THE FINANCIAL DEBATE.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17815, 14 July 1923, Page 14

THE FINANCIAL DEBATE.

; YESTERDAY'S SPEAKERS. WELLINGTON, July W, tt „f Representatives thi, afternoon, the - Mr H. h. * m * relating to quoted the la nd and iuc and v- get fcttl d the siual mai e alla fapl , r ecable rehef iron, lillld -us redact ns glvoll lt, ° ben l the worker was heavny ir ' CoUle , turou 'h Custom* duties, me lfl i e r«.6 0" - Ne oi our avenue. absorocd one-thud or u iU at could not go on. J could not be renevea b> ;utt us m lwlU ; abh U l m t ol tne Au>ira,WU twelves to the problem w .aoresi puaiug vae reuucmg tin*. au< b iiie i« were f .,. ve ral way- 01 U "- Ju J liU . uon, sinking und « levy ' , ' he fin * aTd the Snd was too slow iu austry and *£ * onl a ie vy on :U TlTl meant of extnig-nslnng tlie capital as a m one aUopu^ per ctnv., million " Te ft tUI . S one million . .would pay 4oJ per cent « 0 7i as compared with .the present taxation system. Lbejm with Wales. A levy on wealth was Big .carried- out to-day in CzecnoKakia and Italy. A c public works policy tKnally with the view of absorbing the un 'Tire's. Williams (Bay of Plenty) said there were serious difficulties facing the people so far as land was concerned, whicVwas the most important producing- factor of the present time. 1 here Sfre land speculators, .the blackberry! pest, and the rabbit nuisance. + He did Sof believe in the Government interfering too much in private affairs out legislation was needed to compel a land purchaser to take the title and to holu it for at least five years, except under vorv special circumstances. This would stabilise values. Encouragement should be given to chemists to devise means of eradicating the blackberry, and efficient means were needed to cope with the rabbit difficulty. Forest reservation was a matter that should be taken, eeriously in hand. Mr Williams i said he considered that income-tax was " preferable to heavy death duties, since the latter made a serious invasion on the . country's capital. Rating of Native lands was.a matter of urgency. It could be brought about "by hastening on the consolidation and individualisatiori of titles. In conclusion he • thanked the Liberal and Labour Parties for the consideration shown him at last election, when, owing to his having met with an accident, they did not put up any :'opponent against him. • -: Mr G. .McKay (Hawke's Bay) pleaded for Help for civilian and soldier settlers, r petter school buildings, and generous treatment of sufferers from tuberculosis arising out of war service, —it ,was a disgrace to this country that those who .bad fought for it should find themselves without the means of living and un- • wanted in the homes of people because , they were tubercular. . Mr A. L..Monteith(Wellington East), . 'referring to the position of wageearners, said the standard of living of the people had gone down under tlie .present Government's administration. jtie criticised the reduction in income taxation, illustrating this point With the. case of the Bank of New Zealand, ' whiph,;-while-its deposits had increasea last year by over 1J millions, had evidently restricted credit to its customers, . since the advances were three millions. The need for expenditure on School buildings was/stressed. The hardships of poorly paid employees who had to pay exorbitant rents were also dealt with, the speaker urging the Government to undertake the provision of housing accommodation. He criticised the present immigration policy, which, while ostensibly for the promotion of land settlement, only resulted in adding to the ranks of the unemployed. We did not need skilled artisans and the problem of petting apprentices, which was causing so much concern at present, could easily be solved if boys were paid sufficient to meet the costs of training. The present starting wage of 15s a week fop apprentices was altogether inadequate and 6imply meant that poor families were driven to put their boys into blind alley occupations for the sake of a few-extra shillings a week. Mr T. W. Rhodes (Thames), while supporting the Budget proposals generally, contended it was unfair that a fanner should have to pay a double impost in land-tax and income-tax. Belief in this direction was a matter of urgency. Primary industries would be New/Zealand's main source of wealth; for many years, but the country should nevertheless give encouragement to the establishment of secondary industries to utilise raw material, and afford an" avenue 'for the employment of people.. The Budget wis one of the most interesting and satisfactory he had ever' read, arid, it would go far towards establishing the confidence of the.-pedple in the Reform administration.; "' ; • ■ Mr'SlG. Smith (Taranaki) said it was'.'an absolute waste of time to try to get. the Government to take an interest in the secondary industries of the Dominion." If we wished to see a Government taking practical, sympathetic interest in- secondary induswe'must go. to Australia, but so far as he was concerned, he refused to expend any more energy in trying -to induce the Eeform Government to .' follow their example. Unless the Prime " Minister could succeed in bringing about a reduction in the cost of building material, his housing scheme would be utterly useless to workers. He refuted the charge that he was in any way responsible for blocking the Dairy Produce Export Control. Bill, and blamed the Government for not reducing railway freights on dairy produce. During their term of office they have . always had a majority sufficient to make any change they desired, and had they desired to reduce railway freights on dairy produce, they could have done it, .and no one. could have questioned it. On the other hand, the claim that the Meat Board had secured a reduction 'in shipping freights was absurd, be- ' cause the reductions had been decided upon before the Board came into operation, and similar reductions had been given- to other countries as well as to New Zealand. Coming to the Budget, he -.declared to be absolutely unre- . liable, because its statements did not . ■, f •

