with, previous experience in the field.