Parliament FINANCIAL DEBATE CONTINUED

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 297, 12 September 1934, Page 10

Parliament FINANCIAL DEBATE CONTINUED

Plea For Completion of East Coast Railway ■' ' ■ 'i ■ < •. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS TABLED Close on half the members of. the House of Representatives have now spoken in the Financial Debate, eight speeches being made yesterday. With a speech in the afternoon by Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Ind Egmont) the previous silence of the Independents was broken. A large batch of departmental reports was tabled at the commencement of the sitting. Mr Wilkinson claimed that the Government had lost a great opportunity of making a profit out of the recent replacement of British and Australian silver coin. He considered a much larger profit would have been obtained by New,Zealand if the Government had been able to repatriate the whole of the Imperial and Australian coin circulating in the country at its face value. .... Strong pleas for the resumption of work on the abandoned East Coast railway and the South Island Main Trunk line were made by Mr. W. D. Coleman (Lab., Gisborne) and Mr. E. F. Healy (Govt., Wairau) respectively. Questions concerning the welfare of the primary producers were dealt with by Mr. J. Linklater (Govt., Manawatu). Mr. Linklater rarely speaks in the House, but when he does his views, particularly on farming matters, always command respect, even from those who are opposed to him politically.

PROFESSOR’S VIEWS ■ • , , ■ ... ■ r “Outrage on Democracy” AN ATTACK AND A REPLY X 7 The opinion that the Government should amend the Education Act to enable it to control the utterances of teachers who come to New Zealand under an exchange system was expressed by Mr. W. P. Endean (Govt., Parnell) when speaking on the Budget debate in the House of Representatives last evening. Mr. Endean made repeated reference to Professor' Sewell, of the Auckland University College, whom he described as an exchange professor lent to Now Zealand by England, but actually Professor Sewell is the permanent occupant of the chair of English, to which he was recently appointed. “In my opinion the Government would be very well advised to amend the Education Act so that it can exercise disciplinary action over people who give vent to such utterances,” said Mr. Endean. “It is remarkable that we can have professors lent to us from England, who are closely in contact with the young men and the young women whom they train in the universities and infect them with the in- . sidibus doctrines of the Soviet Republic. l}he Government is the custodian of the public money and the public welfare, and if it has not now power to deal with these gentlemen it should amend (he Education Act so that it can control these professors and teachers. The case of Professor Sewell is an outrage on our democracy.” Mr. F. Langstone (Lab., Waimarino): Do you think he is dangerous? ‘ ; Mr. Endean: He is advocating free love, or practically so, and also treason to the State to which he belongs. “Creating Trouble.” Mr. R. McKeen (Lab., Wellington South), who followed Mr. Endean, said that every night in England at the request of the 8.8. C. lectures on international problems were given by distinguished men, and it said much for the narrow-mindedness of the authorities here that once those gentlemen canie out to the Dominion and spoke in similar strain they, were immediately branded as revolutionaries. “Those who are attempting to suppress free speech are only creating trouble for. themselves,” Mr. McKeen continued. “The wisest thing to do is to let the people express their opinion. "We have a police force sufficiently strong to maintain law and order, but if freedom of speech is banned Fascism will come into existence. There are Mosleys in New Zealand as well as in England.” “A Cultured Gentleman.” Mr. McKeen, quoted extracts from a recent speech by Professor Sewell, and contended that he was not the bloodthirsty individual some would have him appear. The Professor, •he said, was a cultured gentleman. Mr. R. Semple (Lab., Wellington East): An English gentleman. Mr. McKeen said there was no more peaceable man in New Zealand than Professor Sewell, yet the authorities wished to hunt him out of the country. It was not right for the Government to determine how the university professors should act after their working hours; what they did or said when their day’s work was over was their own affair. MORTGAGE BONDS Corporation Proposal Commended The opinion that the proposed National Mortgage Corporation would be of great benefit to the Dominion was expressed by Mr. J. Linklater (Govt., Manawatu) during the Budget debate In the House of Representatives yesterday. He said the corporation promised to provide ample'money for mortgage Investment and to supply an undoubted security for that Investment. Mr. Linklater said that money on land was very hard to get to-day. In his opinion it was very necessary that some way should b e found to give the Investor more confidence in rural securities. Uncertainty had been caused by the unavoidable interference of the Mortgagors and Tenants’ Relief Act. In the past land was recognised as the best security in the country. Security for investments was much needed today, and if there were provided security for the investment in the great national asset, the land, of a grejjt deal of the £55,000,000 of the frozen capital at present in the banks, the National. Mortgage Corporation would be of great benefit to the farmers of the Dominion. “Low rates of interest are absolutely necessary to the farmer, who is receiving low prices for his produce and especially the farmer who bought at boom prices,” said Mr. Linklater. “These farmers have had one continual struggle against great odds to provide interest and sinking fund in respect of their .mortgages.”

PRISONS BOARD 7— « Past Year’s Work Reviewed OFFENDERS REFORMED The* work of the Prisons Board for 1933 was reviewed in its annual report tabled in the House of Represen tatives yesterday. The board dealt with a total of 1639 cases at 15 meetings held at the various institutions, the decisions arrived at being as follow: Recommended for release on probation, 580; deferred for further consideration, 945; petitions declined, 64; recommended for discharge. 21; discharged from probation, 29. The report stated that the number of cases considered by the board showed a steady increase yearly, due chiefly to the courts recognising the advantage of substantial sentences of Borstal detention and reformative detention over short sentences of imprisonment as a corrective. The board observed that the prisoners who had been dealt with under the system of reformative detention were, of course, less .prone again to'offend than those who had been declared habitual criminals, but it Was, nevertheless, a source of gratification that a fair proportion of the latter had proved themselves sufficiently trustworthy once more to take and to keep their places among their fellow-citizens. It was to be remembered that they were often heirs to criminal tendencies that had in many cases been aggravated by the surroundings of their youth; to discard this heritage and become useful citizens was no easy task. The board reported it was much impressed with the great value of postprison care. Experience had definitely proved that as a general rule prisoners, including those even not of a pronounced criminal type, were unable to govern themselves properly without some helping and guiding hand to carry them over the dangerous period'immediately following their release. Provision had been made for this need by the appointment of probation officers and probation and Borstal committees, who-were connected with philanthropic organisations, and whose services were highly valued and recognised by the board. During tlie year the board had made Considerable use of the mental specialists attached to the Mental Hospitals Department for the purpose of examining and reporting on persons. The board commenced to function in 1911, since which time 20,802 cases had been considered by it. This included prisoners undergoing sentences of reformative detention, hard labour, habitual criminals, Borstal Inmates, and probationers for discharge from probation or variation of its terms. » MEAT FOR THE PUBLIC More Supervision Urged WELLINGTON ABATTOIR • ■ 4 Stricter supervision over meat killed in abattoirs and (hat sent to the shops for human consumption was advocated by Mr. R: McKeen (Lab., Wellington South) when speaking in the House of Representatives last night. He said a small amendment to the Slaughtering and Inspection Act would meet the position. Most of the local bodies were seeking an amendment so that nothing but meat fit for human consumption would be killed. Mr. McKeen said that where the population of any borough or town district was not less than 2000 it was the duty of the local authority concerned to maintain an’ abattoir. Not more than two bulls had been slaughtered in the last two years in the Wellington abattoir, and these bulls were rising 18 months. Fifty-four rams had bee’, slaughtered in the past year. Of this number 34 were two to four-tooth and two were condemned. All rams were stamped all over on every piece that could be sold separately with the word “boner” in letters approximately one inch' high and the stamp was approximately 4 inches long. The business of a local authority is to provide an abattoir. Any stock might be killed in’the abattoir, and the decision as to whether the meat wa? fit for human consumption rested with the Inspector. The City Council had no say in this matter. The manager was responsible for seeing that condemned carcases were burnt, burled or removed to boiling-down works, or other similar place, and there so rendered that the products could not be used for human consumption. That was the only duty in regard to protection of the public from diseased meat that "’as imposed on the manage’.’. The Government inspector had the right to condemn any bobby calves which were killed at the Wellington abattoir.

