THE BUDGET DEBATE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10179, 9 August 1924, Page 3

THE BUDGET DEBATE

THE FINAL SPEECHES. PRIME MINISTER'S REPLY. (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, August 8. In the House of Representatives this afternoon the debate on the Financial statement was resumed by Mr L. Mcllvride, who said it was not true that the Labour Party was indifferent to the position of the man on the land. No section of the House fought more strenuously to improve the conditions of real farmers than the members of the Labour Party. He ■ spoke of high shipping freights, and said that when the Labour Party came 1 into power farmers would be greatly assisted by a State shipping service. Air Ransom deplored the absence of a land policy in the Budget. Air W. J. Girling (Wairau) advocated modifications of the Customs tariff in the interests of local industries. Air A. J. Alurdoch (Alarsden) said the clamant needs of farmers were cheap freights. Our Home markets should also be more widely developed. The Hon. J. G. Coates, referring to the State Advances Department, said he thought it had done, great work, but there was a disposition among some people to look to the Government to raise money to give assistance in every little difficulty. This of course was not practicable, since there must be a limit to the financial provision that could be made. Replying to the Leader of the Opposition’s complaint that the capital cost of the railways was not properly shown, he quoted figures from the Budget and Departmental returns which, he contended, showed that the Budget figures were correct. He controverted the statement by Air Alasters that railway expenditure last year had increased by £206,000, quoting official returns showing that the expenditure was actually £98,000 less. Speaking of taxation and the means of raising money for public- works, the Minister said it had been suggested that authority should be given for bond issues for this purpose. He warned the House against the danger of such issues. Such bonds could not be confined within New Zealand. They were sure to be taken up by outside investors, and if there should be a rush to cash the bonds, their value would be forced down. A bond issue, therefore, would be dangerous to 1 the country ii adopted for this purpose. The best thing lor New Zealand to do was to pay cash for what it got done, and so get the work carried out at cost price. He mentioned the Dominion’s hydroelectric undertakings, which,, when in fiDI operation, would prove profitable. The Hon. J. A. Hanan (Invercargill) stressed the necessity for a Public Accounts Committee, which would be able to explain every item of expenditure. Under the present system the House had to accept what was put before it without question. It was too. perfunctorv in dealing with finance. Mr J. A. Nash (Palmerston) deprecated the issue of the anonymous circular making statements concerning the. Prime Minister which he (Mr Na.sh) alleged were utterly untrue. It was a disgrace that politics in Neu Zealand had sunk so low that such a circular could be issued. At 10.30 p.m. the Prime Minister rose to reply. He said the Budget had come through unscathed. It had been .said that the Budget was inaccurate. Itwas strictly accurate, with one exception. There was one slight mistake in the title of a Bill mentioned in the document. He defended the setting-up of the Taxation Commission, which, he said, called attention to the injustices connected with the land tax. There wore injustices. He did not say lie was prepared to repeal the land tax, but he would see that the producers wer* not again subjected to double taxation. He was not bound to accept all the recommendations of the Commission, but lie had no doubt that as a result of its recommendations they would be able to make some valuable improvements. He maintained that no bad bargain had been made in the funding of our debt to Britain. We had got exactly the same terms as Australia. The funding was arranged at 6 per cent., which included the sinking-fund. Later on he anticipated money would become cheaper, when it would be the duty ■of those in charge of the financial affairs of the Dominion to raise a loan, say, of 4 per cent., and pay off the debt of 26 millions to Britain. That wa.s his intention from the first, as it would not be adding to the indebtedness of the country. It lias been said that the Budget did not disclose the position of the State’s Bank of New Zealand shares. The position was fully set out in .the Investments Account, and the country had made a very good bargain in that connection. The first declaration of policy in the Budget was the reduction of taxation No country could prosper if taxation was too heavy, and it was too heavy in New Zealand. Previous reductions had led to the diminution of unemployment until it had practically disappeared. Taxation would be further reduced this year. Cabinet had not yet decided in what direction the reduction would be, but the right thing would be done. Then agricultural colleges were to be established, as it had* been brought home to the Government that a. more scientific training must be given to young farmers. He thought there should be two colleges, in the North Island, but on that point the Government had not yet made up its mind. The next item of policy was legislation in connection with the moratorium, which would help to save those men who could be saved. At the same time he had 1 reason to believe that trouble in connection with mortgages was more imaginary than real. Then there was the proposal to make widows’ bonuses permanent, and the proposal to provide a second cruiser, which would be something in the way of making our proper contribution to the British Navy, which we were not doing now. As to land settlement, he contended that the Government was doing very well, and in conjunction with immigration, he hoped to be able to do a great deal more bej fore long. . , v There were other items of policy which had been more than once announced. They were pushing on with public works, railways, and hydro-elec-tric works, drainage, and irrigation. His desire was to see these works conii pleted and put in a profit-bearing position. That policy was all set out m the Budget, and lie could not ask tor a better policy on which to go to the e °The ry Prime Minister then proceeded to refer to the details of the Budget,

with a view to showing that its figures coincided exactly with the figures of the- Auditor-General, which, lie contended, was a complete answer to Air Wilford’s charges of arithmetical inaccuracies. He quoted correspondence which passed between tlie Secretary of the Treasury and the Auditor-General on the subject of the accuracy of the figures in the Budget relating to the public debt. The Secretary of the Treasury asked that these figures b ■ examined with the object of ascertain ing if they were inconsistent with the detailed result shown in the AuditorGeneral’s report and the audited accounts. To this request the AuditorGeneral replied that lie had had the figures examined; that the apparent differences arose from the different methods of setting out transactions and that the figures could he readilv reconciled with the audited figures shown in the report. That, Air Massey claimed, was the answer to Air Wilford’s charges, which, if they had been true, would have necessitated him and the officers of the Treasury going to gaol. The officers of the Treasury felt very keenly about the lion, member’s misrepresentations. Air Massey then dealt with the miestion of the interest-bearing assets of the Dominion, as the result of which ho claimed that, if things went on as they were going now, in ten years these assets would pay the whole of the interest on the public debt. He next referred to the profits made on trans actions in London, which were very handsome. There were other points to which lie would like to reply, hut they could stand over until the Bills came down.

The Houso then agreed to the motion that it go into Committee of Supply to consider the Estimates.

Mr Massey immediately moved to report progress, and the House rose at midnight fill 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday.