DAY IN PARLIAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 29, 3 August 1939, Page 8

DAY IN PARLIAMENT

FINANCIAL DEBATE

Much of the tenseness and expecta- j tion that had been evident in the House j of Representatives for the presentation of the Budget on Tuesday night was J absent when the Leader of the Oppo- j sition (the Hon. A. Hamilton) opened the Financial Debate last evening, but there was still marked interest in what he had to say. For over one and a half hours Mr. Hamilton vigorously ', attacked the Government, going back to Labour's assumption of office in 1935 and tracing the developments in finance and other respects in the intervening period. He spared few | words in emphasising the contention that the Dominion was drifting into i a dangerous situation, to meet which sound and courageous measures were [ necessary. The Financial Debate allows members broad limits of dis- | cussion and there were few aspects of the Government's administration upon ! which Mr. Hamilton did not touch. The Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. fe. G. Sullivan) followed the Leader of the Opposition and he also ranged over a wide field, dwelling mainly on the claim that the great majority of the people were in a much better position today than they had been even before the depression. By virtue of his position in Cabinet Mr. Sullivan has a close association! with matters touching the cost of living and wage rates, and his figures were designed to show that the Gov- | ernment Avas pursuing a course endorsed by the mass of the people. To many of his hearers probably the most important part of his speech, however, Avas the rex^elation of the estimated receipts and expenditure in connection with the payment of social security benefits for the current year.