MORE "BUDGET" TALK.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 183, 5 August 1925, Page 9

MORE "BUDGET" TALK.

LACK OF HOUSING.

THE LANS SCANDALS.

"AUCKLAND STAR" CRITICISM.

(By Telegraph—Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, Tuesday.

Th<? long-drawn debate on the Budget was resumed in the House of Representatives this afternoon, when there were many bare benches.

Mr. Parry (Auckland Central), spoke of the depreciated -wage owing to the ever-increasing coefc of living. Taxation on the mass of the people in the form of Custom duties was ever increasing, while the Government was reducing the taxation against the rich. This year about £8,000,000 was received in Customs duty, which meant another £12,000,000 to be found by the consumer. The Government's wail of financial stringency could Dot comfort persons who were homeless. Talking of what it had spent on housing, the Government was bringing masses of people from the Old Country without attempting to provide homes for them. If the Government had cut up, roaded, and sub-divided its own lands around the cities and leased sections to the people, it would have enabled people to have obtained cheaper homes, and prevented the filling of the pockets of the land speculators. Why this silence, by the way, asked Mr. Parry, about the purchase of the bank building at the corner of Queen and Wyndham Streets? It looked to him as if there was some conspiracy about it. It seemed to be easier for the Government to buy dear properties from its rich friends than to provide houses for the people. The information asked for regarding this Queen Street property had long been denied and it was time the Government threw off the veil of secrecy and told the House the truth about it. He promised that the Labour members would keep on pressing the Government for this information until they got it.

Mr. Parry went on to quote from a report on soldier settlement, in which it was stated that in many cases owners had sold second-class land to the settlers and retained the best for themselves. The report showed that the class of men placed on the land was a good class of men who would have been able to do well if they had got good land at a reasonable price. Would the Minister of Lands say "Bosh!!" to the report of the Auditor-General —the only brake we had to tho maladministration of the present Government—who said the Government. had not considered the expert advice at its disposal. Why? Because the Minister had full power to give what he liked to his wealthy landowning friends in this country. As the result of the Government policy they stood by and permitted the public funds to be plundered by their wealthy landowning friends. There was no question about that. The Auditor-General practically told them that. The Press of New Zealand had not exposed this matter — with one exception. The " Auckland Star" was the only paper which had ehown some independence in criticising Government maladministration:- It had drawn the attention of the people'to the land scandals of the Eeform Party. "I give credit where credit is due." said Mr. Parry, "and the 'Auckland Star' is the only paper which is endeavouring to enlighten the people of this country in these matters."

Mr. MacPherson (Oamaru), referring to the fusion negotiations, declared that never before had a leader in this country been given such a chance as had the present Prime Minister, and never before had there been such an instance of selfeffacement on the part of the Leader of the Opposition in the interests of the people and of good Government. The land question, said the member for Oamaru was the most important of all questions. .It would suit the Government much better to cut up its lands for settlement, to attract the right kind of settler, than to subsidise the making of parks around the cities. Legislation now in the Statutes should now be applied, and large estates containing some of the best land, which were not doing their duty to the country, should be resumed at a price commensurate with their productivity. Farmers could not be induced to grow sufficient wheat for New Zealand unless they got a Government guarantee for four or five years. The Minister of Agriculture had not shown himself over sympathic in this matter. We should remember that there was no form of agriculture which called for so much money and labour as wheat-growing. Wages and Revolution. Mr. J. W. Munro (Dunedin North) dealt with wages and the cost of living. Because Labour advocated in a constitutional manner that there should be a fair living for every man, woman, and child, they had been termed Bolsheviks and extremists, but, unless the Government was going to make progress along constitutional lines, they would have a revolution, and it would not be the Labour party that was to blame, but injustices perpetrated on the great mass of the people. The Government, by its reductions of income tax, ■had taken three millions out of the pockets of the workers and handed it over to landed proprietors and vested interests, and there was no shadow of doubt they were proud of it. Taxation was being placed on those least able to bear it, while those able to pay were allowed to go free. The Arbitration Court was simply an employers protection .court. ! Mr. Munro was here called to order by the Speaker, who said he must not reflect on the Court. Mr. Munro said he did not reflect on the Court, but that was the, opinion growing in the country. What was the Government going to do. Mr. Parry: Promise. Mr. Munro declared that business interests had ordered Reform and the Liberals to fuse to fight Labour. Mr. Hawken: Extreme Labour. Mr. Munro said Labour was always termed extreme by its opponents. If they had a revolution this country would not* be incited by Labour agitators, but because the people were slowly awakening to the fact that they were being misled by the spurious promises of the Reform Government. "I plead to the Prime Minister, as a young New Zealander and ex-soldier, to break away, from shibboleth, and stand out and say New Zealand is for all of the people of New Zealand, and not only for some of theiE," concluded Mr. Munro. A Ministerial Reply. The Minister cf Lands (Hon. A. D. McLeod) said the Labour party railed against Cuetoms taxation, but did not say what was to take its place, and if it was proposed to remove any duties he would be the first to protest. He claimed that wealth was more equally distributed in New Zealand than elsewhere, and that labour conditions -were/- probably; &s, good

