The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 23, 1921. THE DOMINION’S FINANCES.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 May 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 23, 1921. THE DOMINION’S FINANCES.

The figures contained in the summary of the Dominion’s publie accounts for the year ended' on March 31 last, as published in the Gazette, are such as should arrest the attention of the public to a greatei- extent than usual, not merely because they constitute a record, but on account of the fact that in the annual race between revenue and expenditure the latter wins hands down. During last year the total receipts amounted to £54,249,938, which may be regarded as a great achievement for a million and a quarter of people. Naturally such a heavy drain on resources, preceded by others of a like nature, must seriously affect the reserve of national, wealth, but this phase will not be illustrated until the close of the current financial year, when the effect of the lower prices obtained for produce will be only too apparent. It is not with the gross receipts that the public will be most ‘concerned, but with those which constitute ordinary revenue, for in the absence of the full details it is not possible to follow up the figures which represent the difference between the total receipts and the total revenue. That the ordinary revenue of the country should have reached £34,192,986 is not surprising in view of the abnormal increase in the Customs duties consequent on the heavy importation of goods last year. The exceptional revenue of between eight and nine millions from this service, while it was a windfall for the Treasury, created a stringency in the money market, and the country is being considerably inconvenienced by the payment for the goods and the extra three and a half millions which the Customs produced. There is just about the expected increase in most of the other items of revenue, income tax being in the forefront of the advances, the increase being well on towards three millions out of the total-increased revenue of eight millions. It is a tremendous sum to exact from the comparative handful of taxpayers, and cannot, cf course, be maintained. It is the expenditure side of the account, •that causes concern. The figures in some of the show alarming increases. With a total expenditure by the departments of nearly sixteen millions, and of ever twelve millions on permanent appropriations, there is imposed on the community a big burden, for the relief of which no real effort seems to be made. The only feature of the year’s working that appeals to some people is the amount of the surplus, which in years past was utilised in large measure for the prosecution of public works. This year it may be described as a will-o’-the-wisp surplus. Nominally it exceeds six millions, but actually it is non-ex-istent, at any rate for the time being. A few days ago Sir Francis Bell startled the public by proclaiming that the Treasury was empty, although the published figures show that on March 31 the cash in the public account was nearly five millions, yet in another paragraph it is set down as s).glibly over two millions. In a more

; recent statement the Aeting-Pre- ' raier states that the surplus has : I ready disappeared by various operations. That no doubt is why the Treasury is empty. No blame attaches to Sir Francis, who is at the mercy of the Departmental heads, and no doubt endeavors to do justice to the brief he holds in this matter. At the same time the 'whole position calls for complete

investigation. Manifestly we will have to pare down, not in thousands but in hundreds of thousands. Even if the surplus of six millions becomes available as a result of Mr. Massey’s success in raising a loan in London, the loan money taking the place of the revenue that apparently has been temporarily borrowed for urgent needs, we will have great difficulty in squaring accounts for the current year. This fact is apparent to any observer, and therefore the Government should lose no time in closely and thoroughly overhauling its great spending de partments, and, if necessary, simply allocate them certain sums and mstist 'on their keeping within the limits. At the same time care should be taken not to practise false economy, as by cutting down expenditure in /directions where the resources of the country are 'being developed. Of this expenditure we can have more, not less, as only by the development of our resources can we in future make revenue square with the other side of the national ledger.