FINANCIAL DEBATE ? * More Members Express Views on Budget PLIGHT OF UNEMPLOYED The debate on the Financial Statement was continued in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr. D. W. Coleman (Lab., Gisborne) said he was satisfied that the wage-earners of the Dominion would much prefer to forgo the proposed reduction of twopence in the wages tax and see the money utilised to provide better conditions for relief workers The saving of twopence ,in the pound was not going to be felt by the average wage and salary worker. It would mean from 6d. to Bd. a week to the man earning from £3 to £4. If that twopence had beep kept on there would have been another £1,000,000 to spend for the benefit of the relief workers. He wanted to be.assured of much better treatment for relief workers before he would be favourable to a reduction in the wages tax, or any other taxation so far as unemployment was concerned. Better treatment should be meted out to the unemployed before any restoration in salaries was made, and public servants themselves agreed with him in that view. The Government had adopted a miserable attitude in making the five per cent, increase in old age pensions prospective, instead of retrospective, to April 1, as in the case of the increase in the salaries of public servants. Unemployment Fund Control, Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Ind., Egmont) said he could not understand the attitude of Government members when they expressed gratification at the “cheerful Budget” when actually that document showed a deficit of £2,700,000 in the national finances. He had grave doubts whether the country was on the upgrade; export prices were still very low and unemployment existed in every locality in New Zealand. With the ex ception of a small reduction in/the unemployment wages tax, no relief had been granted' to the taxpayer. He criticised the policy of the Unemployment Board in subsidising wealthy institutions, and contended that the control of the fund should be undertaken by the Minister and not by a board. “We have no control over the policy of the Unemployment Board,” MrWilkinson said. “We have set up-an organisation that is a law unto itself. The Minister is-simply a figurehead, registering the decisions of the board.” New Zealand to-day, he said, was the highest tax community in the whole world, In 1933 the general taxation amounted to £l2/17/9 a head and the local taxation to £2/19/5. This year, according to the Budget Estimates, the total taxation would amount to £2O. “Slow Strangulation.” “The people of New Zealand are being slowly strangled by high taxation, and I would urge upon the Government the necessity for granting immediate relief,” Mr. Wilkinson continued. “The sales tax should be the first to be tackled. There is room for its removal or reduction on certain items.” Mr. > Wilkinson strongly condemned the Government’s high exchange policy, which he described as a mad chase. It was of no benefit, he said, to the section of the community it was supposed to benefit, and, in addition, was doing a great deal of harm to the whole country. He expressed concern that New Zealand was well down on the list of England’s customers, and pointed out that relatively the Dominion was no better a customer than the United States. New Zealand’s great export market was in danger, and he urged that some better system of balancing our imports and exports should be arrived at. : Balancing the Budget. “The only method of balancing our Budget was to lower expenditure and increase taxation, and we know that these methods were unpopular in a time of depression and lower incomes,” said Mr. J. Linklater (Govt., Manawatu). The Government, he added, had to adopt these corrective measures much against its inclination, but they had been worth, while, for now there was a balanced Budget and a better financial position for the people. The increase tn the exchange rate had been of tremendous benefit to the farmers of ' the Dominion, who were grateful for the assistance they had received from the Government. Not only the farmers, but also the manufacturers, the fruit-growers and other exporters had all benefited. There were some members of the'House who persisted in the ridiculous belief that, the farmers did not receive any benefit from the increased exchange. , Main High ways. Mr. Linklater said he was of opinion that the main highways should all be taken over by the Main Highways Board, The fact that many of those roads went through poor country made It almost impossible for the local ratepayers to pay for highway construction. In his own district there were cases in point—the stretches from Sanson to, Himatangi and from Foxton to Wirokino. Those were the only two gaps on the main road north from Wellington to Wanganui, and he suggested that the board take them over and complete the surfacing. For many years he had advocated, both iu’Parliament and outside of it, the planting of sand-dunes along the west coast.of the Wellington district. He was pleased that a start was being made this year upon that work, A survey had been made and one of the pieces of Grown land was to be planted next season. A nursery was to be started this yeek. He was sure it would be profitable and a very great advantage to the farming lands along the coast. He thought the Unemployment Board ought to make some better allocations out of its funds. Airs. E. R. McCombs (Lab., Lyttelton) said she could not help thinking that when the Government drew up its plans for the year it had not a thought of the unemployed. She contended that the people did not want a reduction in their wages tax while unemployment continued. The relief workers were in a desperate plight, many of them living in misery and often with the bailiff under the same roof. She quoted the Health Department’s report referring to malnutrition of children and also to the crowded condition under which people were living. She said many young children were compelled to augment the family income by assisting on milk rounds, delivering newspapers, or selling lollies in picture theatres. Minister Enters Debate. The Minister of Justice, Hon. J. G. Cobbe, said that since he had been iu the House he had never known a Budget that had provoked less sincere criticism. The proposed National Mort- . gage Corporation would result In far*