as in any place in the world, excepting probably the United States. The Labour benches had brought forth nothing new in their criticism, and had really attacked nothing in the Budget. "I am sorry," he continued, "and every member of the House is sorry, at the exhibition that an hon. member of the Labour benches made of himself last week-end. Labour Members: Who was that? The Minister of Lands: The member for Auckland East. Mr. Parry: It chafed you a bit. The Minister of Lands deprecated the . member for Auckland East's attack on Ministers' personal appearance, which was not creditable to the Labour benches or to himself. Dealing with the report of the Auditor-General, the Minister said no doubt that gentleman had the courage of his opinions. Mr. Parry: He has got them, too. The Auditor's Restrictions. The Minister: "The hon. member knows that if I carried out the restrictions required by the Auditor-General there would not be a single returned soldier settler, or anyone borrowing money from the Crown, left in possession. If a soldier settler was one month overdue in his payments I would be compelled to foreclose and sell him out." In some cases, said the Minister, land had been abandoned by the holders, and in others second mortgagees had closed, and the Government had taken cattle ■ and grazed it in an attempt to save the taxpayers' money. Money was often lost, and more would be lost. Hβ had no more control over the Revaluations Board than any other member of the House. The board would deal with the

"Auckland Star's" criticism of the report in due time.

The Minister then made reference to what he termed "an attack by the 'Auckland Star.'"

Mr. Parry: The only newspaper. The Minister said the "Star" came out in red headlines about scandals attached to the Lands Department, and singled out an area for which it said £320 an acre had been paid. He had figures which he was quite prepared to show hon. members, and he wae prepared to say that the Crown would not lose any money over the transaction. The property was of seven acres, with two added, making nine acres, and there was a six-roomed house on it. The value of the land was £180, and the house was additional. On that the Government had been buying adjacent land at as high as £220 per acre, but he would beg anyone's pardon if the State lost on the purchase of that land. The Government was holding this nine acres to add to the Hutt developmental scheme. It was hardly the thing that this report should have been made the vehicle for a political attack on the Government. Reference had been made by the "Star" to Government valuers not being consulted in the purchase of lands for soldier settlements. On November 14, 1919, the ValuerGeneral wrote asking that his staff be relieved of this work, so as to engage in a general revision of values, ac this was a duty, which could not be longer delayed, or there would be a serious loss of land tax and complaints of inequality of taxation. He had been asked by the paper why his Department had not made use of local knowledge. Boards had been set up in districts, consisting of men with local knowledge, their valuations finally being scrutinised by the head office and the controller of purchases. A lot of wise men, he continued, had made mistakes during the war. Valuation of Tends was one of- the most difficult thinge in those boom days, and big prices were paid apart from Government purchases. Turning to the matter of State advances, the Minister said 1 that there was a feeling abroad that the Minister could handle the matter of loans whenever he liked. The sooner they .got away from this idea the better. The Minister had no control over advances. He had eeen it advertised, as a great inducement to buy houses, that they had Government loans at 4 J per cent. Quite frequently a man woufd get a house transferred on this 4 J per cent and immediately made £150. The whole system of this exchange would have to be dealt with. At least 50 per cent of that money would have to be returned to the State before a transfer took place.