TOPICS OF THE DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20911, 16 September 1939, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Time For Stocktaking “In the last century the total sum raised in taxation, both centrally and locally, represented about 13 per cent, of the British national income, and now the money that is being raised represents nearly 35 per cent, of the national income. The Government as a borrower has become the chief factor in the capital market. We need a positive and not merely a negative policy, with a wide survey and a careful diagnosis of the economic position as a whole. Whenever 'one talks like that it is said: ‘Here is one of those economic planners.’ But one must face realities, and when you have the Government activities, inevitably and for reasons which this country cannot control, developed to a stage in which they are cutting into the very vitals of the country’s economic life, then I say: ‘Let us have these activities regulated on a well-thought-out plan and on the basis of a careful factual survey of the position.’ But when one looks at the machinery of Government, one finds no organ of government, no instrument, no part of the machine which is really capable of undertaking a centralised survey or responsible for taking an interest in the economic position as a whole.”—Sir George Schuster; ALP.