reaching benefits to the whole Dominion. It was to the primary industries they had to look for the payment of their overseas debts. If the Labour Party and the Independents had had their way the dairy-farmers would not have received tho benefit of the exchange. Air. A. J. Stallworthy (Ind., Eden): Nonsense.

Afr. Cobbe said the Labour members and the Independents had voted against' the Bill, the effect, of that vote being to prevent the farmers receiving that additional exchange. Mr. Stallworthy: Nonsense. Mr.> Cobbe said it was questionable whether any legislation in recent years had been more beneficial than the Mortgagors and Tenants Relief Act ‘ the system of relief bad been of enor mous benefit to farmers, particularly sheep-farmers, who had been hard hit by the low prices of wool and meat. The majority of the applicants who had been granted assistance had found It necessary to apply for further relief, and this showed clearly that if the Act had not been passed a most serious position would have arisen in the coun try. In the Wellington country district 2270 cases hud been dealt with by tho Adjustment Commission for the district up to May 31. Very valuable work had been done by 'members of the commission. One shuddered tj think what would have happened in New Zealand had it not been for the Alortagors Relief Act. The Alinlster’s speech was interrupted by the adjournment at midnight.

EAST COAST RAILWAY Government Resumption of Work Urged ‘WORTH THE EXPENDITURE’ A strong plea for the resumption by the Government of work on the uncom pleted Napier-Gisborne railway was made by Air. D. AV. Coleman (Lab., Gisborne) during the Financial Debate in the House of Representatives y ester day. Air. Coleman considered it was the duty of the Government to finish the line and so give to the people of the East Coast district facilities tc which they were justly entitled. If the Government were not prepared to pro ceed with the work, he hoped it would not adopt a dog-in-the-manger attitude and refuse to allow anyone else to take over the line, or place unnecessary obstacles in the way.

Mr. Coleman said he had hoped the Government would see the wisdom of completing the Gisborne-Napier line .Members who two or three years ago were hostile to the completion of the line now realised they had made a mis take. The Minister of Finance. Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, had stated before the Coalition came into existence that he was satisfied the line would pay 4 per cent. He believed the feeling >f most members was that the work ■should be proceeded with. The United members of the Ministry had said os much when the United Government waf in office, and the present Prime Minister. Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, had visited Gisborne in his official capacity and spoken strongly in favour of the line.

