PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2502, 1 July 1915, Page 7

PARLIAMENT

A BRIEF SITTING THE WAR LOAN BILL THROUGH ALL STAGES MORTGAGES EXTENSION BILL PASSED The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. Mr. R. F. BOLLARD (Raglan) gave notice of • his intention to-introduce the Raglan Counties Bill. The Hon. A. L. HERDMAN (Attor-ney-Genera]) gave notice of his intention to introduce the Juries Amendment Bill, the Counties Amendment Bill, the Local Authorities Empowering Bill, .the Law Practitioners Amendment Bill, the Arbitration Amendment Bill, ' ana the Settled Land - Amendment Bill. The Whakatane Harbour Amendment and Empowering Bill (Mr. W. D. S. JlacDonald) was introduced and read a first time. • The Cook Islands Bill was read a. second time pro forma. THE LOAN BILL PASSED ALL STAGES VERY LITTLE CRITICISM. The Hon. J. ALLEN (Minister of Finance) moved the second reading of the Public Revenues Amendment Bill, which he explained was tho. War Loan Bill. Referring to Treasury bills, he said that the permitted issue of Treasury bills had been found to be inadequate at this war time, and Treasury bills must be an essential part of the Government's finance. The loan "authority taken'for war purposes last year was for two millions: Up to March 31 about £300,000, or rather more, was being' spent every month. The increase per month would be about £15,000 owing to extra reinforcements. At £350,000 per month, from April 1 to the end of/ 1916, f&e amount required would'be £7,050,000. In addition to this, enough would have to be raised (£300,000) to redeem the Reserve Fund securities. The Imperial Government charged. £60,000- a month for expenses required at the seat of war. .This amounted '• for fifteen months to £900,000.- The increase of £15,000 a month would bring up the total .to about £9,000,000, but instead of asking for this he bad thought it advisable that we should have-a million in reserve in case of eventualities. We might dispatch more troops or embark upon the manufacture of munitions. This loan would not be for anything but war .purposes. There would be another loan later for public works. As to the raising of tie money for war purposes, this, was being done through the Imperial : Government. The suggestion of the Home Government was that the interest and a definite sinking fund should be-paid cut of the Consolidated Fund. His own idea was that a 1 per cent, sinking fund should be paid to redeem the loan in 41 years, but, the matter had not yet been considered by Cabinet. The two million loan of last year was secured only, on Treasury bills, with a currency of a year, but he . hoped that this loan would be converted into 3 i per cent, stock,* with a currency of ten years. All future loans raised, in the London market would be raised *at 41 per cent:, the rate at which the British war loan was raised. . He realised that' the amount was a large one, but he believed that it was not larger than this country could bear at a time like this. What the Government would have to see to is that the money shall be properly r. expended. Too Much Mon3y? . SIR JOSEPH WARD (Leader of the Opposition) said the Bill-was a very important one, and was being dealt,with at very abnormal times. But. for this last-fact some of the clauses' itf the Bill , would not be lightly accepted-by the House, especially that relating to Treasury bills. -Ho thought that ten millions, at least a million more than was likely to be required, was too much for the Government to ask for. He thought the Government should rather have taken a smaller authority, and decided to' call Parliament _ together later, to provide for the additional loan. He also thought that in asking for such a huge loan the Minister should have stated what was the amount to be raised for public works . later. The - Minister was not only asking ■ for more money than he required for war purposes. but he was increasing his power to issue Treasury bills, increasing the limit of unauthorised expenditure. For years the Minister had objected to short-dated debentures, and now he was issuing Treasury bills with a currency of one year. Ho repeated that ho did j not think it wise war loan, 1 and a public works loan should be put through in one session. This would givo a very bad impression. He believed it would have been much wiser to call Parliament . together in six months, when we might know better what would be our needs. He regretted that there had been any importation into the Bill of anything except the war loan clause, but he would support the Bill, realising as he did that the Opposition could best do their duty at this time by placing no obstacle in . the way of the passage of such a Loan Bill as this. He believed also that the Bill should havebeen_ the subject of conference and discussion between the ; Government- and the leading members of the Opposition. If this had been done the -foil would have passed without a word of discussion. • . A Falso Analogy. The Hon. W. FRASER (Minister of Public AVorks) refuted the argument of the.'Leader of the Opposition that thero was any analogy between Treasury bills and short-dated debentures. In the matter of tho issue of the £2,000,000. worth of Treasury bills for war purposes, the Government had had no choico and had made jio decision, The money had been - raised by the Imperial Government by Treasury bills, but the Imperial Government liad found this' an inconvenient and risky way • of raising money, and this was the reason for the issue of the huge war loan-recently put on the market. He did not agree that the Minister should have asked for a smaller sum of money, and decided to call Parliament together later to obtain more. He would .remind t'he honourable gentleman that Parliament could not be called except at heavy cost and considerable responsibility to a large number of people. . Mr. G. W. RUSSELL (Avon) did not agree with the Leader of the Opposition as to the advisability of raising a million more than appeared tu be required. He thought the. Government should have this extra amount in reserve. Mr. A. M. MYERS (Auckland East) said he was in entire agreement with the idea that the loan should have been raised by a Bill which contained no extraneous matter. Proposals for Repayment. The' Hon. J- ALLEN, in reply, said that he would certainly not have introduced extraneous matters into the Loan Bill if he thought any exception would be taken to this by the House. He did

