BUDGET DEBATE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLII, Issue 9387, 17 November 1921, Page 7

BUDGET DEBATE

! CONTINUED IN HOUSE. v CRITICISM OF GOVERNMENT. (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, November 16. In the Blouse of Representatives this afternoon, Mr Witty resumed the debate on the Financial Statement. He declared that New Zealand was passing through a strenuous time. It was the duty of everyone to assist the Government in rounding the. corner. During prosperous times the Government and private individuals were spending freely, and no one was prepared for the sudden jolt that had come upon us. He, therefore, proposed to show where money could be saved. . In the first place, the housing scheme had been a failure, nothing had been done. Mr Massey: Is a thousand houses nothing? Mr Witty: A thousand houses have not been finished. Mr Massey: Yes, they have. Mr Witty expressed pleasure at the information, but thought that the money giyen to the butter subsidy would have been better spent on building more houses for the people. Great sayings could be made by tiie Education Department standardising plans of schools. The public seryice dismissals had not reduced overhead charges, but if the Government wanted to effect public seryice reform it should sack the Public Service Commissioners, because they were not satisfying the public seryice and had not put a stop to wire-pulling. They simply put round men in square holes. The method of handling our produce in England and the defence system of the" Dominion came in for scathing criticism. In conclusion, he said that it was incumbent on Parliament to try to reduce taxation and lighten the burden falling on those under its care. Mi- Sullivan asserted that the effect of land tax rebate gave a substantial concession to wealthy land-owners in town and country. _ What was the necessity for this remission, when the Prime Minister was most optimistic concerning next season's products? The speaker concluded by advocating the abolition of the Legislative Council as a means of reducing public expenditure, it being generally agreed that a second Chamber was quite unnecessary in this country. Mr Mitchell advocated sending the Budget estimates to a select committee for a report by experts, who might be able to suggest various means of keeping down public expenditure. Travelling expenses were mounting up in the Departments. The Departments had been stuffed with people who were not necessary, llents and telegrams were absorbing a great deal too much money, and unnecessary shifting of public servants was also absurdly costly. To meet the position created by extravagant expenditure, our only solution was to raise taxation, but extra money taken from the people was not going to increase the comfort or conveniences of the people. We did not build or make roads ; we simply put the money into governmental expenditure. Much money had been sunk in' purchasing land at too high a price, and the Ministry of Lands should have brought down some of these properties considerably, in order to give the soldiers a chance. There were many of these properties for which no financier would give more than 50 per cent of the Government value. If travelling and other overhead charges were cut down there would be no need to touch the lowersalai'ied men at all. Unfortunately no policy was being observed by the Government. Married women whose husbands were at work were retained in the Public Service, while men with families were being discharged, just after they had pbesryed the two minutes' silence in honour of the men who fell in the war. They were told on the one hand that no further advances were to be made to soldiers, while on the other hand they made a concession of £170,000 to land-owners. To him there seemed "to be a good deal of mockery about this, which he resented very mhch. Grouping of Departments and Government shipping concerns were advocated as public reforms, and in conclusion the speaker urged that if wages* were to be cut down all round it should be done n such a way as to conserve the interests of tha man with a big family. Thev could not consistently increase the 'burdens of the poor man, t the Budget was doing, yet at the same time cut down wages. Our doctrine should be one of hope and nard work, but of good wages. The Hon. J. A. Hanan counselled moderate optimism in the present crisis. The ship 'vas not going to sink, but at the same time to say that we would recover from all our difficulties in two or three years was to chase a shadow and entertain a delusion. In good years we lived at a high speed, but that had come to an end, and when Sir Francis Bell had charge of the public purse he frankly said that the purse was empty. Then we were on the brink of panic, and the men who nearly brought that panic about, but for certain strong statements by the Prime Minister and otters, were the men who enjoyed similar profits during the fat years, their agitation being in their own selfish interests. He deprecated -he concession in land taxation, contending that taxation should be used to burst up big estates, and to increase the production of the country. The effect of the financial difficulties was not yet fully apparent. Next yeor would be even more difficult, and he hoped that when the Jfrime Minister replied he would keep nothing back as to his anxiety concerning next year's finance. Mr Atmore described the remission of land tax as a grave mistake, a needless gift to wealthy men. The Dominion could not do with a penny less revenue. Who, then, was to pay the share of the men who got £460 rebate, if not people who were not sufficiently well off to get the rebate on land tax? The tariff brought down by the Gov-

ernment was full of anomalies. Especially did he object to the taxes on tea and tobacco, both of which were necessarieß, largely used by the working classes. The housing scheme of the Government was being overloaded by cost of administration, every house costing £1000, being handicapped by administrative expenses amounting to £185. Discussing the marketing of our produce in England, he suggested sending Sir Thomas Mackenzie as Produce Commissioner, with nothing else to do but attend to the sale of the New Zealand produce, some of which, both literally and figuratively, stank in the nostrils of the people, owing to shameful mishandling. A mistake had been made in buying land for soldiers on values based on the high prices then ruling for produce. Twenty-five per cent, would have to be written off these values, and the sooner 1 the" mistake was recognised the better, for it was cruel going on filing up liabilities upon men who fought for the country. Mr Wright defended the land' purchase for soldiers. The Government could do nothing else, because the soldiers wanted to go on the land, and the people were behind them. He admitted that mistakes had been made, and that the soldiers would have to be put right, but at the same time it was ungenerous to accuse the Government of buying land to do for the soldiers what everyone said should be done. The Government had been charged with being the friends of wealthy landowners, but if so they had shown their affection by taxing the landowners in a way they never had been taxed before. He defended the importations of coal and coal control on the ground that women and children were shivering in the cold when the miners of New Zealand were not producing sufficient coal to meet local requirements, and coal had to be procured from abroad when it could not be got in the Dominion. Many of the difficulties the Government was experiencing in connection with the housing scheme were entirely beyond the control of the Government. Wages had gone up, material had increased in price, and for these increases no . fairminded man could hold the Government responsible. Economy in the public service could only be carried out on the basis of awards of the Arbitration Court, and other honourable understandings arrived at. He could not see how the wages of Civil Servants could be reduced while the cost of living remained as it did at present. Discussing the tariff proposals, he favoured some moderate protection for industries, but in such articles as we could not produce he urged people to purchase only British made goods. During the war Britain poured millions into the Dominion in payment for our produce, and it was only a fair thing that -where we could reciprocate we should do so. Mr Soddon, Mr Sykes, and Mr A. Hairris continued the debate. The adjournment of * the debate was moved by Mr R. W. Smith (Waimarino), and the House rose at 11.35 p.m.