BUDGET DEBATE

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 September 1945, Page 2

BUDGET DEBATE

PETROL SUPPLIES IMPROVING WATERFRONT CONTROL WELLINGTON, Sept. 12. Mr. O’Brien (Minister of Marine and Transport, and Acting-Minister of Mines anchLabour, in the House today, resumed the Budget debate. He informed the House that he had been very anxious from time to time, about the" transport situation in New Zealand, during the war, when the petrol and rubber supplies were low. Mr. Polson (Nat., Stratford): What is the situation now? Mr. O’Brien: There is three months supply of petrol in hand now, with a prospect of more tankers to come. The Minister said the most urgent problem was that of rubber. Mr. Polson: What about reducing the price of petrol? Mr. O’Brien: You had better see the Minister of Finance about that! Mr. O’Brien went on to say that the petrol situation would be eased in future. The Minister discussed the operations of the Waterfront Control Commission. He said that the Commission had achieved a great deal in speeding up of the loading of ships with war-time supplies, food, and other cargo. The average, time that a ship spent on the New Zealand coast when the Commission took over was 35.7 days. But, in five years, the Commission had reduced that average to 17.5 days. Of the 18 days thus saved, faster work by the men had accounted for five days. Night shiftwork on Sundays and holidays had accounted for seven days. A reduction in the ports of call accounted for six days. Mr. O’Brien said he thought that the Waterfront Control Commission should continue with some differences in the system, under which it operated. There should be an all-in contract system, with everybody in the contract, and with everyone concerned seeing to it that the work was- performed expeditiously and well. The debate was interrupted at 5.30 p.m. Mr. W. Sullivan (Nat., Bay of Plenty) in the evening said the Act-ing-Minister of Mines would have been better employed telling what the real coal position was to-day. He asserted it was well known that the Railways had only three days’ or one week’s supply of coal on hand. He said that industry was working from hand to mouth on the supplies that it is able to obtain. The housing problem had reached the stage where it was beyond the Government to cope with it. Among factors delaying building was an insufficient supply of timber. The State Forestry Department’s report indicated the milling industry was not getting the treatment it deserved from the Government. Many mills were to-day on the verge of closing because the price control system forced them to operate on an uneconomic bases. Forty-two per cent, of millers to-day were in difficult straits. New Zealand needed 450 million feet of timber yearly. Last year production was 350 million feet. There was a danger it might fall below 300 million feet this year. Mr. Hackett (Govt., Grey Lynn): How do you account for the fact that the last two years were record ones for timber production?

REHABILITATION & HOUSING Mr. Sullivan said he would not like to say why that was. Millers had been second to none in their loyalty and had produced to the limit of their capacity for war-time needs. Il sales tax were taken off timber at once, the industry would be enabled tojniild up supplies the country needed. The Forestry Department’s report had said many millers were on the verge of insolvency. Mr. Sullivan criticised the •export of rimu and beech to Australia in return for the Australian hardwood for New Zealand. He said hardwood was not being extensively used in New Zealand. At present its use should be pruned to a minimum to conserve our timbers lor housing. Mr. Skinner said that the men, returning in thousands to the Dominion, would provide' many headaches for the rehabilitation organisation, but, on the other hand, they brought a solution with them, for there was not a problem connected with rehabilitation the solution of which did not depend on manpower. Mr. Skinner said the only limitation on the building, of houses was a shortage of materials, and that would be overcome as labour became available. Priorities among servicemen would then be lowered progressively until. every exserviceman would be eligible for a housing loan at least. The country would he called upon to find twentyfive thousand extra houses for ex-ser-vicemen alone. Mr. Skinner said there was a strange reluctance among house vendors to offer their properties to ex-servicemen. There was no reason for that, as the vendors were not asked to make any sacrifice. They could not get any more money by selling to the civilian, except by breaking the law. ' Mr. Skinner said of the 53,391 urban properties which had changed hands since the Land Sales Act was passed, only 2,831 had gone to exservicemen. Replying to a question by Mr. Algie, he said that more than seven thousand ex-servicemen to-day were awaiting homes and 75 per cent, of them would be prepared to buy homes if they were available. Discussing the availability of building materials, he said that successful experiments had been carried out with substitute materials. Many difficulties in building construction had been overcome. He was quite sure a big proportion of the houses could be built in alternative materials. . The cement shortage was due to a limited capacity of the kilns. Recently an expert had investigated an extension of several plants to overcome the short supply. He hoped plans would be put into operation very soon. Since the Housing Department had taken over, 9,000 houses had been constructed with materials others than timber, or with a combination of materials. He was convinced timber would always be the chief building material in New Zealand. The timber production to-day was higher than for any of the pre-war years, and in the last year more than a thousand men had gone into that industry. Forestry work had been planned from North Auckland to the Bluff and thousands of acres had been planted. There was no immediate plan for dealing with the wet Otago forests, but steps were being taken to salvage the timber blown down in the recent Canterbury storms.

FORCE IN PACIFIC Mr. Massey (Nat., Frankton), asked, was Parliament being consulted as it ought to be about discussions for future arrangements in the Pacific; what was the Government doing in regard to Nauru Island and restoring the valuable concessions there which the Japanese had destroyed? The least that should have been done was for the Leader of the Opposition to be consulted on the volunteer garrison force in the Pacific. Members had not been consulted on overseas developments since Japan’s collapse, and Mr. Holland had not been invited to participate in the peace discussions. Mr. Massey said it had been learned that night that we -might have 5,000 men stationed overseas for some time yet. Would the Government say what future nolicv it intended to follow concerning the defence of New Zea-

land? Would New Zealand co-operate in plans that the Mother .Country might formulate for Empire defence? Would we, in the future, be asked to contribute more men, ships and money towards the Imperial Navy? Discussing the military situation within New Zealand, Mr. Massey asked the Government to make it clear if it would call for continued compulsory military service. The Opposition believed that, for the time being at least, We should have a standing army. The House rose at 10.25.