GOVERNMENTS PROPOSAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 38, 14 February 1931, Page 10

GOVERNMENTS PROPOSAL.

Drastic Programme to Avert Threatened Huge Deficit.

HEAVIER TAXATION, INCLUDING INCOMES.

"NO ORDINARY MEASURES" SUFFICIENT.

Faced with a deficit this year of £750,000 and an estimated deficit next year of no less than £4,500,000, the Government has announced the measures it proposes to take to meet the position. The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, announces that Parliament, at the emergency session next month, will be asked to sanction: — (a) A 10 per cent reduction in the salaries and wages of the Public Service, from Cabinet Ministers downward, as from April 1. (b) Reduction in Public Works wages to 12/6 a day, and in relief works wages to 12/6 for married men and 9/ for single men. (c) Legislation empowering the Arbitration Court to review all awards. (d) Increase in postal rates. (e) Investigation with a view to reducing the cost of education. (f) Temporary transfer of the railways' control to a non-political board. In addition, at the June session the Government will bring down measures for the increase of taxation, including the income tax. . • . , The Prime Minister appeals to all local bodies and private employers to follow the Government's lead in reducing wages.