PROVED FALSE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 180, 1 August 1941, Page 2

PROVED FALSE

"CALAMITY MONGERS"

LABOUR'S JUSTIFICATION

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.)

WELLINGTON, this day.

Opening his reply to the Budget debate in the House of Representatives last night, the acting-Prime Minister Mr. Nash, dealt first with, those whom he described as "calamity mongers"—people who for the last five to six years had preached disaster from one end of the country to the other. In this connection he referred to speeches made by members of the Opposition prior to and since the advent of the Labour Government. He said it had been coming for six years, and it was further away than ever. Dealing with the position from the end of 1935 to this year, Mr. Nash said that production had increased. It had gone up in volume toy 11 per cent since 1935. In spite of that there had been a great deal of talk about lackadaisical methods of workers. In this connection Mr. Nash quoted figures showing that in the first six months of the war and the six months prior to the war factory production went up 9 per cent compared with the previous 12 months. Referring to criticism of the import restriction policy by Mr. Wilkinson (Independent, Egmont), who had specifically mentioned the shortage of roofing iron, Mr. Nash said that there had never been any restriction on roofing iron. If the policy during the previous war had Deen followed roofing iron would have been much dearer to-day. In 1917 it was £78 a ton, compared with £36 a ton to-day. That was a real testimonial to import control and proper organisation. Mr. Nash said the value of the goods brought in in 1940 was £18.000,000 more than the imports in 1934. The Government had never refused licenses for essential goods. Its job was to find out how to get them. It might be a right thing as a major contribution by the Dominion to the British Commonwealth's war effort if the Dominion imported not more but less goods. People should find out how to do without things. The member for Grey Lynn had talked about a debt being indestructible. That is not correct," said the Minister. "A debt is not indjestructible. You can pay it back, and that is the only way to destroy it. There is no other way I know of to destroy debt than by paying it back "