FAMILY ALLOWANCES

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 54, Issue 32629, 3 October 1945, Page 5

FAMILY ALLOWANCES

(To the Editor.)

Sir.—l have just seen- the following paragraph in a- recent edition of your journal under the heading of “Family Allowance”:— “That all family allowance be granted without means test, was a Netherton remit discussed! at the conference held in Paeroa of the Northern Thames Sub-Provincial Executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union. “The remit was carried' without discussion.” The procedure of adopting a resolution of this kind' without discussion was excellent, albeit not without hUmour, because had there been any ■discussion it might have revealed that the proposal, if enacted', would cost an additional 9i million pounds a year. With this information before them the more perspicacious of the members present might have asked how this very substantial sum could be raised if, as many of their political cronies argue, taxation should be reduced. I congratulate the members present. Rather than spoil their afternoon by wrestling with the problem of how to increase expenditure enormously from an income the Nationalists want to reduce, they passed the motion without talking about it. For this admirable example they deserve the thanks of all their fellow-citizens who believe that problems can be best solved 1 by paying them no attention. — I am, etc., JAMES THORN. House of Representatives, 9:9:45.