The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1919. BUDGET PROPOSALS.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 September 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1919. BUDGET PROPOSALS.

The closer the Budget is studied the more it becomes apparent that its contents are a striking commentary on the whole-hearted way in which the Dominion entered upon and carried out its work in connection with the war. The figures connected with war finance are amazing, and if to those mentioned in the Budget were added the total raised for patriotic purposes, as well as the amount spent by the people in gift parcels for the men at the front, in camps and in hospital, the aggregate for the whole period of the war would be astounding. War loan money raised in the Dominion up to June SO last amounted to £43,761,655, while the expenditure to March 31 last totalled £62,636,720, and provision has this year to be made for a further £29,325,000, of which £8,775,000 is for the cost of the force, treatment of sick and wounded, repatriation, etc.; £6,050,000 for gratuities and allowances ; £12,500,000 for soldiers' settlement and two million for land for soldiers. According to the Premier the war will cost the Dominion over one hundred millions. The war pensions alone, up to March 31 last, represented an annual value of over two and aquarter millions, and this amount will doubtless be considerably increased in the near future. By the side of these large figures, those for what may be termed the ordinary requirements of the country will appear insignificant, though in pre-war times they might have seemed extravagant. It has to be remembered that there is a large accumulation of arrears to be faced in several directions, hence the proposals in the Budget point to large inroads that will have to be made on the Consolidated Fund. The additional subsidy of £50,000 to the Railway Superannuation Fund appears to have become necessary in order to place the fund on a sound footing. A similar sum was voted in 1915 for this purpose, but during the last two years the fund has decreased by £14,000 and the liabilities have increased by £64,800, and the General Manager urged a grant of £150,000 this year and £50,000 per annum thereafter, the present subsidy being £25,000. It would seem that these superannuation funds have a growing tendency to encroach on the Treasury's cash, for the Public Service Superannuation subsidy had recently to be increased by £38,000, and the Teachers' Superannuation by £26,000. After all the talk about the urgency of pushing forward the Government hydro-elee-trie scheme, it is disappointing to find that only £600,000 is to be provided, £IOO,OOO of which is to be seM in tke South Island. The

£500,000 provided for the North' Island in connection with the Mangahao, Arapuni Rapids (Waikato), Wairua Palls (Whangarei), and Waikaremoana power systems, will mostly, if not all, be absorbed by surveys, so that at this time next year there will probably be next to nothing to show for the expenditure. The smallness of the vote indicates that the Government is in no hurry to vi'-orously prosecute this urgently needed work. Fortunately for Taranaki the New Plymouth Borough Council has come to the rescue and is prepared to provide this great boon as promptly as possible should it be so desired. Provision is to be made for increasing the pay of Government employees. This is probably inevitable, but the public would be better pleased if while the smart, efficient men were adequately paid, the drones were weeded out and departmental business carried out on the same sound lines as are in vogue in successful commercial establishments under private management. The housing question has loomed so large of late years that it expected a bold policy would be initiated by the Government. The record for last year is ludicrous—only fourteen workers' dwellings haying been provided last year. It is now stated in the Budget that an endeavor will be made to enable the bread-winner of every family to become the owner of his home on the easiest possible terms, so experts are to be appointed to devote their attention to investigating and introducing the latest methods of building construction. That is just what might have been expected—instead of houses there will be experts, so that unless the local authorities adopt a vigorous policy of house-building the position will rapidly grow worse instead of better. To practical men of ability and enterprise who will acquire the necessary machinery and framing for building concrete dwellings, on a well organised system, there is a fortune to be made without charging unreasonably for the work. The proposal to provide £2,090,000 for public works is not half sufficient for requirements, especially in opening up new country for settlement, and the urgent necessity for vigorously prosecuting at the earliest possible moment the railways authorised and in hand. It is satisfactory to find that £60,000 is to be allocated for epidemic widows and widowers. The influenza epidemic cost many valuable lives and entailed an infinity of suffering that might and should have been prevented by close quarantining, and now the taxpayers will have to provide about £90.000 a year as a penalty for administrative negligence. It will lie seen that while the Government's proposals involve a very considerable sum of money, there are many requirements that find no place in the list. As a policy measure the Budget is disappointing. Possibly after the elections the new Parliament will arise to the occasion—at least it is sincerely hoped this will be the case.