VOTING MONEY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 79, 30 September 1914, Page 3

VOTING MONEY

— IMPREST SUPPLY BILL WAR TAX SUGGESTED IMPORTANT QUESTIONS COST OF FOOD. SUGGESTIONS AND EXPLANATIONS. " Shortly before the House of Representatives adjourned for dinner yesterday afternoon an Imprest Supply Bill was introduced by Governor's Message. The Hon. J. Allen, in answer to questions, said that he was doing his best to make provision for those who wanted advances, either as workers or settlers. So far he had had to fix the limit at £350, but he was considering the possibility of lifting it to £400. While the Bill was going through its Committee stage, Mr. Payne urged that the time had come when unions should cease from debarring from their list of workers men who had been called upon to assist in the time of riot. He urged the Government to give an indication of what it intended to do in regard to war taxation, which, he contended, should be disposed in the right quarter and placed on the shoulders of those best . able to bear it. He went on to contend that the Minister of Finance, backed by the Government, should commandeer the eight millions now at call in the Bank of New Zealand, but he had it in his mind that as long as a Tory Party was in power no such step would be attempted. He trusted, he said, that the Government which succeeded the present Administration would see that ihe public was not exploited in regard to the price charged for the necessaries of life. MINING LAWS. Mr. Webb regretted that the Mining Commission of 1911 had not been brought into operation for the purpose of considering the Huntly disaster. The mining laws of New Zealand, he said, were a disgrace to New Zealand. He hoped that every mining district would be fully equipped with mining life-saving apparatus, which was not the case in most respects at the present time. At the present moment the man who received the least consideration was the . man who went into the bowels of the earth and ventured his Hfe for the development of ,the Dominion and of the community as a whole. WAR TAX AND FOODSTUFFS. "We have no right to adjourn until a war tax is imposed," said Mr. Webb. "Every member of the community should pay in proportion to his means." There were a large number of people who were paying £1000 or so to the Patriotic Fund &Dd taking back £3000 or £4000 by rais ing the prices of commodities. What they wanted was a tax which would ensure that every person in New Zealand had paid his or her share towards\the cost of the war. That could only be done by the war tax which he had suggested. In conclusion, he uttered a vehement • protest against the victimisation by employers of employees who were opposed to them in politics. He believed that if the recommendations of the last Mining Commission had been given effect to there would not have been forty dead men in Huntly to-day. Mr. Witty charged the Government with dilatoriness in tho matter of fixing the price of foodstuffs since the outbreak of the war. Nothing had been done, he said, to lessen the cost of living on the part of the people. As far as they knew the report of the Commission was delivered to the Government* ten or eleven days ago, but he understood that the Government did not agree with that report and referred it back to the Commission. It was meanwhile reported that the Government had been in communication with certain producers. Right. Hon. W. F. Massey : Absolutely untrue. Mr. Witty asked if the price of flour as gazetted was higher than the Commissioners reported on.* (Laughter from> the Treasury benches.) Mr. Witty said ithe rumour was that the Prime Minister and his Ministersdid not agree with the Commission's reports, and that the report was referred back to the Commission. The Government set up a Commission to fix the price of wheat, and flour, and the first thing it did was to disagree with the report of that Commission. He urged that the Order-in-Council should have been made general instead of specifying any particular ports, as was done in the Order-in-Council. If the Government had not been afraid of offending its friends it would have fixed the price of wheat and flour without consulting its friends under the shadow of the Commission. The price of other foodstuffs had ■ gone up because the Government was not capable of dealing with the position from a business standpoint. Grain had, in many cases, gone into the hands of the merchants. The Government should have regulated the price of bread, and seen that the poor are not paying too much for the staff of life. The reason was that the people holding the grain were the friends of the Government, and the poor were being bled in consequence. Parliament had to look after the people who could not look after themselves, and there were hundreds of such, the victims of circumstances "and compelled to pay the undue price insisted on by the more fortunate ones, who were able to insist on a high price being paid for the produce they could control. STATEMENT BY THE PREMIER. The Right 1 Hon. W. F. Massey contended that the Foodstuffs Commission was a good one, and that it had done good work. The suggestion that the report of the Commission had been referred back because the prices fixed were too low was absolutely untrue. It was also stated that the Government had consulted the owners of foodstuffs before the proclamation was gazetted. If Mr. Witty could prove that he was prepared to tender the resignation of himself and the Government to His Excellency the Governor. He went on to read the first recommendation of the Commission — that wheat should be £5 3s f.0.b., and flour £13 f.o.b. at Lyttelton, Timaru, and Oamaru. The Commission at that stage said that it had not thought it necessary to make any recommendation regarding the price of bread because it considered that it would be reflected by the price of flour. He added that he had sent an order for 250,000 bushels of wheat to Sydney, but had only received 40,000 bushels. Now he had received word that where contracts were concerned, the prohibition of the export of wheat from Australia had been removed, and he therefore expected to get delivery shortly. It would not be sold to the detriment of the community. In New Zealand the trouble was as to whether there was sufficient wheat for » our requirements. If not the price would be the price at which it could be brought to New Zealand, plus freight and insurances. If the supply in New Zealand and Australia was short, wheat in New Zealand would be very dear. With that idea in view, he had endeavoured to persuade New Zealand landholders to grow wheat, and many of them had responded to his appeal "*■ 'Mr. MaMoy,- reverting to i^ha- Order

