EVENING SITTING.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15110, 28 October 1914, Page 8

EVENING SITTING.

The House resumed at "-30 p.m. THE LOAN" BILL. . The Hon. JA'JIES ALLEN moved the second reading of the Aid to-Public ■.."Wjorks.aml Land settlement Bill, which gave' power to raiso'a loan of tivreo millions." He , points out that tho construction of tho new Parliament Buildings, -telegraphs extension, and other works tonded to bring.about an incrqaso' iv; the vote this year. They had found in previous loans that; the provision made had. been tpo smalL fie pointed out that in tho past it ! ,had. been .the practice to pay into tlio Consolidated .Fund tho product-of land wiles, but it now' went into the land'for settlements account. -They"how" had to borrow less for settlement, land,, but they required .more for public works. Tho Government were not, now celling land for cash and utilising. theirVcapital for revenue. They had also; done away ■with the practice of rebuilding public buildings out of loan money, had backed up tho superannuation funds, and had jnado otlior provisions in ".the direction of-sound finaiico which,.if not. put into operation, would have left them with .1 surplus of £858,000. Ho contended that the ■. Loan Bill was not higher than the Bill of .1909.) It was" not proposed at present to raise all the money in one voar,. but tho Government" were / determined to make roads in the back-blocks and. increase the productivity of the country, and in this direction tho expenditure of ono million would bo extendetj over three years. " It was.pracr tically impossible to raise either a stock 6r" debenture loan in London. Ho was advised that tho only way to. get money was by Treasury bills, but ho hoped to Ket tho money .some time beforo long. Ho, however, hoped to be able to carry on public, works out of the balance. If they could get tho three million loan, which fell due. "in December, out of the wav, ho hoped bo would be able to carry on." Arrangements' had been made, however, for a.war loan of £2,000,000 upon term? most favourable. ', r attttv In reply to interjections, MVlr AliliJi*iN said it practically meant that tho Mother Country was footing the bill, and[he was.pleaded to bo ablo to admit this fact. / .. , Speaking of the loan proposals, -_ho declarjeu that the Government had Infilled'their promise to reduce borrowinc. He. pointed out that from July 12th, 1912, to September 30th, 1914, tho present Government had borrowed £14,636,808, while the previous U>Ternment between April Ist, 1910, and July 9th, .1912, had borrowed a ■sum of £16,496,775. ?,Ir ALLEN theni wont <m to discuss the reasons for raising the loans, and the disposal of thefmoney. He contended'that there had been no increase in taxation, except in land and income j tax and death duties. I

Sir JOSEPH WARI> said ho had learnt' something new from the Minister's speech, viz., that the genera] revenue fell the more a Gr&vern■ment should "borrow. Jt "was a strange theory for a Minister-wno was supposed to represent sound finance. 4 He ridiculed tho suggestion that there had been no increase , in taxation, and quoted figures from the "Official Year Book" to show that taxation had been increased by Cs 2d per head. It was no iiso the Minister talking fudge. He was astonished to hoar the Minister admit that ho had already drawn upon tho war loan to the extent of £50,000 to make v.p the Public Works Fund. Ho declared that tho statement niado by Mr Allen that the loan proposals were less' than for tho similar period of the previous Government, was nothing short of' absurd, and he-quoted the l.flan Bill introduced to substantiate his argument. Hβ also contended that tho comparison of the .rate of interest •<va.s all in favour of tho Liberal Government. It was impossible to be satisfied with the expenditure unon public works in tho back-blocks, tie pointed nut that the proposals for railway construrtion we.n» only £6C(>,440, and for roads £377.1)71). while public buildings w |™» to cost no loss a sum than i,710,(XK). Mow would tho representatives of the back-blocks like to go back to their districts witli this statement? mc expenditure \it>on the back-blocks and railways was a delusion and a snare, while a huge amount -was being *peu t upon public buildings. The GoB»»W»np». but last year the exn^ hh work wa » only •b* n««;i. l 1 "?- CoT ernnient appeared to &c attacked by a financial microbe. It

was no excuse for financial madness to ask what was done when h<s (Sir Joseph Ward) was in office. He declared that since the Government came into office they Lad borrowed at the rate of nearly sis'and a" half to seven millions a year. Parliament would havo voted any money required for war purposes and public works without question. Ho deplored tho necessity to discuss controversial subjects.. The PRIME MINISTER expressed the opinion that the speech of the -Minister of Finance could not fail to show tho people that the country was in a sound financial position. He challenged tho Opposition to say where the Government had increased the Customs taxation. On the contrary, they had induced Parliament to reduce the Customs taxation by abolishing a duty which meant a reduction of £30,000.

Mr G. W. ]?rfS*"T.L said the speeches of the Prime "Minister and Minister of Finance impressed him as deathbed apolosios for the state in 7, - hich they were leaving , 'the country upon the eve of an election-. Mr A. M. MYERS said New Zealand's fine "posiu o,l on the London money market was nev due to the present occupants of the Treasury benches. It was reaily due to the fact that we had spent our loans on reproductive works and established sinking funds.

The Hon. W. FR.\STSR snitl it was •no use blinking the fact when the Government came into office money was- hard to obtain, and .recognising that, fact, he was not going to spend money lavishly on public works, and so compel the Treasurer to co to London and s>orrow money on the lenders' terms. That was why he slowed down on the public works. Tho nTor*"T!t he knew the. loan was floated in London ho issued authority to proceed with the works.

Mr W. S.-D. MacDONALD said he did not complain of the amount asked to*- tho development of the country. What ho did comDlain about was the criticism of the present Government beforo they came into officeAt 1.15 a.m. the House went into Committer on the Bill, which was re-i>orte-;l without amendment and read a third time and passed. THE ESTIMATES. The Hou.se then went into Committee of Supply on the Pnhlic Works Estimates, and after passing the first item progress was reported and tho House roso at 1.25 a.m.