Mr. Forbes: No. Air. Coleman: Oh. yes. As Minister of Railways in the Ward Government you were quite in favour of the work going on. Continuing. Air. Coleman said that just on £5.000,000 had already beer, spent on the line. It would take about £1,500.000, or, taking the Public Works engineers’ figures, about £lBOO.OOO, to complete the line. Surely it was worth that expenditure. The statement that the line would not pay operating costs was incorrect. It would serve a population of 43.000. Referring to the legislation passed last year authorising the Government to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of the line. Mr. Coleman said the first set of conditions was such that it was utter ly impossible to get any private concern to take up the venture However, the conditions were subesquently some what modified. Representatives of firms of financiers had recently interviewed him with reference to the railwav, and he understood they had also met the Prime Minister, with whom they were unable to make any headway. , ' “Wonderful Country.” Mr. J. Linklater (Govt., Manawatu) wno was the next speaker, said he had a good deal of sympathy with Mr. Coleman in connection with the uncompleted East Coast railway. He bad gone over the line recently, and he formed the opinion that if any railway in the Dominion should be completed it was that one. If the Government could not go ahead with the work it should permit private enterprise to do so. He did not know whether reasonable conditions could be made with the company concerned, but he hoped that .something would be done to get the line completed as early as possible. The district the line would serve was wonderful country, and it should have better access than it was provided with to-day. SOUTHERN MAIN TRUNK Completion Advocated The completion of the South Island Alain Trunk railway was advocated by Air. B. F. Healy (Govt., Wairau), who claimed that British investors considered the financing of a company for that purpose to be the best investment in New Zealand. He had a scheme which would enable the line and rhe railway wharves at Picton to be taken over by a private concern, with a reduction of three-quarters in the running costs, and an improvement of rolling stock by 500 per- cent. The Prime Minister, said Air. Healy, had urged the completion of the South Island Alain Trunk every year since 1910 until the formation of the Coalition. The people of Marlborough would not take the statement in the x Budget lying down. Marlborough and Canterbury interests were to meet to discuss the situation, and there was a group which was prepared to finance the completion of both the South Island Alain Trunk and the East Coast railway.

SILVER COINAGE Member’s Criticism and Minister’s Replies VIEWS OF MR. WILKINSON Criticism of the Government for failing to turn the recent replacement of British silver coinage to profit, expressed by Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Ind., Egmont) in the House of Representatives yesterday, drew outspoken interjections from the Minister of Finance. Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates. Mr. Wilkinson based his criticism on the annual report of the Auditor-General, which was tabled in the House last week, and Air. Coates at one stage said that the Auditor-General did not know what he was talking about.

' Mr. Wilkinson said the Government made no attempt to come to terms with the Imperial Government in the silver transaction.

