THREATENING PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 256, 25 July 1936, Page 10

THREATENING PEOPLE

Mr. Savage Asked to Restrain Ministers DISTURBING POLICY An appeal to the Prime Minister to restrain the members of Cabinet from going about the country "threatening people” was made by Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (Independent, Egmont) during the debate on the Finance Bill iu the House of Representatives yesterday. “People are becoming tired of being threatened by members of the Ministry,” said Mr. Wilkinson. “Ministers are going about threatening people with the Magistrate’s Court if they raise prices, and with other penalties if they do something else. The country is pretty well tired of that sort of thing. I hope the Government will take some notice of that.” Mr. F. W. Schramm (Government, Auckland East): Who is the big bad wolf? Mr. Wilkinson: The Government of which you are a member. “People to-day are apprehensive of the Government which, instead of being their protector, is in the position of the man with the big stick,” added Mr. Wilkinson. “There is no doubt that the policy of the Government is disturbing the people of the Dominion.”

CO-OPTED MEMBERS Opposition Criticism of System The co-opting by Ministers of the services of private members was criticised by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (Opposition, Waitoino) during the debate on tlie Finance Bill in the House of Representatives yesterday. Ministers, he said, were sworn to secrecy, and if there was too much for them to do the remedy was to make additional appointments to Cabinet. Much of the business of Government, especially documents on the flies, said Mr. Broadfoot, was of a confidential nature. He understood Ministers were sworn to secrecy, but under the system of co-opted members there was a bevy of experts hauling over files and interfering with the business of Government. Mr. H. M. Christie (Government, Waipawa): They would not see confidential matters.

Mr. Broadfoot said that if the business of Government was increasing then the number of Ministers should be iucreased, instead of every Tom, Dick and Harry being placed in the position that co-opted‘members enjoyed. It seemed that these members would be used for political purposes, and if that procedure were to be extended to members of the Government then the Opposition was entitled to tho same treatment. At the same time the Opposition considered the system wgs Wrong in its inception and that that would be proved sooner or later. INCOME TAX EVASION A suggestion that action should be taken to prevent certain companies from evading payment of portion of their income ta_x was made by Dr. D. G. McMillan (Government, Dunedin) In notice of a question addressed to the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, in the House of Representatives yesterday. Dr. McMillan intends to ask the Minister what steps were taken to prevent New Zealand subsidiaries of overseas companies from costing their purchases from their parent companies at a price in excess of their real value in order partially to avoid the payment of income tax iu New Zealand. Several of those companies, he said, manipulated the cost of their purchases from their parent companies to show a merely nominal profit in New Zealand and thereby escaped their share of taxation.