PARLIAMENT

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 September 1944, Page 2

PARLIAMENT

PETROL 1 FOR CELEBRATIONS.

WELLINGTON. September 22. The House of Representatives began the sitting, this morning, with a motion instructing the Speaker to issue his warrant to the Clerk of Writs for the purpose of issuing a writ for the Awarua by-election. This was followed by a brief period on formal business before consideration of the Estimates was resumed. Mr. Murdoch, in an urgent question, asked the Minister of Supply and Munitions, whether he would instruct the Oil Fuel. Controller to make provision for the issue of extra petrol on the day the war with Germany ends, to enable country residents to travel to the nearest centre for celebrations and return to homes without having to use coupons or special allowances provided for essential run--111 Mr. Sullivan said the Controller was already making examination ol the possibility of granting extra petrol for celebrations whenever they might be held, but he wished to make it clear that the position regarding petrol for such purpose was not good. Mr. Fraser: We might celebrate by reducing it. Mr. Goosman: That is not a very nice thought. Mr. Fraser: Victory may bring more, tankers.

S. WESTLAND RAILWAY.

Mr. Denham, on behalf of the Public Petitions Committee, presented a report, on a West Coast petition asking for an extension of the South Westland railway from Ross .The Committee recommended the petition to the Government for consideration and investigation. Mr. O’Brien thanked the Committee and referred to the value of an extension of the railway, particularly for opening up large areas of milling timber. He claimed that the report of the Committee of departmental heads which was .set up by Mr. Savage in 1936-37 to examine the advisability of extending the railway into South Westland was a remarkable report. It had alleged the country was unsuitable for farming and that the population was unlikely to increase. Mr. O'Brien said the population had increased by fifty per cent between the last two censuses. There was much valuable farming country in the river Hats .of South Westland for instance in Wataroa,. river flats were 44,000 -acres of good farming land which could produce 4601bs butterfat per cow. The debate on the Committee's recommendation was adjourned to enable fuller discussion at a later date. IMPORT LICENSES A Treasury vote of £81,960 was passed with little discussion when the House continued the examination of the Estimates. Speaking to the Customs Department vote of £161.063 Mr. Watts said there appeared to be a considerable amount'of difficulty in the minds of the business community concerning import licenses, and the system ui'idct which they were granted. Formerly they were granted by the Customs Department, but more recently there had arisen a system whereby the Minister of Supply had to sponsor an application for ap import license. Mr. Watts asked for a Ministerial assurance that the allocation of licenses was reviewed each year to take cognisance of the needs and growths of different firms. Mr. Algin said there was a good deal of alarm in the country as to the extent to which, aliens were coming into the Dominion. He asked what was the actual extent of alien immigration and what protection was being afforded men now serving overseas against a possible influx ol aliens. Mr. Nash said that the difficulty about a new man getting a license to import was that importations ol cloth for instance had already been cut about, fifty per cent, because supplies were not available, and il a new man got a license, he would be getting it at the expense of the old traders who had aready suffered a severe cut. He was satisfied that they had got to find a waj’ to let a new man. in and where there was a case for consideration it would be considered. At first, Customs had controlled licensing, but when certain articles began to be manufactured in New Zealand, the Ministry of Supply had to come into the question of what was imported but not who should import it. Licensing was exclusively a matter for the Customs. The Ministry of Supply only sponsored importations. . . .

Mr. Nash said that all alien immigrants wore controlled by Customs land the procedure was excellent and ' no one was likely to question it except some aliens who were refused admission. .Apart from Polish chil-

