The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE. MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1920. WANTED, A FINANCE CRITIC.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3548, 9 August 1920, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE.

MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 1920. WANTED, A FINANCE CRITIC.

With which is incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino News!’

’ The curtain has sudélenvly .becn rung down on another politica-1 farce; upon one of those acts upon lthe political stage for which New Zealand is becoming notoziowist Au ivs¢elli. gent -cfiticism of the G«oiv:ernment’s Financial Statement Was not practicable because there is not 2., man in the House who knows enough about the eountry’s finance to enter "into intelligent. discussion +t.hereon. In the absence ‘of Sir James Allen and Sir Joseph Ward, and, perhaps, Mr. Payne, the finances of this country must perforce he directed by Heads of Departments. The Prime Minister, who is also Minister of Finance be cause there not another man in his party who knows more about it ‘than he does, has to -he guided almost entirely by his officers, and the Statement was obviously of other making than his own. When, in the little criticism that did take place, the Min‘ister was cornered, and that was frequently the case, his,.. fundamental ar~ lgument was that the Government re~ quireduevery penny «of revenue pro vided for. ».:Doe_s ,_not a Parliament of "t'lii's,na.t,ure flll';l_liSl_l_‘ food. for serious: ”I“e'flect.i_on-l.l9y.».exjery class tin. the ;com-. “iiiuhity? .Here are. eighty ._men, select-_. i e‘d.by the _peo_p_le to -condnyct the busi-. ;?ness _afi?ail'_s~ oi, t;h.el.¢aolnnl_u-nity:an(l_ not‘ one has _ .syuflicien,tly_ equippesl himself with that lsnowlekige of the country’si finances that would enable him to take lany effective part in the Dominion’s financial needs; tr; take a forceful action or stand upon firm, incontesl:able ground and show from whence the hitherto unprecedented amount of revenue can honestly and justly be ’taken. It is deceiving oneswf no say this is not the situation; Mr. ‘Massey has virtua.-lly got the power he seems to have been angling for; he is running the country with hfilf-u dozen lle:ul.~!.oftdcpui'tmenLs ;.an(l afew ‘dummy Ministers. The hi<_l(_len hand of greed aml autoemcy has evidently decreed that such is the posit.ion’Mr. ‘Massey is to maintain, aniclltlie eonstituencies‘ may ‘expect to -find that however much need there is foe ‘in-oi-‘euséd riwitirria,‘ that nee-:l willlmvc }.to.be.‘lne"t fl'oln":the!pockets ofntlmse [who it‘ is a crime against humanity I to further overburden. Members have ;serious]y°'dl'awll the Ministe.l".< atteni tion to the discontent lxhut is: incoming lcloscly (n'g‘:lllised f..:-mn cml to cm] of I the Dominion; they have l7":-1&1 him from their place. in the House tlnuw this lc.leuva;__»‘o of cvlzisses has either to he 'S(-’(Z.lvll in l’¢lrli:lL:'um)l' or in ‘rho Sty.‘-Jet. Inn-. Mnsscy will not: tf)l(?‘i‘2lt€,‘ any in~i‘i:ert'urcnc(>. with his plans in any way xi or to any <leg'.'ce. \Vliell:lskv(l '»\'llu.tlu‘l' i it ‘nus not nnl'm'.l' and ll(3(‘.l_.lAl(‘,.\‘S. to keep $P:lJ’ll(llllCIlt{lI‘)' <‘:lmr\\'om.zul at work i on .\fund:»ly, he replied that. it was muchlCSFill'_V that they should \\'o.l'k on that ‘cl.-a,\,'. Not even the Cll{ll'\\‘l)llH_,'ll cm: i ployezl by the Go\'ex‘llnlel:t: :u‘o limitoil ito six (lays work per week Iml'\‘§‘il'hsinnding the met‘ that Ptirliament docs ! not sit Ln S‘atu2'd:ly. What is :1 lumi§Sllip to those working wmnon is the |COll¢.'(‘l‘ll of C\'E‘l‘)'()]l(3} for it ill(licatos .ft.lm great need there for lieepiiigz :~::.:c:t’ui w:lr‘(:l'2 over: the ‘.’l,f;‘hl.\', and

