BUDGET DEBATE

Grey River Argus, 18 July 1941, Page 3

BUDGET DEBATE

. OPPOSITION LEADER Urges - Longer Work Hours P.A. 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 not consider this was a time for calling people or Governments names, and he 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 I pulling together. He was positive ian 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 i politics if the Labour Party also ' agreed to do the same, but all the I Opposition’s proposals had been rejected. He had personally offered i to perform any duty the Government 1 cared to assign him without MinI isterial rank or emolument, and was I still prepared to offer any special | service free of expense to the Government. The Government, in war I time, had invited him to join the | War Cabinet. As this was election i year, he and others too could not | help but feel that in making that inI vitation the Government was more I intent upon tying his hands and seal- | ing his lips than in securing his seri vices. 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-ex-pressed 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 twenty-two per - cent., or 4s 4d in the pound, not six and a half per cent, as claimed by the Minister ol Finance. Mr Holland said he knew the Government would say that extended hours in industry were authorised in anv case of necessity. Yet manycases had been quoted where men had been willing and anxious to work longer at ordinary rates of pa-" 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 pav. 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.

Hon. D. G. Sullivan REPLIES TO MR HOLLAND. WELLINGTON. July 17. The Minister of Industries and Commerce (Hon. D. G. Sullivan), replied in the House Mr S. G. Holland’s address. As regards the request for a definite policy of rehabilitation fo r our returned soldiers, he said, the Government had had tnis matter of rehabilitation under consideration for over a year, or for IS 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, said Mr Sullivan, 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 last 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 had increasedThat showed a magnificent picture of the progress which had been made in our country during the ffisfi 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 h>s attacks upon them, and should cease attempting to create the false idea that thev" 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 worHing substainti,ally 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 Opposition. The fact was that the Arm'’ 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 tor that date. The Minister of National Service, Hon. R. Semple: “There were eighteen daws to do the job!” Mr Sullivan continued that if there was one thing which was vitally necessary, it was that those Army manoeuvres should bo . out. and it was essential in the national interest that those vehicles should be obtained, and they had been obtained. Certainlv it was at a considerable sacrifice for m-’-Holland had missed his opportunity to contribute to the national unity when he had refused the appointment to the War Cabinet, said Mr Sullivan. Did Mr Holland suggest that Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates and Hon. A. Hamiton had their lins sealed and the’r hands ti«d ? Did ho it •'.nqc’b’" tn d« that with I'”° o”-T ''”rinvc of thn OnnAc-i+inn rvnno th’-riwh tbn nnnntrv talb ir >" Phont im’wrt restr’ct’ons and 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 —ref ram from saving what was obviou' 1 ” incorrect. The House rose at 10.10 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. to-morrow.