FINANCE BILL

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 153, 25 March 1944, Page 8

FINANCE BILL

Continuation Of Second Reading Debate SPEECHES ON MANY TOPICS The second reading debate on the Finance Bill was continued in the House that with the completion of "the South Island main trunk railway in sight the Government should take over the Wellington-Picton steamer service and provide fl through railway connexion was made by Mr. Meachen (Goveminent, Marlborough). Fie said that with the Government owning and controlling the railway system from North Cape to the Bluff it was illogical and unsatisfactory that a . private concern should run the sea link between the rail terminals at Wellington and Picton. The stretch of water between those points was small, but the fare charged by the Union Steam Ship Company was high, namely £1 for the trip each way. Ihe ferry service should be acquired by the Government and handed over to the Bailwavs Department, which could then fix a combined rail and ferry fare' purely on a mileage basis. During the last war the Government of the day paid more for chartering privately-owned ships than their original cost, and he presumed that a similar position obtained in this war If that were so the Government might as well buy the ships, and it certainly should buy the Wellington-Picton ferrv steamer. ‘ Deprecating what he termed the Opposition’s agitation among the farmers, Mr. Meachen'said his experience in the great farming district of Marlborough was that the farmers were doing a great job and were not dissatisfied with the Government’s treatment of.them. It had done the decent thing by the farmers, and in turn they were doing the same by the Government. The opposition had made much of the manpower situation which was difficult in all countries at war. but no helpful suggestions os +o how the problem could be eased had come frqtn the Opposition side of the. House. The position was. however, easing and many men who had served overseas were now back in industry and on the farms. Mr. Harker (Opposition, Waipawa) : And they are not going slow. Mr. Meachen: You have not had time to get at them yet. . . The Leader of the Opposition wanted the farmers to be able to manage their own affairs, said Mr. Meachen. But the Leader of the Opposition did not hesitate in the same breath to call out for more Government assistance in the shape of higher prices for farm products. There could be no such thing in wartime as competitive or unrestricted enterprise. In Britain the farming community was State managed through district committees which simply informed the farmers what they were required to produce and told them to produce it. Earthquake Insurance.

