Review of El views, 111,113. 



TOPICS OF THE MONTH. 



^51 



penditure to about i;i,;oo,ooo is chiefly 

 in tlie cost of administration of various 

 departments, combined with outlay on 

 Federal Capital, High Commissioner, 

 Land Tax, Bounties, etc. The Trea- 

 surer has stated that the whole of the 

 increase can be well justified. It cer- 

 tainly needs justification, for it is with- 

 out doubt a very solid increase. 



THE ADMINISTRATION OF FUNDS. 



The inquiry so far as to the necessity 

 or otherwise of the year's expenditure of 

 ;^22,ooo,ooo sterling appears to acquit 

 the Government of extravagance on that 

 account. But the acquiual is only ap- 

 parent. The whole essence of the ques- 

 tion lies in the administration of the 

 funds, and on this point there is no 

 published evidence for the critic. There 

 is, of course, the general view that 

 Ministers are more generous than just 

 and that their estimates rarely if ever 

 err on the side of economy. Seldom, it 

 is said, does a Minister supervise his de- 

 partment's expenditure with that strict 

 regard for economy he would give to 

 his own business. Though from obser- 

 vation there seems good ground for the 

 public view that Ministers act irrespon- 

 sibly in regard to finance, no facts have 

 been made public to support that 

 opinion, and one cannot therefore accept 

 it as being completely justified. 

 BORROWING INEVITABLE. 



In a measure the Government's non- 

 borrowing policy is to blame for this 



charge of extravagance. It has forced 

 the Ministry to meet out of revenue ex- 

 penditure rightly chargeable to capital. 

 The naval construction cost is clearly a 

 capital charge, and should have been 

 met by a loan with a currency coincident 

 with the estimated life of the ships, and 

 to be repaid by a sinking fund. Of course 

 a sinking fund has the distinct drawback 

 of being a strong temptation to needy 

 Treasurers, who are prone to borrow it, 

 but who rarely if ever pay it back. The 

 outlay on drill halls, rifle ranges, post 

 offices, and similar works of a per- 

 manent nature, might reasonably have 

 been paid out of loan moneys. The 

 policy of non-borrowing will of course 

 have to be thrown overboard sooner or 

 later, for the growth in defence and 

 naval expenditure in a few years will be 

 much more than the revenue will pro- 

 vide, unless increased taxation be im- 

 posed. 



NOT PROVEN. 



To sum up the results of our inquiry 

 it is very clear that Mr. Cook's indict- 

 ment of the Federal Ministry on the 

 score of extravagance is just in that the 

 Government is spending more than it 

 can afford. In regard to the charge that 

 such expenditure is unnecessary, the evi- 

 dence is not by any means conclusive, 

 and the verdict on that count must be 

 " Not proven." 



V.-CEMENT OR GUNPOWDER. 



Will the Dominion Defence schemes 

 unite or disrupt the Empire? This is a 

 question which every thinking man has 

 been asking himself, and since the un- 

 fortunate debates in the Canadian Par- 

 liament those who do not look far 

 ahead have also begun to wonder. 

 Ever since the days when the Amercan 

 Colonies shook off the British yoke and 

 became the United States, owing to the 

 efforts of the Home Government to tax 

 their imports, the attitude at Westmins- 

 ter has been to allow the overseas 

 Dominions to do just as they pleased. 

 If they wished to help Great Britain in 

 time of war, during circumstances of 

 stress, or even in the piping times of 



peace, well and good, such help was 

 thankfully received. There was never 

 any question of its having to be given. 

 It has ever been voluntary and spon- 

 taneous, and has been accepted as such. 

 All that simple arrangement has now 

 disappeared. \\'e And one Dominion 

 being held uj) to another as an example 

 of what ought to be done, and violent 

 recriminations taking place between 

 different [parties as to the right method 

 of giving such assistance, or whether 

 indeed any should be given at all. The 

 burst of loyalty which presented 

 Great Britain with Dreadnoughts and 

 cruisers from Canada, the Malay States, 

 India, New Zealand, South Africa, and 



