OPPOSITION ATTITUDE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 31, 5 August 1936, Page 12

OPPOSITION ATTITUDE

"COLD* DOUCHE," SAYS MR. FORBES

GOVERNMENT'S' PROMISES

.■The attitude which ihc Opposition will adopt towards the proposals contained in the Budget' submitted to the House of Representatives last night by the Minister oE Finance (the Hon. ;W. Nash) was' fully discussed at a caucus of the National Party this morning. In a statement at the conclusion of the caucus, the Leader of the Opposition (the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes) made ■£»me-pointed^comments on the Budget, which he described as a ■cold douche" on the hopes of many thousands of people. He announced that the Budget debate in the House tomorrow night would|te opened by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (National, Kai-para),v-\vhp was Minister of Finance in the latter years of the Coalition Government.

'_ "!'■■ look upon the Budget as a cold douche on. the hopes of many thousands of-/people that, with the improvement of economic conditions, there would be'sohie.'relief from the serious burden of taxation that was imposed to meet the',necessities of the depression" said Mr.-Forbes. "Instead of that, the burden has been made heavier without a single, remission. Statements of the Prime. Minister during the election campaign, that taxation would not be increased ■have evidently been ■for-; gotten. I ■ ■ •

•Mr.-Forbes'referred to the wonderful'recovery of the Dominion as was evidenced by the fact that the Gov-ernment-could rely upon another £3,000,000. from increased revenues That' was not sufficiently large, however, 'to provide for' the Government's spending'programme, so the taxpayer •was to be; called upon to provide ani additional, amount of £1,800,000. The whole provision of social services, pensions, •- etc.,; depended upon the soundness of the economic structure, and the piling up of financial burdens undoubtedly., weakened the stability of that structure.; : "Excessive taxation such as is proposed, in addition to the enormously increased. costs added to industry by the Government's industrial legislation, must slow down the wheels of industry," said Mr. Forbes, "and discourage.'the initiative and enterprise of.citizens generally. No thought has been .given to the effects of the increased taxation on the progress and increase of production, which means so much-to the general prosperity affectinr all our citizens. "A notable point in the Budget is the; fixing'of the price arbitrarily of our. dairy "produce at apoint which is below.,'the'present market pricei This must cause considerable disappointment in the minds of .those dairy farmers who were looking forward to. the.improvement of prices, of which there/are definite signs, to enable them toTnake^up some of the leeway of the lean'years of the depression. ■ WHAT OF DEFENCE? "The failure of the Government to appreciate the urgent need of making adequate defence of this country is another notable point in the Budget. The increase proposed in the Budget is only trifling with a very serious and vrgent. matter." \ •Mr.' Forbes said that the references in...the ; . Budget to the adjustment of mortgages was involved, and it was difficult-to know on what basis1 the Government intended to proceed. Those people-. who had money invested in houses; and land would be watching the (position .with a great deal of anxiety, "and one would have expected the-Budget to be more definite on such an, important point. It.vras not made clear how the Government was going to finance public ■works. .When the present Government was. in opposition the party had protested against the use of the Unemploymentl Fund for the carrying out of-public works, but under the proposals,of the Budget it was apparently intended'to! use the Unemployment Promotion Fund for that purpose. A good deal had been expected of the Government in regard to the remission' of: taxation, but nothing had been done. ■ During the election campaign and since it had been promised by>the Government that the sales tax and,the gold export duty would be removed, but those promises had failed to; materialise. LAND SETTLEMENT. Another, surprising feature of the Budget was the Minister's failure to rnake,any. reference to a land settlement, policy. Such references had been "a feature of Budgets for years past,- and ■ one "was entitled to ask whether the Government had any land policy. There was nothing in the Budget:'to show that it had one.

Mr..Forbes said that he would be speaking later, in the debate and would probably reply to the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage).