NOBODY WAS HURT

Evening Star, Issue 25958, 25 November 1946, Page 3

NOBODY WAS HURT

THAT TAXATION BOGY (P.A.) GREYMOUTH, November 24. Concluding his electorate tour, the Minister of Transport, Mr J. O’Brien, who is the Labour candidate for Westland, at Te Kinga last night, said that, although taxation on the people of New Zealand was heavy over the war years, nobody was very much hurt. For instance, the private income of the people of New Zealand in 1933 was £91,000,000, and 'in 1946 it had risen to approximately £315,000,000, an.increase of £224,000,000. The total taxation this year was £115,000, which showed that, after all taxation was paid, the incomes of the people were more than doubled.

Investments on totalisators had increased from £4,000,000 in. 1935 to nearly £20,000,000 in 1946, Mr O’Brien said, and he had been informed that investments with the bookmakers had more than doubled during the same period. Picture show returns had shown a tremendous increase, and money spent dii sport and travelling had also increased.

“ We improved the standard of living until it became the highest in the world,” he said, “ and our people are well and comfortably dressed, even though there had been an increase in the cost of clothing.” Over the same years, deposits in all banks had increased from £107,000,000 to £322,000,000, over £200,000,000 being put aside for,a rainy day. “During this period of. so-called terrible taxation,” Mr O’Brien said, 11 the cost of the war was £640,000,000. We had paid off £420,000,000 of thi* and also reduced the overseas debt by £48,000,000. Had we done, what the Tory Government did in . World War I. we would have borrowed the ; whole of the money for the war and iin average of £6,600,000 as well; for civil expenditure, withe average interest at 4| per cent. Our interest bill would have been increased by nearly £19,000,000 annually.” , During his tour Mr O’Brien produced a letter returned .from. Japan signed by the Nationalist candidate for Westland, and said that the greater part was pure propaganda. ’ The Nationalists had thus broken. the agreement with the other parties to confine propaganda to the ‘ J-Force. Times.’ Mr O’Brien said the Government was not nationalising' road transport except the services complementary to the railways and their feeders, but would ensure efficient services where the community was otherwise not economically served by transport.