15° 



REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



April 1, 1913. 



ready been appropriated, leaving 

 ;£'500,ooo yet to be voted. The share of 

 the current year is to be ;^ 1, 300,000, so 

 that next year's expenditure should be 

 ;^8oo,ooo less on this account. But this 

 is only cost of construction, and there 

 is the upkeep to be considered which 

 will not be small. There is this, too, that 

 the Commonwealth having" launched on 

 navai construction cannot go back, but 

 must proceed to build new ships either 

 to increase the fleet, or to replace obso- 

 lete ships, or perhaps to do both. The 

 fleet, at present to consist of one Dread- 

 nought cruiser, three protected cruisers, 

 six destroyers and two submarines, must 

 be kept up to date, and must be added 

 to from time to time. This is bound to 

 prove expensive, but if the Government 

 rest content with its present fleet it will 

 only subject the Commonwealth's naval 

 policy to the ridicule of the world. 

 INSUFFICIENT TRAINING. 

 The defence and naval construction 

 schemes are, however, settled, and the 

 bills have to be met. It is needless, 

 therefore, to criticise the growth of this 

 portion of the expenditure, except that 

 so far as the universal training is con- 

 cerned the Government certainly does 

 not appear to be getting full value for 

 its money. The period of training is in- 

 sufficient, and only a portion of the lads 

 eligible are receiving even what training 

 there is. Discipline is weak, because the 

 officers feel they have no power over the 

 boys, for they know that if a little 

 salutary discipline is enforced, the sup- 

 port of the Government is not likely to 

 be given. This may not seem to be 

 within the province of the financial 

 critic, but it is, nevertheless, because it 

 is his duty to point out that the public 

 is not getting its money's worth. 



THE HOPELESS TELEPHONE. 

 Another department for which the 

 taxpayer pays heavily but gets a poor 

 return for doing so is the Post Office. 

 The expenditure has risen but the service 

 has not improved. The telephone ser- 

 vice already mentioned by us is just 

 about as unsatisfactory as it can pos- 

 sibly be. So unsatisfactory indeed is it, 

 that if the telephone were brought on to 

 the market now for the first time as a 

 new invention and the experimental 



exchanges worked no better than do 

 those now in use, it would be con- 

 demned out of hand as an absolute 

 failure. In fact, the general efficiency of 

 this particular service is such that it 

 deters many would-be subscribers from 

 having a machine at all. However, the 

 situation is not quite hopeless, for the 

 automatic telephone is to be installed 

 shortly, and much of the inconvenience 

 and loss the present s)'stem involves 

 should then disappear. 



A RECURRING DEFICIT. 

 The Post Office revenue this year is 

 estimated to be nearly i," 1,600,000 less 

 than the expenditure. Of this, however, 

 over ;^i, 1 50,000 is for new buildings, 

 telegraphs and telephones, and wireless 

 telegraphy. But apart from such new 

 outlay, the general expenditure is still 

 about i^440,ooo more than the revenue. 

 It this regard, however, it must not be 

 forgotten that there is a loss of 

 ^^400,000 yearly on the penny postage. 

 Still, apart from this, the expenditure is 

 heavy. This, the Treasurer explains, is 

 due to the greater cost of labour and 

 materials, heavier prices for mail con- 

 tracts, and increases in employees' 

 wages. It is to be hoped that this out- 

 lay will ensure the public getting better 

 treatment. 



OLD AGE PENSIONS. 



Invalid and old age pensions are next 

 in importance. They absorb ^^2,400,000 

 this year, about ;^900,ooo more than 

 they did three years ago. The addition 

 of invalid pensions not in force in 1910 

 is responsible for this increase. Con- 

 cerning the necessity for this expendi- 

 ture, there can be no criticism. The 

 measure is law, and its repeal is un- 

 thinkable. Moreover, the bill has to be 

 paid, increasing though it must with 

 each successive year, and there is noth- 

 ing more to be said. The same argu- 

 ment applies to the maternity allowance, 

 the outlay on the Northern Territory, 

 and the Port Augusta raihvay. These 

 have been approved by a majority in 

 Parliament, representing the wish of the 

 majority of the voters at the last elec- 

 tion, and there is no course open but to 

 abide by them. 



FEDERAL CAPITAL, ETC. 



The growth of ^^"750,000 in other ex- 



