BUDGET DEBATE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 194, 18 July 1941, Page 6

BUDGET DEBATE

MR HOLLAND'S CRITICISM. A SEARCHING ANALYSIS. (Press Assn.) WELLINGION, July 17. The Budget debate was opened by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) when the House of Representatives met at 7.30 o'clock tonight. Mr Holland said it had been tho custom in other years tor the first Opposition speaker in the debate to give that vear's Budget a name. Mr Holland said, however, that he did not consider this was a time for calling people or Governments names and he did not propose to follow tho practice of the past. His first impression of the Budget, Mr Holland said, was that the Government had at last taken notice of the view so strongly expressed by the Opposition, and had dropped tho quite unnecessary and ill-advised procedure ot imposing a compulsory loan upon the people. He was sure the Government would have no difficulty in raising its loan requirements without the use ot any legislative sledge-hammers. He also had noticed that there had been no mention of the term insulation, and apparently the last had been, heard ot it. Referring to the credit balance, Mr Holland said that, after all, there was nothing very wonderful about taking more out of the people's pockets than was required or spent —that was how a credit balance was produced. ELECTIONS TO BE HELD. One thing, he said, that stood out crystal clear above all other questions in the Buugot was the Government s determination, to proceed with the elections and split the country into political lactions, stirring up sectional prejudices and class reeling at a time when all should be pulling together. He was positive the overwhelming majority ot the people, agreed that party politics shoulu ue dropped tor the muation ot the war.: Ever since the outbreak oi war, proceeded, the Opposiuou had been ready to give the vjoveiunicnt lull support in tne prosecution ol the war. it nad repeatedly oncred to drop party politics it the Labour I'arty also agreed to do the same, but all the Opposiuon'a proposals had been rejected, ile nad personally offered to pcriorm any uuty tho Government cared to assign nun without Ministerial rank or emolument, and was still prepared to oiler any special service irec ot expense to the Government. It was true that the Government had invited him to 30m the War Cabinet, but as this was election year he, and others too, could not help "but feel that 111 making that invitation the Government was more intent upon tying his hands and sealing his lips than in securing Ins ser'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 the ott-expressed viewthat in the present circumstances the limit ot taxation had been reached. The Minister of Finance last night had laid great emphasis on the tact that upwards of £6,000,000 of our war debt obligation to Britain had been repaid, but he might have completed tne picture bv saying that for every pound he paid off ill Britain he borrowed 25 shillings in New Zealand. Every taxpayer realised, added Mr Holland, that greatly increased burdens must be carried. They would not mind extra taxation if they knew that it was going towards the cost of the war, but such was not the case. ... Mr Holland strongly criticised the Government's action ill connection with the impressment of motor vehicles He said it was a scandalous waste of public money, and he also contended that the cost of living had increased by more than 22 per cent , or 4s 4d in the pound, not GJ per cent, as claimed bv the Minister of Finance. Mr Holland also rel'ered to the fall in production in the Dominion and said that, unless those who were left behind worked harder and longer to make up the leeway caused by the absence ot our fighting men, then the standard of living must fall. He knew that the Government would say that extended hours were authorised in case of necessity, yet many cases had been quoted where men were willing and anxious to work longer at ordinary rates ol pay but had been refused permission to do so. The Government should take a vote of the workers concerned as to their willingness to work overtime at ordinary rates of pay. REHABILITATION OF SOLDIERS. After criticising Government interference and control in industry, Mr Holland said tho Budget clearly indicated that the Government had no plan on the important subject ot the repatriation of our returnee soldiers. This question transcended all party politics, and he urged tnat a special Rehabilitation and National Development Ministry should be set up. Mr Holland also urged the introduction ot a svstcm of industrial diversification, stating that it was unwise for us to have too many eggs ill one basket and we would be well advised widely to diversify our farming production. Ihe same thing applied in our manufacturing industries, and he advocated the development of the aluminium industry in the Dominion. The war was going to make tremendous demands upon our futuro production he said, in conclusion. »" rc| y then, the most sensible way to go about it was to work harder and produce more so that we could meet our increased obligations in building a bigger brighter and more prosperous New Zealand, a land of opportunity and progress, a land of promise tor our young people, and a land with a future. ! COUNTRY'S PROGRESS.

The Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Sullivan), replying to Mr Holland's request tor a definite polic\ I on the rehabilitation of our returned | soldiers said the Government had the, matter' of rehabilitation under consideration for over a year or 18 months. | and both a Cabinet committee and a departmental committee had the subject under consideration. he question] of production had been discussed b> the Leader of the Opposition, said Mr Sullivan, but he would point out that, instead of production decreasing, it hid rather increased despite the tact that tens of thousands of our young men had gone overseas to fight tor the libertv of the world. In the last year for which the figures were available production had increased in .value by £8 500,000. Exports had increased, factory production had increased, the , number of workers in lactones had I increased, wages had increased and Post Office Savings Hank deposits bad I increased. That showed the magmI ficent picture of progress which bad been made in our country during the hist nve vears, said the Minister. The Leader of the Opposition had I also referred to the cessation of party strife but. said Mr Sullivan, he would sav that actions spoke louder than words. Judging from the speeches Mr Holland had made recently, he regarded import selection as tantamount to Nazism. The Leader of the Oppo- | sition had also some criticism to offer ' regarding the contribution of the workers' of New Zealand to the country's war effort. To be decent and just to those workers, he should cease his attacks upon them and cease attempting to create a false idea that they were

not playing their part in the war effort and were trying to get tho. last penny they could extract from the war.' Our people were working sabstantially longer hours at less than ordinary overtime rates, said the Minister. The misrepresentation of the workers was resented strongly and was calculated to stir up very considerable feeling in their minds. Mr Holland had tried to prove that tho statement concerning the cost of living given bv the Minister of Fin-: anco in the Budget was incorrect. Personally, said Mr Sullivan, he did not know where tho Minister had ob-; tained his figures, probably from his' own department. However, those figures corresponded vcrv closely with tho figures which lie (Mr Sullivan) had obtained from the Price Tribunal. These latter figures showed that the cost of living index had increased by 6.1 per cent, between August, 1939, and February, 1941, compared with tho 6.5 per cent, mentioned by Mr Nash in tho Financial Statement. Of course, said Mr Sullivan, it would be realised that there had lieen a very substantial increase iu prices of imported goods. COST OF LIVING.

All the evidence we had from abroad, he added, showed that very effective work was being done by the Price Tribunal in keeping the price levels stabilised and tho increases in this direction had been less in New Zealand than in any other country in the British Commonwealth for which figures were available. Efforts at further stabilisation in the shape of subsidisation were at present under consideration. The impressment of motor-vehicles by the Government had also come in for censure from the Leader of the Opposition. Tho fact was that the Army needed those vehicles at a fairly rapid rate. The Army had fixed the date for its manoeuvres and informed tho Government that it needed vehicles for that date. The Minister of National Service (Hon. R. Scmple) : There were eighteen days in which to do the job. Mr Sullivan continued that if there was one thing which was vitally necessary it was that those Army manoeuvres should be carried out and that it was essential in the national interest that those vehicles should be obtained and they had been obtained, certainly at considerable sacrifice for many people. Mr Holland had said that after they had been impressed they were left standing in the open, in tho cold rain, ana frost. In lact, they had no hot-water bottles. (Laughter.) Did the honourable gentleman think that army vehicles wcr.3 all garag.d in the Middle East or in Britain ?

