IMPREST SUPPLY

Gisborne Times, Volume LIX, Issue 9577, 31 July 1923, Page 5

IMPREST SUPPLY

CRITICISM. TELEPHONE AND POSTAL PINANCE. WELLINGTON, July 1(0. The House went into Committee of Supply t j consider the Imprest Supply Bill. Mr. Wilford opened the debate by dealing with the report of tin. Auditor General on tho finances of the Dominion, which pointed out that, owing to the shortage of staff, it was difficult to overtake the arrears of work. Ho asked the Premier to say in reply what it cost to fund our National Debt of £27,532,000. Full details of this transaction should be placed before the House, as up to the present he was tillable to make up his mind whether funding-out the debt was good business or not. Mr. Sidey protested that the House had heard nothing about the finances of the country since March 31. Mr. Massey: You have the public accounts. Continuing, Mr. Sidey said they had not been told anything about the position of the railways, nor had they heard a single word concerning its coal supply, which last year figured so prominently in all discussions. They had not been told that the PostmasterGeneral hoped to gain by the increased telephone charges, or what he expected to lose by the resumption of penny postage. The Hon. J. G. Coates said all this was on record. He expected the telephone revenue would increase by £120,009 arid the postal revenue drop by £300,000. , When tbo House resumed Mr. Smith (Taranaki) continued the debate on the Imprest Supply Bill. He drew attention to the compulsory retirement of many officers from the public; service, while other ■ high officers long past retiring lige are retained, of which course lie underr- . stood the Premier approved. Ho pointed out that every such officer* kept in the service preventedfthe promotion of some of the younger officers and nothing so dispirited these lower down in the service as to find their chances of promotion I locked by some old officer, who in the natural course of events should long since have retired. He criticised the coal mine and immigration policies of tho Government and made an appeal to the Premier to grant tho South Afican veterans the privilege of obtaining money through the State Advances Office at a uniform of 4.) per cent. | LA BOR PA i! T Y’S * TRIUAI PH. ’ ’ Mr. Holland said the announcement by the Government this afternoon that indentured labor was to cease in Samoa was very gratifying m connection with mandated territory, and was a triumph for the Labor party, which yeai ill and j year out bail hammered away against the degradation of indentured labor. A certain amount of credit must he. given to General Richardson but the principal tribute belonged to the Labor party. If, however, in initiating free labor, contracts were to lie signed there would not he much change except in the matter of wages, and ho would like the. Minister .to state in reply whether the contracts were signed. He commented on the hospital figures contained in J.he Samoan report tallied this afternoon, pointing out that there were 2(53 less Chinese in Samoa this year than last, yet hospital patients had increased to 5073 against 2GIO last year. In the case of .Samoans the figures were 80(1 this year against 572 last year. Surely this great increase in patients was capable of some explanation, and lie would like the Minister to give that explanation to the House if lie had it in his possession. DREDGING WORK ON SUNDAY. The Minister of Labor, in reply, said lie. was aware that certain work was lining done by an Ar.?’ ’tan dredging company on Sundays, hut li l bail told the company quite plainly that if any of their employees objected to Sunday work they must not he compelled to do so, for under no consideration would lie countenance the feelings of any worker being outraged on the point of observance of the Sabbath. Mr At more put in i'*n for greater Government assistance lor tile fruit industrv.

STATE COAL SHORTAGE. Air Armstrong, criticising the coal position, said the reason that there were shortages of State coal was .that the Union Steamship Coy. preferred to carry their own cr-ul and would only carry State coal when it suited’ them. The State .should have its own fleet of colliers. The State mine was nut now part and paicel of the coal ring, and it should bo able to supply coal to tlie people at just about half tile present price, but it was useless to hope tor much from this State enterprise, while it was administered Gy a party which had no sympathy with any form of State enterprise. 'MINISTER DEFENDS RAILWAYS CONTRACT SYSTEM. The Hon. J. G. Contes, in defending his action in deciding to revert to the contract system of railway eon-, struction, said that eo-opciative labor could never he satisfactory, because there would always be wide ’differences of opinion as to the value of the work done. This contract would involve file expenditure of something like £‘200.060 on machinery, and lie could not see how that machinery could afterwards be profitably used in NewZealand. If the tenders were too high, of course, none would bo. accepted. The change was by way of experiment, and was not necessarily a matter of policy. Air Masters urged the renewal of the subsidy to teachers of swimming in the public schools. Air Laugstone contended that cooperation was the true basis on which public works should be constructed, and that the contract system was unfair to the worker the world over. Air Eaie protested against the public works of the Dominion being carried out under the contract system-. It was a slur on our own engineers to suggest that Americans could build better bridges than oitr own artisans "ould. The debate then closed, and the Bill authorising the expenditure of £2,481, ,079, was introduced and put through the intermediate stages without dismission.

GOVERNMENTS FINANCIAL - LEGISLATION. On the third reading, Mr Massey said that, so far as he could see. the House would have an opportunity or considering the question of the collection of income tax on local body debentures before the session ended. Ho proposed to introduce legislation this session dealing with sinking funds. hi all probabality it would not pass titis session but it was a most important measure. It did not propose to interfere’ with the sinking funds of the pa.-t. but from the passing of (he Bill it was proposed to use the money *•> reduce t'>e public debt as it was available. Air. ” ilford had asked what funding the p, b ,: c debt cost. That was a perfectly simple arrangement and did not cost a cc-. L ’The Estimates could not this year oe submitted to the Public Accounts Committee because the no-confidence motions intervened, and nothing c<r~‘ he done until tlicv were disposed of, and then there w-es no rime to let tlie committee consider them. Tm Estimates last year were, however, most carefullv criticised by the committee, and 'this year’s Estimates wror based upon them, so that he did rot think they could he reduced by a single penny. The Bill was then read a thp - ’.; and. passed. ,„ The- House rose at lil.oO p. ” °0 n.m. to-morrow. —P.A.