WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 August 1921, Page 12

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

BURDEN OF TAXATION.. SEEKING RELIEF, (From Our Own -Correspondent.) There is a growing feeling among business men in Wellington that thc pretisent rate of taxation is unnecessarily high. They are not foolish enough to imagine that by any rearrangement of 1 the incidence or by the practice of any measure of public economy they or an\ other section of the community could (escape from the sore burdens imposed 5 upon the whole world by the ruthless de- .? stnicrion and inevitable waste of the 1 great war. They are practical men, and 1 they are looking at the position in | a practical way. While disclaiming any i party bias, they declare that by the application of sound business principles to • the. administration of the affairs of the •State it would be possible to save, from | two to three millions a year, and at the ! c,ame time make the public service more ; comprehensive and more efficient. They I have not yet reduced their scheme of i reform to precise figures, but they have •- indicated many directions in which very considerable savings could be effected. (EXTRAVAGANT EXPENDITURE. There can be no doubt that during the war the Government and the country acquired habits of expenditure which are altogether inconsistent with ’ the needs of the present time. While the very existence of the Empire and all ■ it implies wore at stake the cost of success could not be counted .’n the terms of well-ordered finance. The Empire simply liad to win, and New Zealand had j to do its part ’‘down to the last shilling and the, last man,” as the iterated and reiterated phrase of the. time ran. 7 But the habits of extravagance have remaimtfl with us after the return of t peace, and nowhere are they more flagrant than in the various State Depart--1 mente, where war expedients have become settled practices. This is the state of affairs to which the business men of the capital city wish to direct the attention of the people of the Dominion, not with the idea of embarrassing or discrediting the Government, but with th? purpose of finding by investigation and discussion a remedy that will relieve the workers of every degree—business men, producers and wage-earners—from some part of the load of taxation under which they arc staggering. THE SESSION. '.Hie announcement of the date of Mr. Massey’s departure from the Old Coun. try has set the authorities on such mat ■ tens speculating as to the probable length of the approaching session of Par liament. Apparently there will be only six or seven sitting days between tlm opening and the arrival of the Prime Minister, and it is expected the leader’s presence will materially shorten qhc preliminary formalities, the debate on the Addres?-in-Reply, and the other ipore or less time-wasting proceedings that mark i the beginning of every session. But do what Ministers may, there will be no [ hope of Parliament proroguing before ’ j the Christmas holidays.’ A. member of the ' House, who has seen many sessions un ’ der many different conditions.- predicts - that there will be an for a ; week for rhe holidays, and that ,(he session will not be finally concluded before th? mid.De of March. This authority allots as much as six weclas to ,the revision of the tariff, and if this time real- ? ly were occupiod by a single question. 1 there would be no doubt: of the session ■ running into its sixth month. > STATE OF PARTIES.' x The state of parties in the House, of course, remains unchanged -since last session. Mr. T. M. Wil ford returned from America yesterday, and presumably wiK resume his activities as leader of the Liberal Opposition, but these activities are not of a militant character, and are not specially directed against the existing order of things. Mr. C. E. Statham lims not yet inspired his new party with •any vital enthusiasm. Little groups of , discerning people have become better acquainted with the young man from Dun- . (‘din Central and bus lofty ideals, but ■ the great mass of thc electors remain unmoved by his appeal for the consolidation of the progressive forces. The benumbing cloud of apathy, in short, lu’.ig? heavily over thc whole field of polities, affecting the •‘ins's, almoist as . much as it does the ‘’outs.” Many of the Reformers are as dissatisfied with the position as are the Liberals and the Labor groups, but they can see no alternative. to the ('.x’isting order that I would, be in any wav’ consistent with I their election pledges. % and ( so the exist ■ ing order is maintained.