BUDGET DEBATE

Hawera Star, Volume L, 6 August 1930, Page 5

BUDGET DEBATE

MEMBERS’ SUGGESTIONS

PROPOSALS FOR ECONOMY

CO-O P DIN A'i !Cl\ OF TR AN SPORT

»uy Tclcgiaiiii —Press Association.). WELLINGTON, Aug. 5. Continuiiiig his .sjieech in the widget debate m the LLouise of Representatives to-oay, Mj- U. fi. Cluikard appealed for support tor focal industries and! said that lu'Jports were increasing so rapidly m some commodities that it appeared tnat tli® time would come when local industries would be starved. The time was coming when the .public Works now engaging thousands of men would! be finished and the secondary industries would lie required. Mr J. S. Hotelier replied to Mr Cliill-card’s criticism on Friday regarding Mr Fletcher’s vote against the Government. He asked Mr Clinkard if he had considered his own position in regard to the non-fulfilment of pledges that lia.d been made to his electors. Dealing with the Budget, Mr Fletcher said many of the savings embodied ir. it were onlv deferred. liabilities. The Government, had started a raiding policy and whs raiding a number of*funds. Some of the departmental savings were the height of political folly, instead of some” of the votes being decreased they should have been increased, because induistrv could not expand in the country without expenditure. He was in favour of capitalising th© highways fund instead of building for ten years and trying to pay in one year. If the Government had’ increased liquor licenses, increased postage and l capitalised the highways fund there would have- been no need for other taxation. Mr A. W. Hall said he did not think anybody would consider it wise to construct railways purely for passenger traffic. In this respect motor competition rendered oil adequate return unlikdiy, and it was to goods traffic that the country had to look for a, large share of railway revenue. He believed the greatest difficulties in the way of making the railways pay were motor competition and high administration costs. The latter was by no means a small item. He hoped a genuine effort would scon be made to secure co-ordin-ation between railway and motor transport thus; to eliminate wasteful competition . He- considered; the suburban services could he improved by having lighter and faster trains and by eliminating first-class carnages. People'did not want first-class compartments ill ’ W? ’ LAB(SUR’S EXCUSE.

Mr Hall expressed the opinion that the excuse- of the. leader of the Labour Party for not voting against the Government was rather “thin." He -believed the real reason was that the Labour Party believed the defeat of the Govenmient would precipitate a. general election -and it was not prepared to face the. country at present. Mr J. M. Savage criticised the suggestion that a .saving of expenditure could be effected by the elimination of mail subsidies. This money was paid to enable the carriage, of mails, ana while he did not contend it would! be impossible to make a x less costly arrangement than at present he did not see how it would 'be possible to withdraw the subsidy altogether. . . Mr Savage criticised th© administration of the Post Office Savings Bank and expressed the opinion that there could fee no. defence of the action m turning away deposits at 3-J per cent, when the Government was at the same time .borrowing money at 5i er emit. He did! not see why the Post Office Savings Bank should not accept deposits up to £SOOO. New Zealand s national debt had. increased by £66,000,000 in the last 10 years and a large proportion of these advances had been brought into the country in the form of manufactured' goods.. How would this encourage the principle of Buy New Zealand Goods?” How would it help the secondary industries? Mr Savage advocated the negotiation of trade agreements between the farmers of New Zealand and the consumers in Britain. It would he urged that by doing so the. farmers would place themselves in the hands of one buyer and that New Zealand 1 would be burning its boats behind it. The reply to this argument was* that New Zealand had already burned its boats. It was in the hands, of trusts. Would it not be better to deal with one buyer representing the people than with trusts representing a few individuals? The whole community would benefit from trade stabilisation between Britain and the Dominion. Mr Savage said it had never been intended that the railways should necessarily foe run on a profit-making basis. Mr Taverner as Minister of Railways last year had stated that the policy of regarding railway construc- ' tl as a developmental rather than as a paving concern had been extended to tlie operation of the railways. Mr - vago asked how this statement could be squared with the recent action of the Government in discharging men because the railways were not paying on a balance-sheet basis.

POSITION AMONG THE! MAORIS. Mr T. Makitanara reminded the House that while unemployment was rife among the pakelias the Maoris: also were sufferers, but they suffered tn silence. He described the successes of Maori farmers in various parts of! New Zealand! and urged that the wheat growing industry should not be allowed to be stifled. Maoris liad been producing wheat in the North Island as succetssully as any farmers in the south, and lie believed that the time would come when wheat growing in New Zealand would! have to. be extended. It was a mistake to attempt dairy farming on wheat growing country. Mr D. Jones pointed out that the Government members still in the House had been elected by about 220,000 electors out of 740,000. Their supporters had been materially decreased, two by-elections having proved this, yet the Government proposed to change the whole fiscal and! taxation policy without further authority or appeal. That was not right in view of the failure to observe the promises on which the Government was elected. Last year there was an increase in revenue amounting to £1,700,000 and the expenditure increased by £1,000,000. This year the proposals in the Budget envisaged over £2,000,000 increase In taxation and refusal to pay large sums that ratepayers must eventually meet. Mr Jones contended this year’s surplus of £500,000 in the post- office account might have been paid into the revenue account. In private business where some departments paid 1 and others did not all were brought into a general account an the balance-sheet. He claimed that in time like the present the House should not tolerate a policy of increasing the burden on the producers and workers while the post office piled up reserves. Air. Jones said it would appear that the Treasury had become alarmed at the pace the Government was making in thoughtless expenditure and had de-

cided to startle the Government by painting the gloomiest possible picture of the future, which the Prime Minister had handed on to the people. The' alleged £3,000,000 deficit- was purely an estimate of the future from the gloomiest possible standpoint. The balancing of the Budget was a desirable object, but it should he balanced on sound economic lines. It was very apparent that the revenue for the year had been very much underestimated. The country had been expecting, a- reduction in the price of petrol because of the world’s increased production, hut these hopes had now vanished. The country was saddled with additional taxation on this item, and there would be an extra burden passed on to the producer in the whole of the traffic that would go by motor conveyance from farm to rail and where there, were no railways.

RAILWAYS AND PRODUCTIVITY

Mr. C. H. Chapman .said there would never be any occasion to speak of loss on the railways in New Zealand if an attempt were made to reimburse the Government for its expenditure and maintenance costs by imposing a charge on the profits obtained by the sale of land the value of which had been greatly increased as the result of the advent of the railway. A reduction of wages or the dismissal of men would not solve the problem at present facing the Dominion. The Government could be congratulated on not having so far suggested the reduction of wages, but it had made the mistake of discharging men from economic work and addmg them to the. unemployed. He urged the Government to adopt a scheme of graduated income tax in preference to other means of raising revenue. Air. H. At. Rusliworth said the Budget recognised that primary products were responsible for 09 per cent, of the country’s exports and that there hod been a decline in their value. He added that it did not seem to be generally realised yet. that the exporting primary producers had dropped £8,000,000 in the last- six months. Instead of endeavouring to ease the burden on this section of the community the Government was introducing taxation- proposals that would add to the difficulties. One felt very uncomfortable indeed for the primary producers, especially those out in the baekblocks. With regard to backbloek roads Mr. Rusliworth said the Budget referred to the provision of better means.of access, hut it made no promise of what actually would be done. The debate was interrupted by tlie rising of the house at 10.30 till 2.30 to-morrow.