PARLIAMENT ‘Interest Rates Too High For Local Bodies’

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29872, 12 July 1962, Page 12

PARLIAMENT ‘Interest Rates Too High For Local Bodies’

(from Out Parliamentary Reporter)

WELLINGTON, Jyly 11.

Local bodies could not get the money they needed because they could not offer the same high rates of interest the Government offered, said Mr M. Moohan (Opposition, Petone) in the House of Representatives tonight.

Capital works had had to stop, said Mr Moohan in his contribution to the Budget debate which continued throughout this afternoon and evening.

I The Hutt County Council had made provision for ' £450.000 in loan money but I it could not raise it, he said I The county was authorised by law to" have a £300.000 overdraft, but it had been told recently it must keep its overdraft down to £84,000. There was not enough money for day-to-day maintenance. said Mr Moohan. Mr Moohan said the Budget had been called a great incentive Budget, but there was no incentive in the reduction of land tax. It had been a “big hand-out” to wealthy property owners and Government supporters, covered by a story that it was to help high-country farmers. Mr A. D. Dick (Government. Waitaki): It's not for the high country. That's Crown land. ’ Mr Moohan: Oh, is it? Explain that to the Minister of Finance. So it's not for the high country at all. Mr H. R. Lapwood (Government. Rotorua) said it was a well-known feature of tourism that it cost £1 to earn £lO and he advocated that the Tourist and Publicity Department be given more money for advertising overseas. The vote this year was £159.000. Five times that amount should be spent. Mr Dick said the spreading of topdressing costs over four years for tax purposes was an incentive to people living in the high country to get higher production. Maori Housing Mrs I. M. Ratana (Opposition. Western Maori) said the Minister of Maori Affairs and the Minister of Housing should both consider Maori housing problems.

Old people often helped to buy sections and houses for their children, but when they

moved in with their young families they lost their independence. What they wanted was a room of their own where they could be surrounded by their own possessions. she said. The Budget was designed to encourage people to work and save, said Mr H. E. L. Pickering (Government, Hurunui). Under Socialism, death duties high enough to be called disinheritance duties, were camouflaged under the name of estate and death duties, he said. They spelled the death of savings, investment and expansion, were unwarranted and unjust, and were a tax on widows and children. “This Budget has done something to lessen the harshness of that tax,” said Mr Pickering. Mr R. M. Macfarlane (Opposition, Christchurch Central) deplored the absence in the Budget of anything to reduce land values, “Over-Committed” The Minister of Housing (Mr Rae) said he was sympathetic towards the building industry, but in recent months it had been overcommitted, and it had been difficult to get contracts finished. The trade had been very busy, but the industry could probably not see as much work ahead as it had been able to 12 or 18 months ago. Last year more than 24,000 houses were built. State housing was only a small part of total housing expenditure. Last year £lO million had been voted and not all spent. This year £9,500.000 had been voted, and he would do all he could to see it was all spent. Mr Rae assured Mrs Ratana that the appeal she had made about Maori housing would be considered. Last year, more Maori people were assisted with housing than in any previous year, he said.