i;'.,"i\'i!ogos M‘ the’ n'1:(?4? cornnltnfify‘. i 1! is lm-.nlin_<_v :1?x~1(»;e1 daily lnore ob!vi.o1::; why there was Sucyh :1 wolJ'\zplanned symtenx of c:l.lumniati<m put Einfo Upon-:,lti<nl :.:.<,-‘::ix1.~11. Ssl‘ «TO-WNI ] \Var(l; :tf_§u'lllsL the only man in nil Hm E ccnsfiumncos at HlO Tu.-st. gmwral chicEtim: whn hm] nn_\' l{newler]}__;«> of the }-«'ol.‘ultry’s finxmueo fitting him for cfr‘(>.<:~ Etivoly vl~itivi.'<ing the Govul'llmPlll’S 1' fu1:1nci:11 statemenvf and their esfitnlafes fur the cul'l'ent year. 'v'r.-rj.-' nr-arly the whole of the i.llcrea.~:«;d I:L.\'al"u.m needed being taken from Hm working and hn.~'ine.~.:.~' coxmxxunity: this plundering of the poorest st:-atas wculd not haw‘ hr-on p():~‘:<i}flr} mu] I.}'.en;~ hem) 9. critic of the :;.a.}'_il.n'<= Hf Sir .7050}-h W:::'<‘.. Ha vioum h:~\'.‘ nwt.'l- - slazxlcen thee (txxnninyfly dc.<_:i;;zl"vd Hlxutic-n <3olltl-a.pfi~«)n.~: out of the party sarzk and hat'lel-er] ‘u‘h<‘m 01111 ti’ all Reform rec.ognition. Is 'therc any -wonder the campaign of calumry agpinst Sir Josoph Warn‘: :1‘: the -:-loctions. was so sedulouflp marl’ snMi_v un"»‘«‘-sl'*"u"l in A 11075’ war, on the lillos, of thosn.

amongst Turks and Arabs and just as vbitter, was preached against the ‘citizen who has done more for the people of -this “country than any man in the present Parliament. No power or weapon was too mean or contemptible to be used against. the most cap{able administrator living of this countrys afi:'airs. Has this country dczcrced that party incompetence is to crush our ability and .merit.? It seems as though that were the case if the ‘discussion in Parliament as chronicled in Hansard is any criterion. There is inc: other explanation of the sudden collapse of the debate on the financial statenient than that there was neither the knowledge nor ability, nor leader in the House to Continue it. If there is any one duty that should press heavily upon the peoples’ representatives it is that of‘ evolving a. scrupulously just inciihénpg ..o§:‘ tnxavtllon. Several Members did their utmost to convince the P.remie_r that there was :1 suspicion of injustice in taking adrlitional taxation out of the customs; they pointed out -that duties were being levied on clothes and boots four times in excess cf pre»wal' levies on the same class -of goods, It véas shown that increased. railway charges would be added to the prices of com--\nlodities carried, and would have (to be paid by the unfortunate masses of ‘£llo per-ople——the c-o-nsunler's. It is evident that the from twenty-five ~10 one hundred per cent. additional charge on postages would have to be forwarded -on to the people. From the fact that one hundred per cent. additional postage is being exacted the Prime Minister. does» not consider that newspapers are at all lnecessary to back country set.tl'ers, ‘who, almost s'ole'ly, are the people such a’ tax will I aifiect. People lin downs: and cities have theis papers delivered, and it is not yet understandable whyi Mr. Massey imposes such a disability ppon back block farmers. Another aspect of the increased postage on newspapers is that only country newspaper ifi-‘ices post newspapers to any appreciable extent. City newspapers are distributed by agents, and are not posted from city offices. This postage is a tax levied upon country newspapers and country fa.rnle‘rs to which dwellers in cities and city newspapers contri-. .butofl_litllc_o-r nothing. The law per--mitsp, of. the fleecing of; thc_masscs.xo-f _l:llc‘pe_o-ple _to_any extent but, accord-_; ing to Mr. Massey, it does not per-mi;t. of "any increase in death duties which .st:a.ml at 15... per cent. in New Zealand .as_against 40 per cent. in Britain. The Gc»vci=nnlcnt’s taxatioll_p,rppos'als ,are not co-nrlucive ‘to’ a condition of ‘contentment in this‘ Dominion and al'th'ough many Membeirsdo not ‘say so in Parliainentgthiey .h:‘lv"'e‘-‘the irresistible feeling tliat"F‘tr'ohble is in sight;