Mr F. W. Doidge (Nat., Tauranga) : Arc there hundreds lying idlo there ? Mr Sullivan: There are hundreds ready to go anywhere at a moment's notice. Would the honourable gentleman say that what was rational and sensible' for England was wrong in New Zealand? Would he tell the Government where these vehicles were to be stored in New Zealand? The Army authorities had most strongly objected to the Minister of Defence against these vehicles being returned to civilian ownership as they were required for national purposes. Mr Holland had missed an opportunity to contribute to national unity when he had refused an appointment to the War Cabinet, said Mr Sullivan. Did Mr Holland suggest that Messrs Coates and Hamilton had their lips sealed and their hands tied? Did he beliovo that it was possible to do that with two former Loaders of the Opposition P Mr Holland had gone through the country talking about the import restrictions and Nazism. If ho wanted national unity he should, even if he could not find it in his heart to say a kind thing about the Government, refrain from saying what was obviously incorrect-

MEMBERS' QUESTIONS

REFERENCE TO ELECTION

(Press Assn.) WELLINGTON, JIIIS iB. When the House of Representatives met at 10.30 to-day, Mr F. W. Doidge (Tauranga) in notice of a question to the Acting-Prime Minister (Mr Nash), asked if ho was aware of an advertisement appearing in Auckland asking electors to listen in over 2YA to the speeches to bo delivered to-day (Friday) in Parliament by Mrs C. Stewart, Messrs W. M. C. Denham and ,t. Thorn. Was Parliament and the National Rroadeasting system thus used for electioneering purposes with the approval of the Government?, he asked.

Mr C. A. Wilkinson (Egmoilt) in an urgent question to Mr Nash, "asked if he had road a statement reported to have been made by Hon. A. 11. Nordmeycr in which he indicated there would not be a National Government and that there would be a general election.

Mr Nash, in reply, said his attention had been drawn to the report, and said Mr Nordmeyer had not expressed those views- as the decision of the Government but merely as his own personal opinion. Whether there was to be a National Government or not. or whether an election was to be held or not, was a matter for the Government itself, and it would be announced from the floor of the House. Hon. Sir Alfred Ransom (Pahiatua) : Why dodge the point? DEBATE ON THE BUDGET.

Tlio Budget debate was continued by Mrs Stewart, who said that Mr Nash's task in preparing the Budget was simple compared with the job of a woman dealing with the home hudfret. The Minister of Finance was, after all, using other people's money. She. paid a tribute to the soundness of the present Budget. Stating that women were probably more critical than men of any Government in office, she could say confidently that the wo-j men of New' Zealand knew how much better off they were since Labour had taken office, and she would remind the House that, despite their lack of socalled business knowledge, women were "reater realists than men as far as economic matters were concerned. Mrs Stewart also reviewed the part played by women in war work. They were shouldering their responsibilities! nobly and were giving their help in every possible way to assist in winning the war. ""SPIRIT OF LICENSE." Mr C. G. Harkcr (Waipawa) said it would bo a blessing to New Zealand when the day dawned that we had a I Government which knew no party polii tics. He stressed the growing increase in crime in the Dominion despite the iact that the members on the Government benches had slated over and over | again that New Zealand had never ] been more prosperous. The Government I thought of social security in terms of more food and drink, and better I clothes. It wits usual for crime to 1 diminish after a depression, but in this case the natural order had been inverted. A spirit of license was abroad instead of a spirit of liberty, of which New Zealand in the past had been so proud to boast. In the ten years from 1931 to 1940 cases of juvenile crime in New Zealand had increased from over 2000 to over.sooo. He criticised sex education broadcasts from Australia bv the Director of Commercial i .Broadcasting. j Mr W. M. C. Denham (Invercargill.) said that in the provision of men find money on a pro rata basis New Zea-

land's war effort was greater even than that of England herself, and greater than any oi the other Dominions.

"We have been asked whether our war effort is comparable to that of the Old Country," said Mr Denham. "It is not, to tlio extent that London has been bombed and torn to pieces and there has been destruction of ! houses and loss of life, which wc have j not and I hope uever will have in | New Zealand. From that point of view I our effort is not comparable, but in the provision of men and money our effort is greater pro raca.'' Mr Denham characterised the Budget as a record of achievement and, referring to the national unity issue, i said that while people -were going I round the country deprecating the I>abour Government it was of jio use I saying that party politics must cease, j The debate was interrupted by the ' adjournment at 1 p.m.