not know recently what arrangements would be made with the Imperial Government about the new loan, but lie anticipated that they would allow the New Zealand Government to draw monthly as they required the money, giving as security Treasury bills which cculcl be converted into stock 1 later. He urged that the loan being for a special purpose, a' special effort should be made to repay it in a shorter term than 75 years, which would' bo the term of extinction in the ordinary course. He thought a 1 per cent, sinking fund to oxtinguish it in 41 years would be a proper one. Trie Bill w:is read a second time, committed, read a third time, awl passed. , A Local Lean? On the motion for the third reading, SIB JOSEPH WARD asked the finance Minister whether he proposed to raise any part of the loan locally. He strongly deprecated l this, because anything of the sort would tighten rucney locally and interrupt the flow of business m its ordinary channels. He would also suggest- that money subscribed here to the Imperial loan should je allowed to remain in New Zealand; to be c ollided in the ten million loan in this country. i : The Hon. J. ALLEN said 'hat he bsd given an interview on the subject to the newspapers deliberately because 'he knew that a movement had begun on the part of people wishing to invest their money in the Imperial loan. He wished l to arrest that movement until the Government had time to consider the position. He did not think it wise that we should close our purse-strings altogether, but it would not be a good arrangement for New Zealand people to send Home to subscribe to the war loan, and for the New Zealand Government to borrow it back. There would be double exchanges to pay. He thought an.arrangement might be made by which moneys subscribed locally should be retained here, and counted' as part of'theNew Zealand loan. Ho also had in mind a proposal that our people should be. invited to invest their savings on a little more permanent basis, say, for five or ten years, than was now offered by the Post Office. AN EMERGENCY PAYMENT. The Hon. J. ALLEN moved the second reading of the Public Expenditure ValiBill, to validate the payments made in excess of unauthorised expenditure. The Bill was read a second time, put through Committee without amendment, read a third time, and passed. MORTCACES EXTENSION. The Hon. A. L". HERDMAN (Attor-ney-General) moved the second reading, pro forma, of the Mortgages Extension Amendment Bill. The proposal in the Bill, he said, was to give the Supreme Court absolute discretion in the case of mortgages which liad matured. . At present they had no discretion so long as interest was paid.. He desired 'to send the Bill to the Public Accounts Committee,. and possibly it might be desirable to have some evidence called. The Bill could then go to the Statutes Revision Committee. The Bill was read a second time pro forma, and referred to the Public Accounts Committee. WAR REGULATIONS. The Hon. A. L. HERDMAN (Attor-ney-General) moved the second reading of the War Regulations Amendment Bill. The principal object of the Bill, he said, was to extend the Act of last year. A clause of last year's Act said that it should continue in operation till August next. The Bill before the House extended its operation till the i end of the war with Germany. There were other small amendments,' and Clause 4 provided that acts of omission should be penal, just the same as acts which had been committed. It might well be that acts which were omitted might be just as penal as those which had be'en committed. The clause would Enable'action to be taken in such an event. , - The Bill was read a second time, put through Committee without amendment, read a . third time, and passed. The House 1 rose at 5.18 p.m. till 2.30 p.m. to-day. ' In moving the adjournment the Prime Minister congratulated members on the good work done during the afternoon.