Parliament

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 243, 27 September 1922, Page 3

Parliament

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. In reply to Mr G. Mitchell, Mr Massey said the Government had considered the question of New’ Zealanders gambling in German marks and had come to the conclusion that the publicity already given to the matter in the House and in the press would be sufficient to deter others indulging in speculation of this kind. The leader of the Opposition inquired whether the Prime Minister proposed to introduce legislation this session dealing with the establishment pf agricultural banks. The Prime Minister replied: I said so in the Budget and that should be quite sufficient. On the motion of the Hon. G. J. Anderson the amendments made by the Legislative Council in the Weights and Measures Amendment Bill were agreed to. On the motion of Mr F. Mander the Whangarei Borough Empowering Amendment Bill was introduced and read the first time. The Hon. G. J. Anderson tabled the annual report of the Marine Department. Replying to a question by Mr T. M. Wilford as to whether the Government intended to give effect to the decision to appoint a marine civil engineer to advise on harbour construction, the Minister said such an appointment would be all very well if there was no financial stringency. He was not going to further increase expenditure by making such an appointment. LAND AND INCOME TAX. The Land and Income Tax Amendment Bill was introduced by Gover-nor-General ’s message. The Premier gave a summary of the measure as reported by our Parliamentary reporter and published elsewhere. Mr J. McCombs contended that only those with incomes of over £lOOO a year would be assisted by his proposals. No small farmer had benefitted by the policy of the Government. Mr D. G. Sullivan wanted to know if the Government could give this revenue away. Wwerc they going to provide pensions for the blind as promised? Mr Massey contended that no promise was ever made to provide pensions for the blind. He would like to do so, but had not £40,000 a year to give away. He contended that the class that would benefit as much as any were the workers, whose employment had been curtailed because the employers could not afford to pay for labour. Mr H. E. Holland maintained that the large income taxpayers were the people who were going to benefit. If a han had the income he did not require relief. Mr Massey iuterjected that everyone knew the merchant passed income tax on to his customers, thereby increasing the cost of living. Workers would participate in the consequent reduction in the cost of living. Mr Holland, continuing, asked what guarantee consumers had that the remission in taxation would be passed on. The bill was only part of the Government’s policy, which undoubtedly was to take the wages from the workers and give concessions to those who least needed relief in this country. The Hon. J. A. Hanan asked the Premier to give the House some tangible proof that his proposals were equitable and how he proposed to induce an increase in production in the light of the financial stringency. People had a right to know whether these concessions were justified. Mr Ma.-soy, in reply, said he promised the people that he would reduce taxation, reduce the cost of living, reduce the cost of government, and readjust the finances of the country. This he was doing and endeavouring to get back to normal as soon as possible. Coming to the proposals in the Bill, he explained that two years ago he had gathered in £2,000,000 of taxation more than was required. That money he set aside as a reserve. He had been using some of it for various purposes, which was perfectly legitimate, and he proposed to use £500,000 of this fund to make up the loss in revenue due to the reductions in taxation. The Bill was read the first time. STATE ADVANCES. ' Mr. Massey moved the third reading of the State Advances Amendment Bill. i.rir. J. McCombs characterised as utterly absurd the statement oi the Premier that the Government had huilt 10,110 houses during the past three years. He claimed that a number of these must have been homes purchased, which was quite a different thing from building houses. Instead of building 7650, as they should have done, they had only built 310. Mr. T. K. Sidey maintained that the object of the proposal to hand the Housing Department over to the Advances Department was not to build more houses, but to wind up tlu» Department. Mr. E. J. Howard said the Government’s claim that over 10,000 houses had been built in the last three years was electioneering bluff. If the houses were built, where were they ? They were certainly not in the cities. Mr. D. G. Sullivan said the Christchurch City Council was anxious to spend £lO,OOO- on houses in a single year, but was cut down to £5OOO. Mr. P Fraser said that in 1919 the Dominion was 25,000 houses short.

That shortage had not been overtaken, and ho appealed to the Premier in administering the Department to see more generous, advances made to workers, thereby enabling them to build houses without being handicapped with a second mortgage. Air. Massey, in reply, said if the Empire does not get involved in war he thought there would be no difficulty in connection with the moratorium. He quoted a document signed by the Secretary of the Treasury showing that the State had during the past three years built 10,110 houses at a cost of £6,542,119 and those figures were absolutely correct. It was intended to carry on what was known as the workers’ home scheme and he hoped to make satisfactory arrangements with the Public Works Department to build houses. Continuing after the supper adjournment, Mr. Massey said he had to admit that the administration of the Housing Department was not satisfactory and he thought the change to the Advances Department would have good results. Everything would depend on the money available and that would depend entirely on whether or not we were drawn into war. He hoped to heayen we would not be and, though he did not wish to play the part of scaremonger, he was bound to say we were not out of the bush yet. He did not propose to make a statement on the war position that night. He might do so to-morrow. If war came they might have to extend tTie moratorium, but on triat point he could not make a definite promise.. The bill was read the third time and passed. The amendments made in the Hauraki Plains Amendment Bill were agreed to and the bill was read the third time after a brief discussion. FIRE-BLIGHT BILL. The House then went into committee on the Fire Blight Bill. During the discussion the Minister of Agriculture said there was no intention to persecute anyone in connection with the bill, but the matter was a serious one. The Government had advanced a great deai of money to fruitgrowers and they must do their bestfto protect that investment. At the same time every step taken would have his personal supervision and as far as possible injustice would be avoided. The Bill was reported without amendment. Th© Canterbury College and Canterbury Agricultural College? Amendment Bill was put through the committee stage with an amendment put in by the Education Committee limiting the amount which tho Board of Governors might spend on celebrating the fiftieth anniversary ot the foundation of the college to £5OO instead of £lOOO as originally proposed. On the House resuming both bills were read tho third time and passed. The House rose at 11. Io p.xu.