in Council fixing the price of wheat and flour, said the difficulty of fixing a price was complicated by the fact that there are several ports of export, particularly Oamaru and Timaru. According to the first calculation of the Commission, the miller got a profit of 8s a ton, and on its second calculation the Commission's price gave only a profit of 2s a ton. No delay had taken place that could possibly be avoided, and " the whole subject might have to be reviewed in a few weeks' time. In regard to unemployment, he would suggest there was no cause for alarm. The country might expect good prices for its produce, and no country, in his opinion, would recover more rapidly from the war than New Zealand. If only people would go about their business in a normal way, now that things were settling down in Europe, there would not be likely to be much distress. He contended the Government had done all that was needed to meet the situation, and had not interfered unwisely in the conduct of trade. Had they interfered too much there might have been a panic. "ABSOLUTELY ABNORMAL." Sir Joseph Ward described the conditions as absolutely abnormal, and it was all very well for the Prime Minister to talk about the people carrying on their affairs in the ordinary way, when the Government itself could not lend out money_ in the ordinary way. There was the difficulty of getting our products away. The Minister of Defence would do more good if he did not observe quite so much secrecy in matters at the'present time. It was no good slapping oneself on the chest and saying tlnngs were going on in a normal way. At the present moment, with the troopships going away, they were nearly a million carcases freezing capacity short of the normal. The Hon. Mr. Herdman interjected a remark to the effect that this was incorrect. Sir Joseph Ward : When it comes down to practical matters, the hon. gentleman is as much at sea as a blind whale. (Laughter.) The Leader of the Opposition repeated that the export of frozen meat would be seriously handicapped by the lack of cool storage through the withdrawal of steamers of a capacity of over 850,000 carcases. It was useless to talk about substitutes. The Prime Minister was qui^te wrong" in misleading the country on ibis point. The Prime Minister: The ships will be here. Sir Joseph Ward: Then the country ought to know where they are coming from and when they will be here. The Prime Minister: The announcement will be made at the proper time. At this stage the supper adjournment was taken. , At the resumption, the Leader of the Opposition said he did not see any necessity to suggest war taxation at the present time. Mr. Nosworthy asked if it was not true that J. G. Ward and Co had insured freight a little while ago at 37s 6d per cent. Sir Joseph Ward protested against a reference to the private business of a member. The statement was not true, and he gave it an emphatic denial. He had given instructions to take action against a malignant statement made about him by a person. He would like to know who was the honourable member's informant. Mr. Nosworthy : A friend of mine insured cargo by the same boat at £2 per cent. . Mr. Poland spoke at length on the necessity of amending the mining law so as to improve the conditions under which the miners in the mines of the Dominion carry on their work, chiefly with the object of reducing the risk of miners' phthisis. The discussion was continued at great length in the presence of a "thin" House. A GENERAL DISCUSSION. Just after 1 a.m. the PostmasterGeneral stated plans were being prepared for a new post office in Hereford-street, Christchurch. Provision would also be made for the installation of the automatic telephone system.The Hon. J. Allen, in the course of a summing-up speech, said that the Prime Minister had made every provision for the services of refrigerating steamers to take our produce away up to March next. In the discussion of the final stages of the Bill Mr. Witty charged the Prime Minister with the lack of that dignity that should characterise the leader of a party. He made particular reference to the Food Commission's report, which, on Mr. Massey's own statement, had been referred back to the Commission, i Mr. Massey : I never said so. Mi 1 . Witty, stressing the point, wanted to know whether the Commission had recommended the price of flour and wheat to be lower than what is fixed by the Proclamation. Everyone knew, experts said so, that there was a sufficient supply of grain in New Zealand. If the Prime Minister had not wanted to hurt his friends he would, months ago, have taken off the duty on Australian wheat. The real trouble was that the Prime Minister was devoid of pluck; he would not oppose those on whom he was dependent politically. Incidentally he wanted to know : ' Do we hear anything now about the Dreadnought? Hon. F. M. B. Fisher : The , "toy navy" ! Mr. Witty: When the Dreadnought from New Zealand takes an active part in the work of the Empire, when it becomes an active factor in Europe, we hear nothing about it either by way of condemnation or praise. Mr. Payne, speaking between 1.30 and 2 a.m., contended that the people of New Zealand are being exploited by a meat "ring." It was the duty of the Government to step behind the confines of the wealthy people to whom they were bound, and to see that the people did not have "to pay through the nose" for the ordinary necessaries 'of life. The Bill passed its final stages at 2.15 a.m., and the Houße rose.