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square with the published departmental returns on the subject of pensions. He preferred to accept the figures taken from the departmental returns, and he would expect the Prime Minister in h?a reply to make a clear statement so aa to explain this serious discrepancy. Mr J. A. Lee (Auckland East) said he could see no reason why we should participate i-n tho-fortification of Singapore, unless we were not so much concerned in the defence of the Empire as in preparing a menace %a other countries which had interests in that .part of the world. There was a great difference of opinion amongst experts aa to the advisability of fortifying Singapore, and he quoted Colonel Repington and Mr Asquith as being against this step. Mr W. M. Hughes had stated that our great danger was the empty spaces, not the lack of fortifications at Singapore. Our best defence was population, and to maintain that population we must have secondary industries. ' Our present territorial system 'was not training boys, but merely subjecting them to irkrfome experience. What was required was. a small group of thoroughly expert men who could rapidly train men in a short period of time for any military emergency which might arise. The Government had promised to increase military pensions, and he was glad to know that this was so, but had the Government come back with a big majority, he was afraid that these promises would have been forgotten. He, however, did not criticise the motives of the Government too severely, as there was always rejoicing over one sinner that repenteth. What was favourable to the workers in the Budget would be supported'by the Labour Party, but he regretted that 98 per cent, of that document was reactionary, and only two per cent, humanitarian. Mr A. D. McLeod (Wairarapa) asked the Labour members to note that while a farmer had never been allowed to borrow from the State more than 75 per cent, of the value of his farm, it had been left to an allegedly Tory Government to. allow the work man to borrow up to 95 per cent, for providing a home. Turning to defence matters, he said the territorial training of youths was largely a' waste of time. As for the critics Government, he wished to know how they could claim to be friends of the farmers when Liberals such as Mr Masters and Mr Smith obstructed in every way the passage of the Dairy Produce Export Control Bill. It would be a great thing when it became possible for two or three men to speak for all meat and dairy producers in framing . contracts for sea carriage, which would represent more value and weight than any other , single freight contract in the world. He was not much afraid of the moratorium, as the bulk of the mortgages affected comprised balances of purchase money, most of which would have to be written off. Mr J. Horn (Wakatipu) criticised the Government's purchases of land for soldiers. No wizard of finance was required in this connexion. All they wanted was a little'common-sense. If instead of spending all their cash on purchases, the Government had given debentures in part payment, they need not have spent more than six or seven millions. The Government could have retained fifteen millions to finance soldiers. Had that been done, not a single soldier need have left his fr -n owing to want of funds to carry oi.. He made an appeal for the closer settlement of large areas of land now held as runs in Central Otago. Mr F. Langstone (Waimarino) complained that the Government was doing nothing to stop the land gambling that was going on in the Dominion. There was only one sound land policy before the country to-day; and that was the policy of the Labour Party. After midnight the debate was carried on by Mr J. R. Corrigan (Patea,, who urged that the greatest needs of the country at the present moment werf close settlement, greater production, and more population to share the burden of taxation. The Prime Minis'er should go outside the Domimcn for cheap money, as local money was required for other purposes. The adjournment of the debate was moved by Mr J. A. Nash, and , t.io House rose at 12.2 a.m. till 2.30 p.m. on Monday.