The general uncertainty regarding earthquake insurance since the war damage risk was extended to give this type of cover, was mentioned by Mr. Bowden (Opposition, Wellington West). He said the public were asking tor a clearer pronouncement regarding toe scope of the scheme. Mr. Bowden said that people who bad insurance cover with private companies wanted to know if they should drop it. Earthquake insurance, was not popular with, the companies and they might be only too glad to let it go. There were compaines in New Zealand that wouM not take earthquake insurance cover. People who already bad cover, however, did not want to let it go till they had an assurance as to the scope or that provided by the Government and the adequacy of the cover with which it would be backed. He had heard that the Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, was trying to rearrange cover of £100,000,000 in excess of the £5,000,000 in the fund. There was a great deal of uncertainty and the people did not know where they were. Thev naturally wished to know whether the" regulations provided as good or as satisfactory a coverage as they had at present with the private companies, and also whether claims would be settled on a similar basis. Even the State lending departments were not prepared to say whether they accepted the Government regulations as cover. Mr. Bowden added that it .was not clear whether it was intended by the Government that, the War Damage Commission should itself handle the earthquake business in addition to war damage and whether it would establisa the necessary large staff that, would be required to deal with these insurances. If the State Fire Insurance Department were authorized to deal with the business in the same regular manner as it did the rest of its transactions, it would give more confidence to the insuring public. Settlement of Claims. The commission's settlement clause stated that “any payments or expenditure for which the commission may be liable shall be made at such times as the commission in any case thinks fit, being not later than one year after the amount of loss or damage has been duly determined.” In the event of a major disaster this might therefore mean that insurers would not receive payment for perhaps one and a half or two. years. This was not conducive to. obtaining the goodwill of the public, seeing that the private companies provided for more prompt settlement. Mr. Bowden said that it was inevitable that at the close of the war there would be great quantities of stores held by the Army and other services. So as to avoid undue disturbance of trade and prices, these should be disposed of gradually, and he suggested that some organization might well be established to work iu conjunction with industry. Mr. Richards (Government. Roskill) said that the member for Wellington West had stated that the State Advances Corporation was not prepared to accept unconditionally war damage risk or earthquake insurance risk under cover of indemnity of insurance. Tbqt was not correct, and the Corporation had just rung Parliament House to say that it was prepared to, and did lend, in accordance with the routine procedure of lending unless there were, some special circumstances. This lending institution was lending today and was prepared to cover a full earthquake or war. damage risk in connexion with its securities. Mr. Bowden : The public will be relieved to hear that. There was a dearth of larms offering for the settlement of returned servicemen as a result of the Servicemen's Settlement and Land 'Sales Act. declared Mr. Goosman (Opposition. Waikato). Farmers were afraid to offer their farms for sale as they believed that once they put them on the market the Government could step in and take them. He suggested that the Government should arrange some system under which landholders could apply to the Band Sales Committee to have a valuation put on their properties, so that they could be sold if the. owners desired to servicemen at that price. The opinion that the farmers would have been better off had there been no Labour Government was expressed by Mr. Goosman. He said it was nonsense for the Government to claim, that it had brought prosperity to the farming community. Farming had recovered because of the recovery in world conditions which coincided with the coming of Labour to office. Since then costs under Labour had operated continually against the farmer as a result of the Governments nolicv and administration. Defending private enterprise. Mr. Goosman declared that though the capitalist system had had its failures its record of achievement was obvious. Hi" countries with the highest living standards were those where private enterprise was least restricted. . . . Mr. Goosman criticized the Minister of Works, Mr. Semple, .for failing to inform the House, what, lie intended to do in respect of the shortage of electric power. He said the Dominion had reached a crisis, and the power boards were al: their wits’ end. A breakdown in any of tlie main generating stations would send the country over die precipice when the winter demand again imposed a strain on supply resources. Praise for .the speech of the Minister in Charge of Rehabilitation, Major Skinner, as being the only constructive contribution from the Government. side, was given bv Mr. Goosman. He could see that the Minister realized the immensity of the task- of rehabilitation confronting the country. lie would, however, ask tlie Minister to decentralize the administration as far as possible and give authority for decisions to the district committees, which by their local

knowledge could be of immense assistance in rehabilitating returning servicemen and women. Opposition Criticized. “The Prime Minister lias done everything a man could do to place the Opposition in possession of every fact about the war effort and the manpower position both in secret session and in public, yet he has never received any assistance from the Opposition in return.’ said the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. larry. The Opposition had all the evidence it could desire, he said, yet still persisted in its campaign of destructive criticism, particularly of the Governments handling of the manpower problem. Ihe Government was entitled to the Opposition s co-operation in the war effort, but was not getting it. „ . . Mr. C. Webb (Opposition, Kaipara) . You did not talk like that in 1914. Mr Parry: Whatever was said or done in 1914, is what I am saying now wrong? Mr. Webb: It is just as well to be consistent. „ . . The Minister said it was not fair to the House for the Opposition members to get up and make wild speeches on generalities. ... , The shortage of fruit from the islands, specially bananas, was referred to by Mr. Morton (Opposition, Waitcmeta). He said he was informed, and be believed it to be true, that the reason for the shortage of bananas in New Zealand was that the Internal Marketing Department had fooled the growers in Fiji. Tonga and the Cook Islands, who refused to grow bananas for the New Zealand market because of the poor price the department offered them. The Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser: lhe Internal Marketing Department has nothin"- to do with it. It is the business of the Islands Department. Mr. Morton: I. don t care which department it is. I will say-that the Government offers such a small return tna. the growers are refusing to grow tor the New Zealand market. It is up to tne Prime Minister to say that this is no. correct. , ... ■ . r. The Prime Minister: I will say it. it ■is just nonsense. „ Mr. Morton : Why then is Is ew Zealand bereft of bananas? ' . The Prime Minister:.! will be glad to tell the honourable member at the first opportunity available to me. . A complaint that the Dominion was short of fish because the Government had interfered with commercial fishing, matte bv Mr. Morton, was replied to by Mr. Chapman (Government, Wellington North). He said that the trawlers were engaged on minesweeping and it was a case of protection of the country Irom mines, or a pre-war supply of fish. How a letter he had written to Ins son who was a prisoner of war had been returned to him by the censor, was related by Mr. Langstone (Government. AA aimari'no). He said that censorship in wartime was very necessary and essential. Whether the right person was in charge of the censorship he did not know. Mr. Langstone said he had written a letter purely of a political nature. to his son, who was at that time a prisonerof war iu Italy. The letter outlined tlie circumstances of his return to New Zealand. He admitted it was not very complimentary, but he did not think any member of the Government would object to it going forward. The letter had been returned to him by Mr. McNamara, who did not think it should go because he did not think it would be delivered at t ie other end. Air. Laugstone said he thought possibly the censor had not exactly the right hang of 'things. The debate was interrupted by the adjournment at 10.30 p.m.

