WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 November 1921, Page 10

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MR. MASSEY’S DETERMINATION. THE ECONOMY CAMPAIGN (Special Correspondent.) Wellington, October 31. His announcement in the House that he is “out” to save every pound he can in order to bring the public expenditure within the public revenue, and that if he fails in his purpose he will “make room” for another man, leaves no doubt about the earnestness with which the Prime Minister is pressing his economy campaign. The accounts for the September quarter which were published at the end of last week do not show, however, that Mr. Maesey is making any very rjpid progress towards his allotted goal. It is true that the expenditure, compared with that for the corresponding period of last year, fell by £270,621, bur. timultaneousiy the revenue declined by £l,753,973, so that the account actually was some £1,483,000 further behind at the end of the quarter than it was at the beginning. The Post and Telegraph Department, which has b“C*n making a special effort to ecomomise, was unable to arrest the upward tendency of its expenditure, but the increase for this quarter was limited to £3643, while its revenue was increased by £53,183. Taking the figures'together they indicate an acceptable improvement in the position. , tAVINGS. But it is something much more substantial than the saving of a few thousands here and a few thousands there that, is required to put the finances of the Dominion in order. The Prime Minister himself has admitted that the great burden of taxation is grievously opposing the commerce and industries of the country and indefinitely delaying the return to normal conditions. But with a declining revenue Ae only possible road to a reduction of taxation lies by way of lessened expenditure. Four or five millions require to be saved for this purpose, and business men here believe the task can be accomplished if the Government sets about it boldly. So far Mr. Massey and his colleagues have not accomplished a great deal. The revenue for the first six months of the financial year showed a decline of £1,916,327, and the expenditure an increase of £1,069,161. This means that the Dominion went further to the bad by some £2,985,483 during the six months. Delay in facing the facts has landed the Dominion in an extremely difficult position, and the Prime Miister’s pledge to the public has come none too soon. LOYALTY. With so many other perplexing problems confronting the Government, a less courageous politician than the Minister of Education would have hesitated to include in the (Education Amendment Bill a clause requiring all teachers in the public schools to take an oath of allegiance. But Mr. Parr shares with many other nervous people an idea that a wave of' blighting communism is sweeping over the country, and that it is necessary to arrest its progress at any cost. There can be no doubt about the Minister’s sincerity, atk! there need be no suspicion concerning his motives. But an increasing number of people refuse to see the peril he has discovered, and doubt the wisdom of submitting one of the loyalest sections of a loyal community to a test which would imply the prevalence of disloyalty in its ranlfs. The Labor members, of course, are denouncing the proposal in the strongest Parliamentary language they can command, and they are not standing alone in their opposition to the proposal. On all sides of the House there are stout patriots objecting to the manufacture of loyalty by Act of Parliament. WORK IN PARLIAMENT. For some reason, which has not been disclosed, but which numbers of people here associate with the Auckland ’ yeleetion, Parliament has been working in a very leisurely fashion since the opening of the session. Mr. Massey’s return made little difference in this respect. Ministers made no attempt to push business, along, and private members showed no disposition to talk. It is promised, however, that this week there will be a change—that the Prime Minister will bring down the Financial Statement, that the new Customs tariff will be produced, that the Racing Commission’s report will be discussed, and that private members will have no further excuse for complaining of dull times. The Financial Statement will deal with both the economy campaign and the tariff proposals, and good, bad, or indifferent, as it may be, according to the varying points of view, will rank among the most important Budgets ever presented to Parliament. . It is predicted that the Minister’s proposals for retrenchment will be drastic, and that the tariff revision will be almost entirely in the direction of raising additional revenue. It will not be a cheerful document.