ECONOMY REPORT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 343, 3 October 1932, Page 5

ECONOMY REPORT

SHORT JOLTS RECOMMENDATIONS AT RANDOM FROM DIFFERENT SECTIONS RESTRICTING SPENDING The following are among the recommendations and suggestions included in the final report of the National Expenditure Adjustment Commission: — We have been impressed with the extent to which inspectorial staffs employed by the Government have grown. There are now no less than 801 insp'ectors employed in the Government service. A drastic reduction in social services provided by the Health Dept. can not he avoided, and we have accord"ingly considered the various activities of the department' with this end jn view. Adequate economy can only-he achieved by a drastic eurtailment of social services. The increase in the expenditure of the department over 1914-15 is so great that it gives emphasis to the . statement in our interim report that sei'vices which' the Dominion could afford in more prosperous times must now of necessity he severely curtailed or even discontinued. We recommend that the administration"'of the Noxious Weeds Act should be handed over to the local authorities throughout the Dominion! We reiterate that there are- too many Government lending institutions and every effort should be made to co-ordinate the lending of public money by the various departments, No opportunity shpuld he lost of minimising the number which have authority to make advances. With regard to the Land for Settlements Account, it has been shown that it is impossible as the law now . stands for the Grown to acquire land and subdivide it for settlement without ultimate loss to the taxpayers. The law should certainly be amended to provide for an increased rental return. If this is not done, there must be in the Yery near future still further chafges on taxation in respect of land-settlement. We recommend that th'e educational work at Ruakura State farm should cease at the end of the present term, and that the property be subdivided and offered for settlement at the earliest practicable opportunity. It is a striking commentary on the extent to which the State is now providing social services for the community generally that an organisation which started on a purely volunt'ary . hasis should now he receiving State assistance to th'e extent of over £20,000 per annum. The reference is to' Government assistance to Plnnket societies. We are of opinion that local land boards, as such, should be abolish'ed; but, as it is necessqry "to maintain" contact with settlers, we recommend the setting-up of a committee of three persons in each land district for the purpose of controlling routine administration and acting as an advisory body to a central board in Wellington. We are definitely of opinion that the School Dental service should not be allowed to expand, for if the whole of the children attending the State and sectarian primary sehools were under the care of the School Dental Service the ultimate cost to the Government would be in th'e vicinity of £100,000 per annum. We recommend that no new trainees he enrolled and that every effort be made to reduce the cost of the service. We further recommend that local committees he required to find an additional annual sum of £70 per nurse employed, making a total of £100 per annum per nurse.

We wish to comment on the number of patients of non-British raees who are at present mental defectives and likely to remain a charg© on the community. At the end of last year there were at least 152 alien patients in residence, whose annual cost to the taxpayer is nearly £11,000. It is pleasing to record that negotiations are 'in progress with a view to the repatriation of some of these aliens who are fit to travel, but the majority of the present inmates must continue to he provided for. We mention this mat--ter, as it appears to he desirable that the law should he amended with' a view to providing for the deportation of those who b'ecome insane within, say, five years of their arrival in the Dominion: ,

The mental hospitals population is increasing by approximately two hundred and forty per annum, and it seems that if this increase is maintained there must be a heavy charge for new buildings and equipment. We recommend that the vessel Maui Pomare he1 disposed of at the earliest possible date. . There has been a large increase in the number of officers on tfie secretapial staff of the Ministry in recent years and most Ministers now "have two or more secretaries. The number of officers on the secretarial staff is twenty, and we believe that the number could be reduced by at least five, and that, with a few exceptions, one secretary should suffiee for each Minister. We recommend accordingly. There is one item under the heading "Salaries" to which we also wish to refer — namely, special allowances to messengers ' (including allowanc.es to Ministerial messengers), £822. We see no justification for the continuance of a 'special allowance of this nature. The activities of the department in connection with the Taupo and Rotorua fisheries for 1930-31 resulted in a loss of £4643 16s. iln ari-iving at this figure all charges, including th'e annual payment to the Tuwharetoa Trust Board, have been included. We see no reason why the general taxpayer should be called upon to provide such a large amount for the sport of the few who visit Taupo and Rotorua. We recommend that the scale of rates for the issue of licenses both to overseas visitors and residents of thje Dominion should be revised, with' " a view to making the business selfsupporting. In particular, we see no reason why the fee for local residents at least, should not be substantially increased. The installation of telephones in the residenees of private secretaries and m'embers of the staffs of Ministers of the Crown seems to have expanded unduly, and should be restricted.