NO PROPER CONTROL

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 451, 5 June 1937, Page 2

NO PROPER CONTROL

PARLIAMENT AND EXPENDITURE “Hollow Authority” Before discus® on of the national fimnces, consequent on the statement on -the Budgetary position by the Acting-Prime Minister, is ended, there remains, a matter of considerable moment to ’which public attention requires to be drawn —namely, the lack of proper Parliamentary control iver Government expenditure (says a statement by the Ass-ocba-ted Chambers of Commerce of New* Zealand).. The Acting-Prime Minister, in his statement, certainly gave figures ot revenue and expenditure which have never before be-n'given at ro tarly a date; LasA year, similar figures were not available until published in the “Gazette” on June' 22—nearly three months after the close of the financial year to which they related. The usual practice is for the Budget then to be brought down in July or later. By comparison, details of the British Budgetary position were given this year almost immediately after th e close of the financial year on March 31 —as is usual—and the Budget was then brought down in the House of Commons on April 20. *‘A Rubber Stamp.” It is a very important matter that Parliamentary control over expenditure should be in no way weakened — as unquestionably it is seriously weakened under the present system in New Zealand of bringing down th® Budget in July or later (last year it was August 4) whqn a good deal of the votes asked for have already been Epent in that part ot the new financial -year since March 31. In such circumstances there can b e little effective examination, discussion or criticism of the Government’s financial policy, added to which Parliament losseE 1 effective control of expenditure, it becomes a rubber-stamp, and is able to do little more than formally endorse the policy of the executive.

It is the expressed desire of the Government to shape a new course so that the country’s affairs could be discussed at the earliest possible moment after March 31. The ActingPrime Minister has at any rate attempted this year to speed up publication of the accounts, and it is to be hoped that the complete reform will be effected next year. Unfortunately, owing to the fact that three Ministers, including ’the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, ar e in England, Parliament will not meet until during August, consequently there 1e no prospect of the Budget being brought down any earlier this year. There are many questions of public concern awaiting ventilation in Parliament in regard to expenditure. For instance, what are the details of current financing and costs in th e Goviprnment’s housing 43heme? Whist is it costing the country for the Government to conduct the produce busi-

ness it bought from Picot Bros. Ltd. without a specific vote from Parliament? What are the commitments tor the current year on the Unemployment Fund, and is the Fund being spent as usual, or is l it being built up with a view to taxation .remission because of the fact that the Fund is now relieved of the weight of thousands of unemployed and unemployables? What rate of interest (if any) is being paid by the Government for the substantial accommoda. tion being given it by the Reserve Bank? WLi-it is the full cost of the reduction of working hours in State services for the current year? How many more public servants ; ar e being added to the country’s already overloaded pay-roll? How much money will have been spent, by the time Parliament meets, on th e acquisition ot goods services which are competitive with the railways How much will have been spent' in possible excess of the £lo,o® voted lasjt yd-r tor the purchase and maintenance of B stations What is. the deficit in the guaranteed price account, and what, contingency is thd country carrying for the current financial ye»ar? When Parliament is given tlje Budget some five months after the commencement of a financial year there is littl e it can effectively say or do in. exercise of its office of “effectively controlling expenditure”—a hollow authority. A Major Reform. It mby b e contended that Parliament gave the executive broad author; iy under different Acts to enter mto certain forms of expenditure, but it is most unsatisfactory that the executive, after determining the degree of expenditure, should then present belatedly to Parliament estimates which are not merely a polite record of moneys, thlat have been substantially spent. What prospects are there of a financial programme emerging from Parliament which gives some relief to over-burden taxpayers? An instance of how money which was not a specific ‘appropriation from Parliament is being spent is provided by the Housing Construction De par t- ! ment, which recently sprang into exj istence, with a Director of Housing i Construction and a staff of public i servants. Why was the proposed ex_ I pendiitur e on this new department not I included in last year’s estimates to Parliament like that of any other de- | partment, or reserved for this year’s |eJLmate&? It might be that expeni ditupe on this department is exces- | sive, but Parliament will not even i know until August what has been

spent on <the new department, or to what the Government has committed itself for the current year.

As already Eta-ted, nothing can be done by the calling of an early session of Parliament this year to restore authority and control to representative government in the matter of national expenditure, but it is a reform of major importance for early attention next year. In the meantime, the executive of Government can preserve some shell of authority to Parliament by refraining until Parliament meets from entering into new expenditures for the current financial J ear for which it has not yet obtained specific appropriations from Parliament.