WHAT SAVINGS ARE BEING MADE?

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 2, 27 September 1939, Page 11

WHAT SAVINGS ARE BEING MADE?

Mr. Hamilton’s Question

NEED TO ELIMINATE WASTE

Lack of information about the amount of money the Government expected to sa’ve from expenditure approved by Parliament drew criticism from the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Hamilton, during the introduction of thp War Expenses Bill in the House of Representatives last night. He suggested that the Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, should be able to save more than sufficient to offset the deficit of approximately £4,000,000 in this year’s war expenditure.

“It is very difficult for one to grasp the significance of all the proposals ou their introduction,” said Mr. Hamilton. “The Minister is asking for authority to borrow £10,00,0009, when he expects a deficit of about £4,000,000 to be made up this year on account of war expenditure The weakness in the Minister s proposals is that he has not informed the House of any savings that can be made. “We have passed a terrific quantity of money this year, but, when the Minister asks us for a lot more for defence, we would at least expect that he would be able to indicate some expected savings from the expenditure of £75,289.000 already approved. This represents an increase of £8,797,000 over last year. To come along for another £6,500,000 for war expenditure, without using some of the money already passed, looks as if it were only half the story. Even if the Minister can economize only to make up the £4,000,000 out of the £75,000,000 I should say he is not as careful as he might be. “The Minister’s proposals for extra taxation will be carried willingly by the people, but only if the Government makes a supreme effort to be careful of expenditure in other directions,” said Mr. Hamilton. “A certain amount of waste is inevitable in war expenditure, but we have to see that there is no waste elsewhere.”

TRAINING GROUNDS AND AERODROMES Information as to the amount of the unexpended portion of the Public Works vote that would be made available for expenditure on defence was sought by Mr. Coates (Opposition, Kaipara), during the introduction of the War Expenses Bill in the House of Representatives last night. “The Government has stated that it proposes to transfer from votes already passed such sums as it thinks fit for other purposes,” said Mr. Coates. “Does the Government contemplate paying for the preparation of training grounds out of the existing Public Works vote? To what extent is Public Works money to be transferred to the war expenses account?”

Mr. Nash: If men are transferred from public works the expenditure on these works will show a corresponding decrease. All the work associated with defence, even if carried out by the Public Works Department, will be charged to the war expenses account. The Minister of Public Works, Mr. Semple, said that the scope for the employment of non-skilled men on aerodromes it present under construction was not very great. Neither could many men be taken off public works for engagement on the training camps, for the three of them would all be completed in about three weeks. Burnham camp would be finished next Saturday. However, it might be possible to transfer men from public works to industries engaged in the production of foodstuffs.