NEED FOR ECONOMY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 371, 4 November 1932, Page 7

NEED FOR ECONOMY

N.Z. Farmexs' Union, Auckland Province.)

MORE DRASTIC MEASURES MAY STILL BE NEEDED. FACTORS OF UNCERTAINTY. rPuhlished bv Arrans:ement with the

"When I consider all the factors of uncertainty, some of th|em beyond control of this Government, which may yet falsify some of the anticipations upon which my recent Budget was based, I feel that we may yet have to anticipate savings and eeonomies 'of a more drastic nature than thbse which can be effected merely by paring down this or that item in the expenses of the various departments. "But I have recently made careful examination and careful analysis of the national 'expenditure, and I cannot but come to the conclusion that to make the substantial reductions in expenditure which would be necessary in order to give real effective relief to the taxpayer would involve changes of national policy which would go far beyond anything that has yet been contemplated. "I do not say at this moment that it may be necessary to inflict further trials of that kind upon the nation, but I do say that if we should he forced by the pressure of circumstances to bring about these new and more drastic reductions of expenditure, I trust that we shall have the support of all clear-thinking and responsible citizens." — Th'e Chancellor of the Exchequer. "I can assure my right hon. friend that not very much hard thinking is required," said Mr. Winston Churchill, speaking in the Commons with reference to the speeeh of Mr. Neville Chamberlain quoted above. "All that he has got to do is to ask the officials of the Treasury to provide him with a cut of £10,000,000, £20,000,000, £30,000,000, £40,000,000 or £50,000,000. There will he no difficulty at that point. The difficulties will begin when those proposals reach the Cabinet, and the difficulties will accentuate themselves when, having passed through the Cabinet, they reach the House of Commons, and they will reach a climax when having passed through the House of Commons, they finally reach the nation at large. However, surely now is the time, beeause what is the use of a National Government if it cannot do salutary, unpopular things? A party Government in that it has, I will not say no soul to be damned, but it has no hope of posterity, and its body is so hard that it is scarcely worth kicking. But now is the time, and I do hoped that my right hon. friend will take full advantage of his opportunities of doing things which an ordinary party Government cannot do." £2,000,000 Every Week. "I have beeii looking into the expenditure of local authorities hy means of borrowing during the past few years published in what is known as the Local Government Chronicle, and I was astounded to find that last year, on the average, local authorities were borrowing for one purpose or another money to the tune of £2,000,000 a week," said Sir V. Henderson, M.P., in the same debate. "That means £100,000,000 a year. When we realise that a large part of that money is used for activities which are subsequently reflected in increased grants made by different Government departments for education, roads police or other purposes, and that neither this House nor the Treasury has th'e slightest control over that borrowing, I -think every one will realise that the position is highly unsatisfactory and one which demands the attention of every thinking man who is really interested in economy." "I do not think," said Colonel John Buchan, M.P., "that you can ever get real economy by merely paring down th'e not Very extravagant salaries of public servants. The only way to effect true economy is hy root and branch reconsideration and recasting of the public service with a view not only to costs but to purpose. "In all the forms of insurance, in education, in public health, in housing and many other things, we have a ehance to set our house in order. Far too much of our public expenditure is composed of illogical accretions, and we want to- reduce it into shape and purpose.

"The Government* have a great opportunity to effect the only true economy,- wbich comes, not from merely lopping cff twigs with a blunt, indiseriminating pruning direeted with a clear purpose. If they do this they 1 will be rememhered as one of the great reforming governments in our history."