The national Expenditure Commission: a study of its origins, work, and effects

Abstract

The 1931 election returned the recently-organised Coalition Government to power with what appeared to be a safe majority of twenty-six seats. Voters had given their verdict in favour of a party which had reduced the incomes of Public Servants and wage-earners and was threatening to do the same to those of investors and pensioners. Moreover, at a time when panaceas for the country's economic and social problems were being produced in abundance they had given it in favour of a party which had campaigned without a platform. Coalition candidates had done nothing more than request a mandate for their party to take whatever steps it deemed necessary to cope with a constantly fluctuating economic situation.