Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1939. SHARING WAR BURDENS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 September 1939, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1939. SHARING WAR BURDENS.

TN the main, the debate on the Appropriation Bill in the House of Representatives—a debate which resolved itself into a preliminary and tentative •consideration of some vital aspects of war finance and economy —was conducted in a spirit and from a standpoint worthy of the occasion., A certain amount of bitter talk was heard in one or two regrettable passages, but the ruling spirit manifested by members on both sides ot the House was one of readiness to co-operate in approaching as nearly as may be an equitable adjustment of war burdens and sacrifices. One of the first and most obvious demands of the situation is that the Dominion should honour its financial and other responsibilities to its soldiers and their dependants. There is no question of balancing with a monetary payment the sacrifice the soldier makes in risking his life in the service of Ins a country, but definite obligations arise which should be, and no doubt will be, accepted very willingly. In dealing with this matter, the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, said that the New Zealand rates of military pay were the highest m the British Commonwealth, and added: — If we have to send a man overseas, and if his going overseas inflicts a hardship on any man and he cannot pay his way, we will have to measure up to that. We will have to share the hardship and we will endeavour to do the right thing by those who serve in the force. It may be supposed that the Minister has in mind some such assistance to soldiers in meeting their civil obligations as was given during the latter part of the Great War through the agency of the Soldiers’ ’ Financial Assistance Board. That provision was of particular value to married men with families, but there are single men also, with obligations entitled' to consideration —obligations which in some instances the men concerned cannot meet while rendering military service. i Dealing with'the question of equality of war sacrifice, the Acting-Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, said, on behalf of the Government: “We are prepared, if it can be done, to live at the same rate as the soldiers.” If the war lasts long enough, some such general averaging may become a plain necessity, but the effect of any immediate attempt to bring the whole community to a standardised and limited living scale would be destructive rather than helpful. One inevitable effect would be to throw out of employment all save those engaged in the most necessary branches of production. Another effect would be to ruin large numbers of people engaged in various trading enterprises and services which have an established place in the organisation of the community. It is by another route that the ideal of equality of sacrifice and the nearest possible approach to an equitable sharing ot war burdens must be approached. Leading aims of practical policy evidently should be to establish the most .effective safeguards that can be devised against exploitation and profiteering, to foster and encourage the freest possible flow of production, and to meet from taxation the largest possible part of the extraordinary expenditure occasioned by the war. Taxation may be made, and no doubt will be made, a very potent, means of equalising war sacrifices so tar as these are of an economic kind. The most complex and difficult problem raised is that of regulating prices and costs during the war period without crippling and discouraging legitimate and desirable enterprise. A good (leal has been heard from this standpoint about the position of the primary producer. With Britain purchasing our export surplus, however, and presumably accepting responsibility for the sea transport of produce, this part of the total problem should lend itself more easily to solution than some ot hers: Where import, trade, and (industries dependent, in greater or less degree on imports are concerned, for example, rather serious difficulties art 1 inevitable.- Whatever measure of control over internal costs and prices the Government may be able to establish, some costs are bound to be raised substantially, by the increase in shipping- and insurance charges and in other ways. Extremely complex difficulties are thus created in many branches of trade affected directly and indirectly by these factors and it must be hoped, in the interests not only of the business people and others immediately concerned, but of the community generally, that full effect will be given to the assurance offered by the Minister of Supply (Mr Sullivan) when he said it was not. to be assumed that the Government would act stupidly or irrationally regarding prices and added that: — The Price Investigation Tribunal had already received instructions that if there were fair and honest increases in costs and the industry concerned could not carry them, those costs could be recovered in the prices charged. There was no intention to put people out of business. Sa (‘(‘guards against profiteering undoubtedly arc necessary, but it is also a. condition of an effective and unimpeded war effort that the. various branches of trade and industry which arc being saddled with inevitable increases in costs should not be denied the fair return that will enable them to carry on.