BUDGET DEBATE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 229, 25 September 1915, Page 5

BUDGET DEBATE.

SOME MINOR CRITICISMS. FREE TRADERS ALERT. THE REDUCTION OF POSTAGE. ■ ■'->■ '• ■ QUESTIONED. LONDON, September 24. The debate nn tlic Budget waa continued in the House of Commons. Sir Alfred Mond, Liberal member for Swansea, eaid it was folly to tell the Houee of Commons it was compelled to ecrap the existing fiecal system in order to develop exports, when a Urge amount of export trade was Io«t through unneceMirv and foolish restrictions and delay in supplying liccneot. Tlir duty on motor cars wouhl mean the lorn ol sixteen million* capital and 3(1,000 per eons would Iμ- thrown out of emp'oy ment. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. MeKenna. said there »n an overwhelmingly strong cue for thn sugar tax. Thtbent test (Ma the grcatlv-incrcnei'd con sumption of sweete. The tax on tea wae justified nn the princij.!.- of obtaining money from as many contributors as poMiliie. Tlir proposal to tax imports diil not compromise any fiscal principle. It wae introduced nvowrdly to rni«e revenue and limit unncweary hi.xurif*. Tlio country wa| compelled to abau lon theory owing to the special war circumstances. He had never heard of a country like Britain for willingness to pny. He did not think there had been such a country in history. ' The nation literally came forward and a«ked to be taxed. That willinznces to hear burdens indicated a capacity to (stay, anil the nation lasting longewt nn«.t win. McKENNA'S BIG NET. MESH TOO LARGE. (Times and Sydney Sun Services.j LONDON, September 24. The Parliamentary correspondent of j the ' Times" says that the only Hudgct taxation proposals that are exciting controversy on qurntione of principle arc the new import dutie*. Mnnv members would have preferred nn ad valorem duty of from 13 to 20 per cent, on all imported goodw. except perhaps grain and me,-»t. Some consistent free traders are ready to arvept tlie new duties ac in economic nece«oity arising out of the .var. A few frivolous members call the new duties "McKcnna's joke," and ask why no large a net h»e been spread and tto few fish caught. A group of determined free traders arc bent upon destroying tbe import duties, and are endeavouring to revive the Free Trade Cnion.. The only other large item in the Budget proposals to which serioue objection U taken are tho new poetal rates. There is much opposition ,to the abolition o! the halfpenny postenrd. LIQUOR COMES LATER. LONDON, September 20. Tie "Daily Telegraph" etatcw that the omission from the Budget proposals of an additional tax on beer and spirits it* Jvc to the fact that tbe Government intends to deal comprehensively with the entire drink question later In the Hcecion. HALF THE BATTLE. (Times and Sj'ilii(*y Bun Services) LONDON, September 24. A Paris correspondent of the "Times" says that the British/Budget has done more than anything else to impress the French with the resolution and th.- resources of GreJit Britain. A newspaper heading, "It'e half the battle won," correctly translates the popular feeling in Paris. i