WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 May 1922, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE NATIONAL BALANCE SHEEIi . A SMALL DEFICIT. (From Gur Special Correspondent.) Wellington, May 12. The national balance sheet the Prime Minister submitted to his audience at Feilding on Wednesday evening, and through his audience to the Dominion at large, while emphasising the need for the strictest economy in every department of public expenditure, was not without some indications of improving conditions. The figures revealed that the expenditure for the financial year closed on March 31 Inst ( had exceeded the revenue ( £28,127,007) by £339,831. Mr. Massey’s political opponents are quite justified in describing this balance on the wrong side of the ledger a deficit, the first the Dominion has experienced for many a long year, but his political friends will prefer the more euphonious term, an excess of expenditure. The Minister himself adjusts the matter by drawing upon his accumulated balance from previous years, and so reaches the equilibrium dear to the heart of every Treasurer. The process, of course, is a perfectly legitimate one, and, to do Mr. Massey and the Treasury officers justice, they have presented the facts quite clearly and with commendable candor. THE FIGURES. The striking figures on the revenue side of. the account are the enormous decline in the sums obtained from Customs duties and income tax. The former, a reaction from the extravagant importations of previous years, was inevitable, and is not unsatisfactory so far as it indicates the practice of reasonable economy on the part of the public. The incoinem tax revenue was affected to some extent by the concession made for prompt payment, and to a much larger extent by the decreased incomes of numbers of people. But the results of investigations that are being made suggest that an increasing number of people who should be contributing towards the public revenue through this channel are escaping the attention of the taxing officers. Mr. Massey, though frankly admitting that excessive taxation is hampering trade and enterprise, holds out little hope of early relief. Any movement id this direction, he let it be understood, must be preceded by a substantial reduction in expenditure, and the economies so far effected are not yet very impressive. THE OUTLOOK. It is evident, however, even after every bright feature of the figures has been picked out and magnified, that the difficulties before Mr. Massey are colossal. The Dominion, the Government’s most kindly critic, does not attempt to disguise this fact. “The need for stringent national economy,’ it says, “is very plainly emphasised in the details of revenue and expenditure for 1911-12. Although the position in regard to Customs revenue is quite exceptional, it reI mains a fact of serious significance that last , year’s expenditure exceeded revenue. Taking account also of the fact that the con yis loaded with a burden of taxation which of necessity hampers the recovery, not to speak of the expansion, of trade and industry, it is self-evident that nothing but drastic economies will clear the financial outlook. The only sound course for the Government to pursue is to continue the policy laid down last year of caution and economv.” The quality of the caution and economy of the Government will be revealed during the approaching session of Parliament. AN INDEPENDENT VIEW. The Evening Post, which aims, quite earnestly on many occasions* to hold the balance fairly beetween the contending parties, does not go very deeply into Mr. Masesy’s figures, but evidently is not altogether satisfied with their significance “The moral seems to be,” it says, “that the Government administrative expenditure is still too high, having regard to (1) tne revenue, (2) the non-reducible permanent charges, (3) the interest charges of new bdrro-wing, and (4) the cry for reduction of taxation. Contemplation of accummulated surpluses should not blunt zeal for economy. We cannot live on our past. We must take every precaution to live upon our present and future, and within our income.” Business men here are not altogether satisfied by Mr. Massey’s allusions to taxation. They maintain that industry and commerce cannot continue to bear their present grievous burdens while tne country struggles through a long period of recovery, and that in the absence of speedy relief very serious troubles must arise. Extreme Labor, on the other hand, insists that the Government has plenty of money and ought to be spending it.