BUDGET DEBATE

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 July 1941, Page 2

BUDGET DEBATE

MR. HOLLAND’S CRITICISM. WELLINGTON, July 17. The Budget debate was opened when the House resumed at 7.30 tonight by Mr. S. G. Holland, Leader of the Opposition, who said it had been the custom in other years for the first Opposition speaker in the debate to give that year’s Budget a name.' He, however, did hot consider this was a time for calling people or governments names, and ne did not propose to . follow the practice of the past. His first impression of the Budget was that the Government had at last taken notice of views so strongly expressed by the Opposition. It had dropped a quite unnecessary ill-advised procedure of imposing a compulsory loan upon the people. He was sure'the Government would have no difficulty in raising its loan requirements without the use of any legislative sledge hammers. One thing, he said, that stood out crystal clear above all other questions in the Budget was the Government’s determination to proceed with the elections. This would split the country into political * factions, stirring up sectional prejudices and class feeling at a time When all should be pulling together. He Was positive an overwhelming majority of the people agreed party politics should be dropped for the duration of the war. Ever since the outbreak of war, the Opposition had been ready to give the Government full support in the prosecution of the war. It had repeatedly offered to drop party politics if the Labour Party also agreed to do the same, but all the Opposition’s proposals hadj been rejected. He had personally offered to perform any duty the Government cared to assign him without Ministerial rank or emolument, and was still prepared to offer any special service free of expense to' the Government. The Government in war time, had invited him to join the War Cabinet. As this was election year, he and others, too, could not help but feel that in making that invitation the Government was more intent upon tying nis hands and sealing his lips than in securing his services. In one matter, said Mr. Holland, the Budget gave the Opposition and the country some cause for satisfaction. That was that the Government had taken heed of an oft-expressed view that in present circumstances the limit of taxation had been reached. He strongly criticised the Government’s action in connection with the impressment of' motor vehicles, which, he said, was a scandalous waste of public money. He also contended that the cost of living had increased by more than 22 per cent., or 4/4 in the pound, not six and a half per cent., as claimed by the Minister of Finance. 4 Mr. Holland said he knew the Government would say that extended hours in industry were authorised in any case of necessity. Yet many cases had been quoted where men had been willing and anxious to work longer at ordinary fates of pay, but had been refused permission to do so. The Government should take' a vote of workers concerned as to their willingness to work overtime at ordinary rates of pay. He criticised the Government for interference and control in industry. The Budget clearly indicated that the Government had no plan on the important subject of repatriation of returned soldiers. This question transcended all party politics. He urged that a special Rehabilitation and National Development Ministry should be set up, MR SULLIVAN’S REPLY. The Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Sullivan) replied. As regards the request for a definite policy of rehabilitation for our returned soldiers, he said, the Government had had this matter of rehabilitation under consideration for over a year, or for 18 months, and both a Cabinet Committee and a Departmental Committee had the subject under consideration. The question of production had been discussed by the Leader of the Opposition, but he would point out that, instead of production decreasing, it had rather increased, and this despite the fact that tens of thousands of our young men had gone overseas, to fight for the liberty of the world. In the iast year for which figures were available, our production increased in value by eight and a-half million pounds. Our exports had increased. The country’s factory production had increased. The number of workers in the factories had increased. The wages also had increased, and the Post Office Savings Bank deposits haa increased. That showed a magnificent picture of the progress which had been made in our country during the last 'five years, said the Minister. The Leader of the Opposition had also referred to cessation of party strife, but, said Mr Sullivan, he would say that actions spoke louder than words, and judging from the speeches which Mr Holland had made recently, he regarded the Government’s’ import selection as being tantamount to Nazism.