SEATS ON TRAINS

Reservations Not Claimed

Steps would have to be taken to deal with the position arising through people booking seats on trains and then tailing to make use of them, said the Minister of Railways, Mr. Semple, in the House yesterday when replying to an urgent| question by Mr. Hodgens (Government. Palmerston North). He added that as tlie result of suggested action it might be that people who failed to use reservations would lose their chance to travel. Mr. Hodgens drew attention to the number of vacant seats on all trains leaving Wellington, and asked whether provision could be made whereby service personnel and persons manpowered away from their homes would be allowed to travel to their homes for weekend leave beyond the 50-mile restriction. In a note to his question he said he understood that at the request of the Railways Department military pickets prevented men of the services from travelling even though there were unoccupied seats on trains. On last Friday’s Limited express there were 16 vacant seats in a smoker car and only three persons in the daylight coach. He understood that the train known as Field’s express was more often half empty than full. The Minister said that dbe to short notice of cancellation vacant seats on the express from Welliutgon were sometimes unavoidable. In view of the large numbers in the armed forces and essential industries who would wish to travel on weekend leave it was quite impossible to provide the accommodation required. The few unoccupied seats were usually filled by passengers joining trains at intermediate stations. If the present restrictions were removed and the normal services reverted to it would paralyse the whole railway system, due tn the fact that the department’s stock of coal, which was very low, would be exhausted in a very short time. Field's express was of little use to servicemen proceeding on leave as there were uo Sunday trains returning from Palinei’Ston North to enable the men to reach their quarters by midnight on that day when leave expired. Mr. Doidge (Opposition, Tauranga): Why not adopt the Australian system, and if people are not in their seats 15 ’minutes before the train is due to leave they lose their reservations? The Minister said he had discussed the matter with the general manager in the short time at his disposal since receiving the question. It was obvious that Something would have to be done, as it was not fair either to the department and other intending travellers when they were left in the lurch by people not using their reservations.

TUR AKIN A DEVIATION

Reports About Tunnels

An inquiry whether tlie Minister of AA’orks. Air. Semple, was aware that reports were circulating concerniiie the state of the tunnels on the TuriikinaForedell railway deviation was made in a question of which notice was given in the House yesterday by Mr. Gordon (Opposition. Rangitikei). He asked tlie Minister whether he' would inform tlie House what was wrong with the tunnels, how long repairs were likely to take, and who was to blame for ;lie. work not being carried out. in a satisfactory manner in the first place. In a note to his question. Mr. Gordon stated that it was reported fi-oni men who worked in the tunnels that: tlie Minister was entirely to blame for the faulty construction.

BUSINESS OF HOUSE

Introduction Of Two Bills Tlie introduction of two Bills the Local Elections and Polls Amendment Bill and the Government Railways Amendment Bill, was tlie main business in tlie House of Representatives yesterday. Tlie remainder of the “itiing was devoted to the second reading debate on the Finance Bill, which was still under discussion when the adjournment was taken at 10.-30 p.m. till 10.30 a.tn. today. Tlie remaining stages of the Bill will be taken then, and it is expected that tlie House will also deal with the Annual Holidays Bill, which was reported back to file House .yesterday from lhe Labour Bi’.ls Committee. The sitting hours agreed to for today are those normally observed on n Friday.