"STILL GOING STRONG."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 162, 11 July 1928, Page 10

"STILL GOING STRONG."

PILING UP DEBT. REFORM'S RECKLESS SPENDING. • SIDELIGHTS OX FINANCE. (I'v Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. That the burden of taxation is far heavier now than it was when Reform tamo into office, >.nd that taxpayers' capacity to carry it is less, was argued in the House 011 Tuesday by Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West). He ridiculed the suggestion that Reform was reducing the dead weight of debt, as the Minister of Finance had claimed. It was misleading to the public to suggest that if the Government paid off the war debt the country would have some advantage which would not have accrued had the same amount of live debt been redeemed. Professor Murray, whom Mr. Savage quoted freely, had stated that if a million sterling were tipped into the sea with no commensurate residt, the loss would go on forever. Professor Murphy had also said that it was immaterial whether the original debt was dead weight or not.

Hon. W. Nosworthy: He wants to think again. Mr. Savage: It is better to think again than not to think at all, as I'm afraid is sometimes the habit of the Minister. Enlarging his arguments, Mr. Savage asserted that we would add to our dead weight debt by redeeming loans on a falling market. Farmers would have to sell two head of live stock to pay off what one animal would do at peak prices. That was "great" news for the farmers. When Mr. Savage continued to quote Professor Murphy, the Prime Minister laughed heartily. Mr. Savage said it might be a joke to Mr. Coates, but the public didn't think so, because the public liad to find the money. Professor Murphy had asserted that the only reduction of value to the taxpayer was a net reduction of loans. There had been no real reduction in the past six years; on the contrary borrowing had been increased. Mr. Coates: How has it been invested? Mr. Savage : Some of it has gone into some of Reform's greatest blunders. The Government has blundered and wasted money from Arapuni to Otago. Mr. Lee (Auckland East): Wild cat schemes. Mr. Savage: And Arapuni is not finished yet. Mr. Coates: It will turn out all right. " A Typical Investment." Mr. Savage said Reform's record financially was one of increasing the taxpayers' burden. The interest bill per head when Reform came into office was £2 5/10, and in 1927 it was £5 19/ per head. The burden had more than doubled. Had the capacity of the people doubled? Reform had wasted money in all sorts of ways. People had been assisted to come here from the Old Country, and when they arrived they were sent to the relief department of the hospital boards. That was typical of Reform "investment." Mr. Coates: The bon. gentleman is romancing. Mr. Savage said that in eight years Reform had put £50,000,000 on to the public debt, increasing the indebtedness per head by £9. | As Mr. Savage continued his recital of Reform blunders he was subjected to a fire of interjections from the Government benches. "Like Johnny Walker, still going strong," observed the Prime Minister. "Sixteen years of solid work." said the Hon. W. Nosworthy, referring to Reform's term of office. Mr. J. A. Lee: Scatter brained and scatter cach.