NELSON RAIL LINK

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28950, 18 July 1959, Page 14

NELSON RAIL LINK

Mr Whitehead Explains Delay (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, July 17. The Government was “doing everything it could” to give Nelson a rail connexion, said Mr S. A. Whitehead (Government, Nelson), during the Budget debate in the House of Representatives today. “I would have liked to see work started on the railway before this. But the Government has to be sure the railway goes in the right place. “The possibility of a link with Westland has not been discarded. But a decision can not be made until the full cost of a link with Blenheim has been investigat'd,” he said.

In reply to criticism by Mr N. L. Shelton (Opposition, Rangitikei), who said the burden of indirect taxation should have been reduced, Mr Whitehead said a single man earning ,£l2 a week would have to drink 1872 glasses of beer to get the same relief from reduced beer duty as he would get from income tax cuts in the Budget. “The most stunning part of the Budget was the cruel and unprecented increase in indirect tax,” said Mr Shelton. “I cannot think of a single argument in favour of indirect taxation except in some cases—as the’ Minister seems to think—that it could be used to curb ‘undesirable’ national habits of drinking and smoking.” He said the most practical method of keeping people aware of the large amount of indirect tax they paid was for shopkeepers to show the amount of indirect tax on their price tickets. Mr A. J. Faulkner (Government, Roskill): What about showing the profit as well. Mr Shelton said the showing of indirect tax on price tickets' was done in Europe and the United States and there was no reason why it could not be done in New Zealand. Mr G. A Walsh (Opposition, Tauranga) said social services had reached the point where their maintenance was causing concern. He was not criticising the services, but they were a heavy burden on the community. The money from social services went to people who were producing no goods. The Minister of Defence (Mr Connolly): What humbug. You don't know what you are talking about. . “The workers are providing funds and goods to maintain a welfare state unparalleled in the world, and this position is going to be difficult to maintain in the coming years,” said Mr Walsh. He said the Government should encourage the establishment of industry in smaller, centres rather than in the four main centres He also advocated the use of more concrete in road construction as a means of conserving overseas funds. The Minister of Housing (Mr Fox) said that though a record number of bouses was built last year the total was “nowhere near enough. got to speed up housing construction.” Eight Government and eight Opposition members have so far spoken in the debate which was interrupted by the adjournment at 4 p.m. today and will be continued when the House meets again on. Tuesday afternoon.