Air. Coates: That is incorrect. Mr. Wilkinson: Well, I shall ask the Alinister to table the correspondence between the two Governments. Air. Coates: I shall be only, too pleased. Air. Wilkinson: According to the Auditor-General’s report the Government has thrown away at least £1.000,000. Mr. Coates: The Auditor-General is up a tree; he does not know what he is talking about. Mr. Wilkinson: I have only.the facts before me. Profit to Australia. Air. Wilkinson went on to say that in the case of South Africa silver had been charged to the Dominion Government, not at its face value, as was done in New Zealand, but at its bullion value. "In New Zealand we have collected Australian coins,” he said, “although they were never legal tender We melted them down and made them into New Zealand money The Austra-j lian Government got the profit, but we got none. We should have bought our silver at bullion price. If the Minister of Finance goes to Australia this year ... A Labour voice: And he might, too. Mr. Wilkinson: . . . and takes New Zealand half-crowns with him and tries to -circulate them he will either be fined or jailed Air. Cogtes:-Either would be a change. Mr. Wilkinson claimed that all Aus tralian coins should have been collected and sent back to Australia. The Government had arranged to import a certain amount of Australian money because English money was going out of the country in such volume and there was not enough in New Zealand and there was no time to get more from England. Should not some arrangement have been made to return the coin when finished with? Air. AVilkinson asked Mr, Coates also to table the report of the Coinage Committee that had been set up to advise tlie Government. He believed that among other things, the'eommittee had said that it was out of the question to expect the Imperial Government to retire its own silver, therefore New Zealand had to make the best of it. “AR I can say,” said Mr. Wilkinson, “is that if this were the case New Zealand made a desperately bad bargain. Offer to Mint in New Zealand. “Is it not a fact,” he continued, “that an offer was made it. New Zealand to make the coins? This would have produced a profit of at least £750,000 to the State. How was it the offer Was not considered? It is ridiculous to say that we cannot make good coins in New Zealand. It is easier to make a coin than a Yale key; it is a simple mechanical operation, and surely New Zealand is not so deficient In mechancs. Even counterfeiters make coins, and circulate them, too. “If the. Government had simply allowed English coinage to remain in circulation it would have gradually disappeared because of smuggling profits. At the very worst, if the Govern ment bad collected the coin and deposited it in the banks and then minted Its own coinage, infinitely more profit would have accrued. We need the money so' badly. We have a Budget that will not 'balance. This would bav A helped the Alinister to balance it.” Air. Wilkinson asked why the Coinage Committee had been set up. AVas it to advise the Government on silver transactions, or on coinage design only? “I am glad to know that the Auditor-General is up a tree.” concluded Mr. Wilkinson, “and I am glad of the Alinlster’s assurance that the correspondence with the British Government and the committee’s report will be laid on the table of the House.” CHILD WELFARE Number Under Supervision CONDITIONS IN THE HOMES The number of children under the supervision of the Child AVelfare Branch of the Education Department at March 31 last was 7259, states the annual report, tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday. Of the total 4277 were classified as State wards. The number committed to the care of tlie superintendent of the branch during the year was 423, classified according to reasons of committal as follow: Indigent, 154; delinquent, 22; detrimental environment, 53; neglected, 4; not under proper control, 117; accused or guilty of punishable offence, 73. In addition six were admitted by private arrangement, while 47 were temporarily admitted, making the total admissions 476. Of the children committed 72 had been dealt with previously by the courts for other offences, for which they had received terms of supervision. The superintendent says an important part of tlie work of child welfare officers is that of adjusting conditions in homes and in connection witli families to prevent the cominitai of children to the care of tlie State. In very many cases parents whose children are difficult to manage avail themselves of the Services of tlie officers for the purpose of supervision and friendly guidance. At tlie end of the year 1081 children were being dealt with in that connection.

By an arrangement with the Justice Department, applications for adoptions are investigated by child welfare officers before being dealt with by magistrates. During the year 295 children were adopted (17 of these being State wards), and in 14 cases premiums were approved by the courts.

TEACHERS’ PENSIONS

Expenses Exceed Income The annual report of the Teachers' Superannuation Board, tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday, shows that on January 31 last there were 8903 contributors to the Teachers’ Superannuation Fund as against 9355 on the corresponding day of the previous year. Contributions received during tlie year ended that day amounted to £114,775, Government subsidies amounted to £55,948, interest to £54,310, and the profits on the realisation of investments to £1462, making the total income £226,495, as against £221,901 for the preceding year, Expenditure totalled £334,952, retiring and other allowances accounting for £299,516. The payment of the cost-of-iiving bonus had been continued in necessitous cases,

BOBBY CALF TRADE

Anxiety in the Manawatu

“The .operation of tlie quota is causing a great deal of anxiety among the farming community of the Manawatu,” declared Air. J. Linklater (Govt., Alanawatu). when speaking during the Budget debate in tlie House of Representatives ' yesterday. He said many people, particularly farmers, were concerned at the total embargo on the bobby calf industry. Last year the farmers were receiving 5/- to 5/6 each for bobby calves; to-day they were receiving only 1/6. Mr. Linklater said the 1/6 covered only the hide. The meat from these calves was being put into freezing stores and would certainly be sold when the embargo was lifted, at a great profit to tlie freezing companies. He contended the matter was one that should be gone into by the Minister of Agriculture and the Meat. Producers' Board, and that the farmer who sold bobby calves at the present small price was entitled to a bonus.