WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 May 1919, Page 12

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

. THE POLITICAL PARTIES. &UMOBS OP RECONSTRUCTION. Correspondent )

Wellington, May 9. The New Zealand Times announced yesterday morning as an "itneresting fact" that the members of the Liberal Party have been invited to attend a conference to be held in Wellington "in about a fortnight's time" for the purpose of considering "questions of policy" and discussing "the future of the party." Many people have assumed frpm this "interesting- fact"' that the members of the party are about to renounce allegiance to their absent chief and proceed to''the construction and promulgation of a new policy without waiting for his return from Londoiu That there is no substantial ground for any assumption of the kind may be judged from the fact that the Hon W. D. S. Mac Donald, the acting leader of the party, and the Hon. A. M. Myers, the temporary custodian of Sir Joseph's principal portfolios, have heard nothing of such a schism as the newspaper paragraph suggests. s

IMPATIENT LIBERALS. But it is obvious to everyone who has watched the drift of political opinion during the last year or two that no .Liberal member of Parliament who rests .hiß claims to re-election solely on the achievements of hi 9 parfrjr in the past win be able to satisfy his constituents of their validity. Doubtless it is the recognition of this fact and the prospect of an appeal to the country in the near fnture tljat have made certain members on both sides .of tlie-House impatient with the party truce and with what they regard as the somnolence and inertia of their party, leaders." But, as a Minister pointed out this morning, there is nothing in the nature of the trace nor in their obligations to Sir . Joseph Ward to prevent these restless - souls preaching the new gospel up and down the country forthwith. The only obligation that lies upon them is fealty to fheig leaders during their absence from the dominion. PROGRESSIVE REFORMERS. In this respect the two old parties are In much the Same case. The "New Party" and the "Welfare League," mainly composed of "progressive" Reformers, are dissatisfied with Mr Massey because mb has failed to do what it would be impossible'for him to do during the existence of the party truce. What they are anxious to do is to dissociate themsajves from the sins of commission and omission of their own party and to pose before the electors as the pioneers of . the new political evangel Reading the signs of the times they are entertaining, the old dream of dishing the Whigs, ap■parently forgetting that Mr Massey himself already has done a good deal in ithat direction and lately has shown a disposition to do a great deal more. One danger of the situation is that with iboth the old parties in the field with spectacular programmes the elements of stability may be neglected. SANE LABOR. The attitude of sane labor towards 4he new developments has been well | expressed by one of the most capable and consistent of its exponents. The

mistake both liberals and are making, he said in the course of an interview the other day, is in imagining they have to gq half -way with the extremists to catch the votes of working men and women. What these men and women want is the adaptation to "the needs of New Zealand of the progressive policies that have been carried •out successfully in other countries. In municipal government, which touches the daily life of the worker more close - ly than State Government Boes, England is far ahead of the Dominion and is drawing further away from this country every day. The party tliat sets out seriously and vigorously to remove this reproach and to quicken the social conscience of the community is the one that will obtain the support of sane labor. If both fail, the workers will have only one alternative.

SURPLUSES AND LOANS. j CANDID CONFUSION. ' Wellington, May 12.

{ One of the candid critics of the ' National Government—a southern newspaper of Liberal professions—has been 1 taking the absent Minister of Finance i and his locum tenens. the Hon. A. M. : Myers, severely to task over the manner j in which they present their statements J of the public accounts. "It pleases New , Zealand treasurers." this authority says, j "to exhibit what they call 'surpluses' and I to ignore deficits. Neither Sir Josepji • W.ard nor his deputy is at all singular in ' this respect, and the public is now ' familiar with the method. As a fact, i it is many a long year since the so- ' called surplus was more than a circumstance compared with the addition to the public debt." The v.ord surpluses is : printed within inverted commas for the ! purpose of expressing the candid critic's | contempt for the methods of Sir Joseph i Ward and Mr. Myers, and for the mnm- ■ ory of all the Treasurers that have gone • before them, and having relieved his ; feelings in this way, he proceeds to show ; that, while the surpluses during the laSTt ! four years have amounted to some - £15.000,000, the additions to the public ! debt have reached "£75.000,000 or £60,000,000." j A MATTER OF TWENTY MILLIONS. When the attention of the Acting Minister of Finance was called , to this criticism to-day, he said he was quite- •' sure of the good intentions of the writer, but it was obvious the good intentions were somewhat marred by a very rudimentary knowledge of finance and of accountancy.. To begin with, the Minister did not understand why the additions to the public debt during the five war years should be estimated at "£75,000,000 or £60,000,000." The additions during four years had been some £54,000,000, and surely no one who had been keeping an intelligent eye upon the war expenditure could expect the . addition during the financial year just closed to be so small as £6.000,000. However, that might bp allowed to pass. For himself, the Minister went on to say, he might plead quite reasonably in extenuation of his offence, if offence there had been in his method of presenting the accounts, that it was not for him to depart from the method followed by his chief, Mr. Seddon, Mr. Bal--1 lance, Sir Harry Atkinson, and all the other Treasurers he could remember. BALANCE BETWEEN ACCOUNTS. But Mr. Myers did not make this plea, and he thought the method of presenting

the accounts not only the most convenient, but also the most illuminative. He did not suppose there were many editors in the Dominion who did not understand what the surplus meant, but, as there evidently -was one, he might be pardoned for explaining its significance again. It was, as its title implied, the difference between the receipts and the expenditure —the receipts from taxation and services on one side and the expenditure upon administration, interest, and services on the other. If the Government received £15,000,000 and spent £14,000,000 the surplus would be £1,000,000; if it received £14,000,000 and spent £15,000,000 it would leave no surplus at all, fc, r a deficit of £1,000,000. Mr. Myers was intensely amused by his critic's suggestion that the British Government should be informed that the statement of the Dominion's receipts and expenditure does not include its expenditure upon the war. The British Government makes up its accounts in practically the same way, and may be trusted to understand that New Zealand is not so overburdened with wealth as to be indifferent to the payment of indemnities by Germany. EXCESS PROFITS. Referring to other matters mentioned by his critic, Mr. Myers said there always would be differences of opinion in regard to the incidence of taxation, and he was not going to quarrel with people simply because they did not subscribe to his view of the question. But he would like those who were advocating the taxation of excess profits to explain, at least in general terms, how they would proceed with the assessment. Theoretically, an excess profit tax was udmiTable~it was one of those sweetsounding phrases that appealed to all of us—but in practice it had been found everywhere if not actively impracticable, very unproductive. As for the accumulated surpluses, the object of investing them in -London was to have them available for any emergency that might arise. If the war had gone on for another year or two olid England's own financial resources lifd been strained they would have been Invaluable. Now the war was over the Dominion would find plenty of uses for them in its domestic requirements.