PREPARATION OF THE BUDGET

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22197, 14 September 1937, Page 10

PREPARATION OF THE BUDGET

CONSIDERABLE " PROGRESS REPORTED PBESENTATION UNLIKELY FOR TWO WEEKS [From Our Parliamentary Reporter] WELLINGTON, September 13. The Government's legislative plans for the session will be reviewed briefly at a caucus of the Parliamentary Lab' our Party, which will be held in Parliament Buildings to-morrow. The Government caucus last week was practieally confined to consideration of the Local Government (Amalgamation Schemes) Bill, with passing reference to the guaranteed prices; but tomorrow the whole range of Government legislation scheduled for the session is likely to come up for general discussion. Some attention may also be paid to general items from the budget proposals, now in course of preparation by the Minister for Finance (the Hon. W. Nash), but £S it does not seem likely that the financial statement will be presented to, the House for at least a fortnight, nothing in the way of detailed examination is likely. It is gathered that considerable progress has been made with the preparation of the Budget, and it is only reasonable to presume that the Hon. P. Fraser, who acted as Minister for Finance during the absence overseas of Mr Savage and Mr Nash, had the ground carefully prepared before the return of his colleagues. Members of the Government Party who were appointed to the special taxation committee last year, and who have been conducting a thorough investigation during the recess into the general incidence of taxation, have been in close conference with Mr !Nash during the last few days.