THE BUDGET DEBATE

Grey River Argus, 26 July 1941, Page 3

THE BUDGET DEBATE

HIGH TRIBUTES Opposition Nonplussed P.A. WELLINGTON, July 25. The House met at 2.30 p.m., when the Budget debate was continued Mr B. Roberts (Wairarapa) stated that Lord Snell, in the House of Lords, had said at the commencement of the war, that he would be prepared to give up the only luxury that he could afford, which was grumbling, and that he would also give up irritating the Government, which, he considered, was the very height of self-sacrifice. This, said Mr Roberts, he would commend to the Leader of the Opposition, in connection with the Labour Government’s war effort. The Opposition, he said, appeared to glory in condemning things in our own country, and in comparing them unfavourably with efforts of other countries. But he would remind the Opposition that responsible authorities had praised what this Dominion had done. Surely. the Opposition could leave this matter safely in the hands of the men who were well qualified to .judge?

Mr C. W. Boswell (Bay of Islands) said that the Government had made New Zealand a land of security, happiness and freedom. This Budget was a happy document, and it depicted the linanei.al state of the household 1

Referring Io the unity proposals of the Opposition, Mr Boswell said that the two Barties could not unite, because their philosophies were fundamentally opposed. It was the philosophy .of the Government which had produced the Budget. The Government was doing everything that, was possible to win the war, and Mr Churchill had praised the Dominion for what it had done.

Rev. Clyde Carr (Timaru) said that lip did not know whether the withdrawal' of the Opposition from the debate on the Budget could bo termed a strike or a lock-out. Personally. he did not think that the Opposition were a very happy family. They seemed to like long-range fighting that was indulged in on their behalf by the newspapers, but they did not appear to relish the close infighting of Parliamentary debate. This Government’s purpose, he said, was to establish stability—not the stability of the static, but the stability of the dynamic. Who would dart to say that this Budget did not display leadership and offer leadership? The Budget provided the equipment on the home front. The Labour Government had provided for the cultural development of the people in the direction of arts and crafts, and there had been a veritable flowering of arts in New Zealand. The debate was interrupted bv tne adjournment at 5.30, when the House rose until 2.30 on Tuesday.