dren, there w.ere praetfcaljy no aliens allowed in since the outbreak oiivax. While he agreed it .was a good thiflg lor New Zealand .to assimilate some people from other - countries, and while there were spine excellent types offering they could nbt be allowed in to interfere with the. rehabilitation of bur own men. He did not think anyone had received preferences as far as importing was concerned, and if there was any proof of aliens receiving such preferences he would get on to the matter as-soon as it was reported to him. The vote was passed. TAXATION STAFF Speaking to a vote of £225,062 for the Land and Income Tax Department. Mr M. Sullivan said the amount of tax collected was now about double what it was in 1938, but the staff had increased in far greater proportion until it was now 82. Mr Clifton Webb advocated an improvement in the working conditions of the staff, particularly ii\ Wellington, which was almost a disgrace. He said it was commonly believed there were a number of people escaping their full obligations in. payment of income tax. After the last war a number of additional income tax inspectors were engaged and they detctced numerous cases of tax evasion. He thought if a similar step here were now taken, the amount of taxation recovered would more than compensate for the extra salaries and costs involved. He had no sympathy for those evading payment of taxation. They imposed a great injustice on the honest taxpayers. Mr Nash said the work of the Department had increased because improved conditions had brought a ■ 7 reat many more persons into the taxation net. The number of forms had increased about four and a-half times -and that accounted lor the greater staff. He agreed the staff was not working under ideal conditions, but said that was due to the Forces ocupying the new building erected for the Department. There was still a lot of money that should be collected it they had inspectors to check up on the evaders. He agreed that evasion of taxation was the worst form of robbery because in general those who evaded taxation threw the burden on lower-paid workers who could get some relief if the tax was paid. During the last six months. £120,000 had been recovered from evadfers. The Minister mentioned the case ol an inspector going to a town where the wages tax increased by 70 per cent, before the inspector had called on anybody. His visit was mentioned in a newspaper. Mr Broadtoot: It pays to advertise.

The vote was passed. Votes for stamp duties £101,450 and War Damage Fund £12,400 and Public Service Superannuation Fund £6075 were carried. Replying to Mr Algie and Mr Holland on the last vote, Mr Nash said that both the question of £3OO limit on superannuation and the payment ol' superannuitants who returned to the service were being considered. The limit of £3OO had led to some injustices, but the only way of getting over them appeared to be to isolate each individual servant’s account, and there was something to say for that. He agreed there was an anomaly that superannuated civil servants returning to work for the Government suffered a reduction in their superannuation according to their earnings. That applied only ■/.■hen they worked for the Government, not if they took private employment or even if they worked for the Reserve Bank, which although a Government institution was not recognised as part of the Civil Service. Mr Nash said that a full report had been macle on. the matter, and although it was not possible to do everything as soon as might be desired the Government was considering the matter closely.

PENSIONS AND BROADCASTING

The War and Other Pensions vote of £3,725,470 was discussed at length. A great deal of the debate dealt with particular cases which had been represented to members by their constituents. Tljere was a fairly general complaint regarding delays m granting pensions. Mr Jones, in reply, said this had been due to the War Pensions Board being overworked. To meet the situation another Pensions Board and also a second War Pensions Appeal Board had been appointed, and Mr H. F. O’Leary, K.C., had been asked to attend to some of the Wellington cases. One Board and one Appeal Board were in the South Island, and others in the North, and he hoped they would be able to catch up with arrears of work and dispose of future pensions claims with expedition. Mr Jones said the Government would do /ill it possibly could for the men of the Mercnant Navy. He agreed they nad done a great job during the war. Everything which could be done in respect of these men would be done. The vote was carried. Discussing the Broadcasting vote ol' £348,120, Mr Holland (Nat., Christchurch North) said he did not believe that it was necessary to set millions aside to provide lor television. He agreed that proper reserve funds should be established, but he could not see why the present generation should provide for posterity. The time had arrived when license fees should be substantially reduced. Why was it that they had to listen to so many American programmes? He agreed that a lot of American programmes were Cleveland entertaining, but they were not consistent with our educational system, and they were having an influence on the speech and writing of the people. Mr Jones said if it. were possible to give a better broadcasting service from the House he would see that the technicians provided it, but he doubted if it would be possible to cnnlvol the interjections, which went over the air. He added that funds must be built up for post-war replacements when new buildings and new equipment would be required. The vote was carried.