REMOVAL OF SUBSIDIES

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26121, 25 May 1950, Page 3

REMOVAL OF SUBSIDIES

“UNFAIR, UNJUST, AND UNNECESSARY” MR NASH SPEAKS AT RANGIORA “As unfair, as unjust, and as unnecessary as anything ever put into operation,” was the description applied by the former Minister of Finance (Mr Nash) to the removal of subsidies when he addressed a meeting of about 350 at Rangiora last evening. “Those subsidies were there for the exclusive purpose of helping the mass of the people,” Mr Nash said, “but Mr Holland is hitting at the family.” The subsidies had been removed from goods which were essential for the home. “The poorer the home the more those commodities are needed,” he said. Mr Holland had said he would increase wages and benefits to compensate for the added costs, said Mr Nash, A family of a man, his wife, and three children had had their living costs increased by about 14s or 15s a week. If the husband earned £8 a week, he would perhaps get 8s back of his- 15s; but a single man would also get the 8 S and his added costs were only about 2s a week. An employer who paid the extra wages put his prices up, and that would mean more compensation. If Mr Holland was going to compensate the people to the extent of the added costs, he might just as well have kept on paying subsidies.