BUDGET DEBATE OPENED

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 August 1936, Page 7

BUDGET DEBATE OPENED

MR. COATES’S CRITICISM.

“SOOTHING SYRUP" DOSES

[pee peess association.]

WELLINGTON, August 6. In the House, this evening, the Budget debate was resumed by Mr. Coates, who said that ever since the Government assumed office, it had been administering doses of soothing syrup to, the House and country: something in the nature of an anaesthetic to deaden pain, but what had been done under the Government’s flood of platitudes? The number of unemployed had been increased, and private industry had been restricted in quite a number of important ways. He believed that the Government did not care whether industry was ruined or not. The produce of the dairy industry had been commandeered without thought to rising costs. Expenditure was increas-

ing by leaps and bounds, and he believed that just round the corner there was inflation. Now they had Labour’s first Budget, and the same old cry, “there is nothing to fear.” He forecast that in the next twelve months there would be a complete reaction, and he hoped it would not be a collapse. There was a taxation increase of five millions in one year. It meant a drain on revenue funds and reserves to that amount. He asked why the announcement of the guaranteed price was delayed. Why had the directors of the Bank of New Zealand not been appointed earlier? The Public Service Commissioners had not yet been appointed.

Referring to public works and expenditure on plant, Mr. Coates asked whether machinery should almost wholly displace man power. How far was it wise to use machinery? He thought there was still room for the old wh.eelbarrow. The use of machinery might be very expensive, and where did the Government intend to draw the line? Mr. Coates asked if the paragraph regarding the rearrangement of internal economy was a threat to the British people. Did he mean that if the British people did not give her what she wanted, New Zealand would commence the manufacture of her own motor cars and other things? He said that New Zealand could not secure a bilateral agreement with Britain. The Minister had made a fetish of a bilateral agreement between New Zealand and Britain, but it could not be done. What, he asked, was meant by guaranteed price? Did it not mean guaranteeing a minimum price, and if a farmer’s products realised more, the farmer would be given the benefit of the increase? He believed the country, from one end to the other, believed it meant a minimun price. He believed the Government’s policy would not be acceptable to the community. He thought the dairy farmer believed he would be given more than the world price. He (Mr. Coates) believed there was a catch in the guaranteed price. He claimed that while the Government’s promises had been kept to the letter, they had not been kept in the spirit. He contended that the Government, in fixing its price, obviously had taken for prices New Zealand currency. He said the Government should have taken the London price for ten years, and converted it into New Zealand currency with the existing exchange, which would have yielded l/2%d, whereas the farmer was getting little more than l/o£d.

PENSIONS AND LAND TAX.

Reference was also made in the Budget to pensions. So far as the Opposition was concerned, it was always ready and willing to provide recognition for those who had given the best years of their lives to the country, but that must be done on an economic basis. He doubted if that had been considered in the present cases. The old age pensioner was to receive 2/6 increase, or 12J per cent., but his costs had risen more than that. He said it was the experience of other countries that the granting of a pension to a deserted wife gave rise to all sorts of complications. What about the returned soldier? All he received was part of the return of the economic pension. Mr. Coates said the graduated land tax was an inquitous tax. Many men would have to give up their holdings. Did the Minister realise that? Mr. Coates said the tax in the city would practically prevent new enterprises commencing. He thought that many companies would go out of business as the result of the taxation, and unemployment would increase. He did not think the Government realised the effect of its provisions on industry. He suggested that the Government should make provision for a hardship clause, where a man who was in danger of being forced off the land could take his case before a tribunal.

He urged that greater provision should be made for defence, and he thought reasonable steps should be taken to protect the advantages New Zealand and the rest of the British Empire enjoyed. In case of war, New Zealand was just as likely to be involved as anywhere else, and she was at present inadequately prepared. He offered the support of the Opposition in an examination of New Zealand’s defences. He believed the people of New Zealand would agree to greater expenditure to secure adeqaute machines. He offered any assistance the Opposition could render in the matter of national defence.

MR. SAVAGE’S REPLY.

Mr. Savage said that soothing syrup was preferable to the castor oil theory of the last five years. He was. advised, in spite of all the disasters predicted, that industry was going ahead, and could not fulfil orders. He thought Mr. Coates had cleaned up all the reserves long before his term of office ended. Why did not Mr. Coates fill the Public Service Commissionership? He thought the Government had made reasonable progress to get where they were to-day. He had told the farmers exactly what they had to expect, and the price fixed was a fairly liberal interpretation of his statement, and dairy farmers had been told if there were any surplus, -he would consult dairy farmers’ representatives to see what should be done with it, Also, the farmers had been

told that their mortgages were to be readjusted. Was there anything left? He thought not. He was going right ahead with the pledges he gave to the country. Mortgages would be readjusted on the basis of guaranteed price. Mr. Savage said the Government wanted primary industries to live, as they provided the only way of meeting their commitments overseas. He was not thinking of smashing the financial system, but reforming it. Houses would be built for people by using public credit, and he wanted to see his honourable friends going up and down the country saying the Government should not do it, and see how they got on. The Government was trying to alter the existing system, and it could not pay off the existing debt by adding to it each year. Mr. Coates had added some 24 millions in three years. Coming to the taxation proposals, Mr. Savage said some people seemed to think the country could be carried on without taxing anyone. The people had to be levied to keep the public services going. While the Government was accused of all sorts -of things, deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank, during July increased by £436,000. He wished he could have done more in the last eight months. He would have liked to make the old age pension 30/-, and he predicted that this time next year they would be discussing a national superannuation scheme. They were not going to wait till the week before the election. The Government would produce a superannuation scheme that would place people beyond the reach of poverty, and medical service would be at their disposal. He thanked Mr. Coates for the offer regarding defence, and said the matter was being examined. When the Government spent money on defence, it would be real defence. Mr. Savage said the. offers of co-operation of the Opposition would be gladly availed of when the need arose. He had a vision of the future, and thought he could see the future when the farmers would not be depending on fluctuating prices abroad. If he had his way, the time would soon come when people would be enjoying the advantages of their own production. Regarding guaranteed price, the Government was going to give the farmer everything it got out of it. The thing was being handled in a businesslike way. The Government had not yet come to the end of the way. It had not yet done anything like it would have liked to have done, but it would do the job yet if the people stood by them. The debate was adjourned.