The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1917. OUR LEGISLATIVE CROP

Taihape Daily Times, 3 November 1917, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1917. OUR LEGISLATIVE CROP

("With, which is incorporated Tno Tainape Post and Walmarino News).

The curtain has been rung down on another session of Parliament while (he Empire is still in the throes of, y, world conflagration, . and while our newspapers are filled with the names of those of our brother. New Zeaianders who have made the supreme sacrifice that our national life' may continue to be guided free from interference by Germany. Members -have entered another recess while there is yet no end of the war within sight, and while there is yet nothing to indicate that the end is near. As a people we have no conscious fear of the out come of the struggle, and our life and conduct is therefore not what would be expected in a time of war, it is the old old struggle for political supremacy. Our legislation, placing aside finance measures for war purposes and administration do not stand cut in a way to impress us, nor do they appear to be of any great import. Nothing has been attempted for the comfort and convenience of the people, in fact, legislation has distinctly tended to an increase of their already heavy burdens. No Government of this country has .had such opportunities to earn the love and respect of the people, and no Government has so ruthlessly disregarded the people's constant cry for relief. The people have hoped against hope throughout the session only to find that workers and producers have again been left to the mercy of that class that has proved itself to be entirely without a conscience that is not consumed by their greed_ Take away from the work of Parliament Acts covering Appropriations, Supply, Finance, and War Purposes Loans very little indeed is left. We may fairly say it has been a sessioa for raising money, and sequentially, for increasing the burdens of the people without any earnest attempt whatever to lighten them. Eliminate those Acts relating to finance which constitute the work of the Minister of that Department, and what is left does not represent a respectable session's work for two other Ministers, let alone for the whole of the Cabinet. The time of Parliament has been taken up with bickerings begat of finesse and nega-

tive action; the people have indeed cried for bread and have received a stone, and they have been turnea away chagrined and disappointed. The obligations of providing money falling upon the Minister of Finance were inueed great and difficult, or such .iiugnnuue and importance as a New Government has hitherto hao. ao Knowledge of, and he will be jadged in tne future 0y tne degree of success achieved in the disposal of them. Beside what has fallen to the Minister of Finance there is little else to discuss. We run up and down -the list of laws enacted emanating from other Ministers, and we discover a disappointing amount of sack. The fact is the menu confronting members on taking their seats at tne commencement of the session was so meagre that each had to dig up something to exercise his oratorical powers upon. Cost of Living looked promising, but when the cover was lifted, each member felt inclined to curse the Ministerial Cook. Many days were spent in complaining and making suggestions, but the cook was adamant and no improvement resulted. Parliament has proved itself distinctly superior to its Ministry; as representatives of the people Members stood valiantly and persistently for the people's cause but the negative attitude of a selfconstituted Government rendered their efforts of no avail, with perhaps one notable exception. Allowances to wives and dependants, or, in other words remuneration to second division men for the keep of their wives and dependants, while they were away risking their lives for the State, were fixed at such a mean, miserly level that no honest man amongst us could meet a second reserve man in the street without feeling ashamed. The Minister of Defence marshalled all his forces against conceding more liberal adjustments but, to the eternal honour of Members, the Minister was compelled -to beat a retreat, a defeat he has neither forgotten nor forgiven. He was asked in the dying moments of the session whether he would allow discharged soldiers something more than thirty shillings to buy a suit of private clothes, when compelled to discard uniform, and he peremptorily.replied .No, anu added, tne more

pensions and allowances the less need lor increasing the muiti allowance.

we; mention mis> incident as an instance or the spirit pervading the Deience Department towards the men who are by law compelled to leave their wives and dependants to .fight the Country's battles, and it needs be, give their lives in so uoing; but, looking down the wnoie list oi legislation'''enacted there are not wanting strong evidences or the failure of National Government from t--.ie people's The huge increase of taxation will have to be borne by production, no matter whether it is collected directly or indirectly, All the money we have eddies' from what we have to seli; there is no other source of income, and it is as well that producers of our ricaes should realise this. There is little to be gained in cavilling about incidence; farmers may think they are shifting some of the burden by having business taxed and customs duties raised, but it is a law of nature that it must eventually come from the only source of riches. The only road to relief is one Government

termined to keep closed. The riches we raise must provide all the money for the taxes Government has imposed but instead of increasing the num.ber of riches-getters the Government is reducing them. It should be plain that the burden which producers have to bear now would only be a'bct.c

as troublesome if there were twice the number to bear them. We would suggest to farmers that land laws of the last few years have tended rather to their enslavement than benefit. High prices for produce must cease more or less rapidly after the war, but taxation will move in a reverse direction, and as money is only possible through those who delve it from the earth, the earth only can pay that increased taxation. The earth is the source of all our money, therefore it is the fountain from which taxation must come Then why do so many farmers consent to a policy that is reducing the number of taxationpayers instead of entering upon a crusade for insisting that they shall be increased? It only needs the merest smattering of political economics for one to realise that the producing industries are bringing about their own destruction in keeping lands locked up that should be helping to find the money that the few must otherwise pay. We mean that the Government has only been concerned during the past sesion in raising money, and by temporising with most other matters which have been forced under its notice. The only policy that is capable of saving this country from perilous times is the institution and prosecution of a vigorous policy to increase the army of producers. Huge

.axation burdens are as certain as we exist, and as all riches come from the iand ; why do we not get more m«?n uu tne land, and get more land into a riches-producing condition so that it may share the burden, divide it up so that it will not become oppressive and unbearable? Millions of acres are being held for speculative purposes and every effort, as we have seen, is beingmade to keep their capital value samefully low so that when the p'.nch comes taxation thereon will not press heavily, as it undoubtedly will on lands fully producing. Parliament, or rather the Government has shirked its duty to the tax-earning, and therefore f Jtaxpa:ying-producersf < There is no doubt about the burdens coming and it is scarcely understandable why farmers do not insist upon an increase of the shoulders to bear them.