GET DOWN TO BUSINESS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 12, 5 September 1931, Page 2

GET DOWN TO BUSINESS

' 5 ' The successive reports which have been received regarding the deliberations of the special inter-party committee set up by Parliament "to decide what remedial steps shonld be taken to adjust the national expenditure," reveal a disappointing lack of cohesion and purpose. It is' apparent, even from the carefully restricted reports of the committee's mvestigations which have been allowed to reach the columns of the Press, that deliberations which were to have been .concentrated upon a definite scheme for the stabilisation of the country's financial position, have been permitted to drift into a number of irrelevant channels, and the main, points at issue clouded by a volume of unnecessary evidence. Admittedly, "a definite plan for the stabilisation of the country's finances," is in itself , a tremendous task, and in order to face it squarely, investigations with wide ramifications are necessary. Taking all that into account, however, the mass of extraneous detail in which the committee appears determined to embroil itself, must only cloud the clearcut issues which should be its first concern. "It has become an open secret that a majority of the members of the committee have become, restive over the large amount of time being spent in hearing evidence which is disclosing no particular constructive features," writes our Parliamentary correspondent and that comment in itself is sufficient to place the eventual success . of the committee's deliberations in a somewhat doubtful light. The committee itself has the final say in regard to the? matter which comes before it, and the fact that a position such as that indicated by our message has been allowed to develop, appears to indicate that the members of the- committee have allowed themselves to become involved in a muddle at a time when their ideas should be clearest and their deliberations most decisive. There are certain definite corrective measures which must be examined first, and all matters which intrude without contributing to their examination, should be disregarded. A tremendous volume of evidence has already been heard and much of it must unquestionably be of the greatest value and assistance. But much of its value will be lost unless the committee has decided upon a definite plan of investigation and is not merely conducting a haphazard meandering among the intrieacies of the commercial and financial labyrinth. It is a matter upon which it is perhaps premature to comment, but it certainly appears as though the success of the committee's work — vital as it is to the rehabilitation of the country — is being jeopardised by a lack of method and practical appl'ication to the problems in hand. It is not the committee's task, nor could it be. expected, to carry out the whole of that rehabilitation; it has been set up to carry out the important preliminary spade-work to that end. Parliamentary Government in the past, and perhaps even more in the present, has not distinguished itself by method, and has on many occasiOns shown a much greater aptitude for getting into muddles than for getting out of them. In the light of past experiences, it is very much open to doubt whether the committee, as constituted, is capable of dealing with the situation as a whole. It reqiiires a more' expert knowledge and a more businesslike application than our Parliamentary leaders have so far shown, to enable .them to dispense an effective panacea for all our ills. But they have that expert knowledge and business aptitude at their command, even if they do not possess it themselves ; they should at least be capable of weighing the relevant evidence which is placed before them and taking back concrete facts and ideas for discussion and approipriate action by the House as a whole. In attempting too much, as they appear to be doing at present, they may only succeed in defeating their own ends