FINANCE DEBATE

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21258, 1 September 1934, Page 14

FINANCE DEBATE

i ——♦ LABOUR MEN ASSAIL GOVERNMENT ■ CHRISTCHURCH MEMBER PRAISES BUDGET j [From Our Parliamentary Reporter..l I WELLINGTON, August 31. ■ The Government withstood an- i ; other Labour attack in the House of | i Representatives this afternoon. ' | when, the financial debate was rc- ' sumed. Arguments raised by the . j leader of the Opposition (Mr M. J. j | Savage) on the first night of the j j debate were reiterated and de- ' i veloped, and from what was said by J jMr W. E. Parry (Lab., Auckland | Central) and Mr F. Langstone (Lab., j Waimarino), in particular, a listener • would have understood that the ; country in general, was very dis- j pleased with the budget. ; Mr Parry referred to the reduc- | tion in wages made by the Govern- i ment, and said that could not be j justified in a country like New Zea- j land, where there was production in j plenty. It; could be justified only ' when there was a scarcity of pro- ■ duction. The Hon. E. A. Ransom, in j stating that the Government had set j out to save the farmer from ruin, ] was perfectly correct. How had it i saved the farmer? The answer to I that was found in the State Ad- j varices Department report, which ; showed that 46 per cent, of those • who held securities were unable to j meet their interest obligations. If : I that was saving the farmers it was ' an extraordinary way of doing so. i The Lands Department had the ; same ratio who were unable to meet ' their obligations. How, then, had ,' the Government's policv saved the j farmers of New Zealand? ' They were told when the ex- | change rate was increased 15 per j cent., that the farmers were practi- ' cally bankrupt, and that the ex- '• change would save them, said Mr > Parry. The whole trend of the j Government's policy was to sell out j to the private moneylenders of the country.. The Minister had said I New Zealand was on the up grade. ! The speaker would like to know ; how that was. \ Mr Ransom: A balanced budget ; and reduced taxation. j Wage Tax Reductions j , Mr Parry asked if it was because j i the Government had £23,000,000 in ji England which it could not bring ; to New Zealand. The only increase ] was in the price of wool, which i was very artificial. The wage tax j should not have been reduced till i the conditions of poor people were i improved. Relief workers and pen- ; sioners should have been the first ; to benefit. The Minister had re- < ferred to immigration; but what < was the use of bringing more people t to New Zealand to consume pro- i ducts when the policy of the Go- t vernment would not make products t available to the people already here, i Coming to the Reserve Bank, Mr f Parry said the bank had taken over I t securities that rightly belonged to j j the people. The people's credit had J t been used to take over those secu- ] { rities. The budget deficits had not j s revealed the true national deficit ! c of the country. Human suffering j j was a deficit. The trouble with the j , country was that goods were in- ' t creasing while hardship and suffer- j ing were becoming greater. j r Mr H. Holland (C. Christchurch i j North) said the Government had j; done a great deal to help the far- ! mer, and the action taken by the j c Government: regarding company j promotion was highly commendable i ( , and had resulted in a saving of v thousands of pounds to those who ; had been led away by the pleadings j of the representatives of the companies concerned. Appearing at an ; , opportune moment, the budget was | ' the brightest and most optimistic j ' document for years. It had inspired • * the country with new hope and \ " confidence, and incidentally had j ° completely taken the wind out of | v the Labour party's sails. He could t, not understand why the restoration j s of wage cuts to the public service j n had been made retrospective, and j f pension restoration prospective. 'tl However, the Government was to be j t complimented on its action. He p hoped the next budget would give- j J ( relief from Ihe burden of general I ( , taxation. ~

Mi - Holland also spoke of hydroelectricity development and of the great progress made in recent years. Mb* F. Langstone criticised the Government for its past actions, and said the budget should have submitted to the House the suspense account dealing" with exchange. He said the Reserve Bank created credit by putting figures in a book. If u bank could do that, so could the Treasury. He contended that there was no need to establish a Reserve Bank. The Government could have taken over the Bank of New Zealand, which had branches all over New Zealand. Establishing the Reserve Bank would have no result. The other banks would go on as before.