CUT REJECTED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20310, 27 July 1940, Page 7

CUT REJECTED

PUBLIC WORKS ESTIMATES PASSED MR. DOIDGE'S CRITICISM POST WAR SETTLEMENT SIR A. NGATA’S PROPOSAL (Per Press Association.) V WELLINGTON, this day. The debate on the Public Works Statement was continued in the House of Eepresentatives yesterday afternoon. * Mr. A. S. Richards (Lab., Roskill) said that when Opposition members accused the Government of extravagance thev should first be sure of their ground. He contrasted the policy of the present Government with that of past Administrations with reference to the development of this country, and also justified the Government’s housing programme.

Mr. F. W. Doidge (Nat., Tauranga) maintained, in support of the amendment moved by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (Nat., Waitomo) during the morning, that the Government by its policy was deliberately building up conditions which would create another depression.' The people would not whimper if money were required for war purposes, he said, but when the Government’s present programme was examined it would be found that New Zealand’s internal expenditure was still on a peace-time basis. We were proposing to spend great sums on roading, he said, but at the same time were adopting a contradictory policy of petrol restrictions which was driving traffic off the roads. Small Farms Scheme The Minister of Lands, the Hon. F. Langstone, reviewing the progress 'made with the small farms scheme, expressed the hope that it would be possible in future to go in for more diversified farming on some of the blocks by the production of such commodities as fruit, poultry and honey. The Government was doing its utmost to get the best results from a very difficult project. Mr. J. L. Roy (Nat., Clutha) said the first job at the present time was to win the war and, while the building of houses and the making of roads was very desirable, he thought that the dropping of such work was one of the sacrifices the people had to make under the present extraordinary circumstances. Sir Apirana Ngata (Nat.,, Eastern Maori), speaking of the rehabilitation of our men after the war, urged the Government to take in hand some 50,000 or 60,000 acres in various parts of the Dominion for development work, and this would be ready for occupation by Maori boys when they came home after we had won the war. Amendment Rejected The amendment to refer the estimates to the Government with a view to making a substantial reduction was forced to a division and was defeated by 36 votes to 17, the voting being purely on party lines. The Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, in reply to the debate, stressed the fact that a large number of public works for which votes were required were started long before the present war began. As far as he knew, no new works had been begun since the commencement of the war. The House then went into committee of supply and the Public Works Estimates, totalling about £12,000,000, were passed within approximately half an hour. , _____