The Leader of the Opposition had also some criticism to offer regarding the contribution of the workers of New Zealand to the country’s war effort. Mr Sullivan continued: “To be decent and just to those workers he should cease his artacks upon them, and should ' cease attempting to create the false idea that they are not playing their part in our war effort, and are trying to get the last penny they can extract from the war.” Our people were working substantially longer hours at less than the ordinary overtime rates, said the Minister. The misrepresentation of the workers was resented strongly, and it was calculated to stir up very considerable feeling in their minds. The impressment of motor vehicles by the Government had also come in for censure from the Leader of the Onposition. The fact was that the Army needed those vehicles at a fairlv rapid rate. The Army had a fixed date for its manoeuvres, and it informed the Government that it needed the vehicles for that date. The Minister of National Service (Mr Semple): “There were 18 days to do the job!” Mr Sullivan continued that if there was one thing which was vitally necessary, it was that those. Army manoeuvres should be carried out. and it was essential in the national interest that those vehicles should be obtained, and they had been obtained. Certainly it was at a considerable sacrifice for many people. Mr Holland had missed his opportunity to contribute to the national unity when he had refused the appointment to the Wai - Cabinet. Dio Mr Holland suggest that Mr Coates and Mr Hamilton had their hns sealed and their hands tied? Did he believe it possible to do that with two rx-Leaders of the Opposition? Mr Holland had gone through the. country talking about import restrictions and about Nazism. If he wanted national unity he should —even if he could not find it in his heart to say a kind thing about the Government refrain from saying what was obviously incorrect. „„t:i The House rose at 10.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. to-morrow. ELECTIONEERING ALLEGED WELLINGTON, July 18. When the House met at 10.30 a.m., Mr. Doidge, in giving. notice of a question to the Acting Prime Minister, asked if he were aware of an advertisement appearing in Auckland, asking the electors to hsten-m over 2YA to the speeches to be delivered to-day (Friday) in Parliament, by Mrs. Stewart, Mr. Denham, and Mr. Thorn. Was Parliament and the

National Broadcasting system thus used for electioneering purposes with the approval of the Government? he asked. Mr. Wilkinson, in the course of an urgent question to Mr. Nash, asked if he had read the statement reported to have been made by Mr. Nordmeyer, in which he indicated that there would not be a National Government, and that there would be a General Election. Mr. Nash, in reply, said his attention had been drawn to the report, and Mr Nordmeyer had not expressed those views as the decisions of the Government, but merely as his own personal opinion. Whether there was to be a National Government or not, or whether an election would be held or not, was a matter for the Government itself, and it would be announced from the floor of the House. Mr. A. Ransom: Why dodge the point? WOMAN MEMBER.

The Budget debate was continued by Mrs. Stewart, who said that Mr. Nash’s task in preparing the Budget was simple, compared with the job of a woman dealing with her home budget. The Minister of Finance was, after all, using other people’s money. She paid a tribute to the soundness of the present Budget, stating that women were probably more "critical than men of any Government in office. She could say confidently that the women of New Zealand knew how much better they were off since Labour had taken office, and she would remind the House that, despite their lack of so-called business knowledge, women were greater realists than men so far' as economic matters were concerned. Mrs. Stewart also reviewed the part played by women in war work. They were shouldering their responsibilities nobly, and were giving their help in every possible way to assist in winning the war. JUVENILE CRIME

Mr. Harker said it would be a blessing to New Zealand when the day dawned and we had a Government which knew no party politics. He stressed the growing increase in crime in the Dominion, despite the fact that Members on the Government benches stated over and over again that New Zealand had never been more prosperous. The Government thought of social security in the terms of more food, drink and better clothes. It was usual for crime to. diminish after a depression, but in this case, the natural order had been inverted. A spirit of license was abroad instead of the spirit of liberty, of which New Zealand in the past had been so proud to boast. In ten years from 1931 to 1940,. the cases of juvenile crime in New Zealand increased from over two thousand to over five thousand. He criticised the sex education broadcasts from Australia by the Director of Commercial Broadcasting.. Mr. Denham said that in the provision of men and money on a prorata basis, New Zealand’s war effort was greater even than that of England herself, and greater than any of the other Dominions. “We have been asked whether our war effort is\ comparable to that of the Old Country,” said Mr. Denham. “It is not to the extent that London has been bombed and torn to pieces, and there has been destruction of houses and loss of life, which we have not, and I hope will not have in New Zealand. From that point of view our effort is not comparable, but in provision of men and money our effort is greater pro rata.” Mr. Denham characterised the budget as a record of achievement, and referring to the national unity issue said that while people were going round the country deprecating the Labour Government, it was no use saying that party politics must cense t The debate was interrupted by the adjournment at 1 p.m.