MR. HOLLAND AND THE CIVIL SERVANTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 December 1922, Page 4

MR. HOLLAND AND THE CIVIL SERVANTS.

Mr. Holland is early in the field in urging the Prime Minister that “in view of the clearly-expressed wish of the electors” the Government should announce that there will be no further cut in the wages of public servants. This, of course, is done for a purpose—to retain the civil servants’ votes should there be another appeal to the country, as seems likely. By no stretch of the imagination can it be contended that the country has expressed a wish not to reduce the cost of' administration. It can be argued, on the other hand, that one reason why the Government was not returned with a working majority was that it had not done sufficient to bring down the cost of government. The position taken up by Labor and others of the Opposition on this matter is quite illogical. They are in favor of cutting down expenses, but they think the bonuses granted to civil servants to meet the increase in cost of living should not be interfered with, notwithstanding that there has been a marked fall in the same. They cannot have it both ways—a reduction on the one hand and an increase in the other. But, then, it will be said, what about reducing taxes? Why should they be reduced at : the expense of the civil servants? They are entirely different matters. Taxation was piled up during the war to meet war needs. The taxpayers submitted. Prices were good, and the taxpayers could pay, because they could pass it on. After the war, taxpayers looked for relief, and found that with the slump in prices they were unable to meet the taxes. The high taxation also dried up many sources of wealth, and several companies were placed in jeopardy. Anyone who studies the matter even superficially must realise that for the Government, to have continued its high taxation was not only to invite a heavy reduction in revenue from this source, but to incur the risk of giving industry such a setback as to imperil the interests of the whole country. Taxation is already too high in New Zealand—higher than in Australia—and further reductions must be made if the country is to get back within a reasonable period to financial and economic good health. Labor should remember that it is not the stiffness of the gradations of taxation that matters from the point of view of the welfare of the country so much as the total amount forthcoming from taxation. The country must have additional money with which to pay pensions and interest on war loans, and is it not better to have lower taxation, and more of it, than high taxation and less of it? That is a point the general public should keep in their mind when reading of Mr. Holland and his friends playing to the civil servants’ gallery. The civil servants' cut is an entirely different matter from the reduction of land and income taxation. The bonuses were granted on the Government Statistician’s figures relating to the cost of living. If it was right to grant the increases when an increase was registered, it is only plain justice and common honesty for the bonuses to be decreased when a fall in the scale is shown. If there is one thing more than another that should commend itself to the judgment of every man with an interest in the country, it is Mr. Massey's action in facing the matter of these “cuts,” and doing what was his plain duty. A weaker man before an election would have found means of escaping from what was an unpleasant task, the discharge of which must have seriously affected his party’s chances at the elections. Mr. Massey in this matter rose above party and acted the part of the statesman with a full knowledge of what had happened to

a previous New Zealand Administration that had the courage to do the same. It is an action that will ever redound to his credit. Those who are reprimanding him for what be did, obviously are putting party interests before those of the country, and it requires little discernment to see the hollowness of their statements. To say, as Mr. Holland is saying, that the result of the appeal to the country is a mandate to cease the cuts, is to trifle with the public intelligence. It is sincerely to be hoped that the drop in the cost of living will continue, for then the general public, as well as the civil servants, will participate in the benefits arising from the greater spending power it will afford. It is not the amount of salaries that counts so much as what the salaries will purchase in goods and services—a fact which is obvious, but which many of those affected will not see.