Reduction In Taxes Should Be Tackled

Northern Advocate, 5 September 1945, Page 2

Reduction In Taxes Should Be Tackled

-j MURDOCH (P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. Speaking in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon Mr A. J. Murdoch (Oppn., Marsden) said that this was a year in. which reduction of taxation should have been tackled. The tax of 1/6 in the pound for war purposes was now going to revert to other purposes, while an additional 4d or 6d' in the pound would be taken from the people for social security because of the millions of pounds which the Government was taking for that purpose from the Consolidated Fund.

Mr Murdoch criticised the operations and cost of the Waterfront Control Commission. He said there were three waterfront commissioners each drawing £1325 yearly, with a number of other highly-paid men under them. Control of the wharves should be handed over to the harbour boards which could control them equally as well, if not better. The present scheme did not warrant its high- cost. The Minister for Supply in recent years had been the chief buyer for his department and had made several very bad buys, said Mr Murdoch. For instance,. some thousands of dozens of saucepans were purchased which were no good. They were usable on gas stoves only and were useless for electric stoves. One thousand dozen of them cost about £IO,OOO. There also had been a loss of about £30,000 on the purchase of mattress ticking. The amount was no doubt passed on through the War Expenses Account to the public.

The sooner the country got back to ordinary methods of trade the better for merchants and for the community generally, continued Mr Murdoch. The time was now right for that change. They now had £67,000,000 in sterling funds and the Government should implement its promises of fostering trade with Britain by allocating a large proportion of those sterling funds to enable New Zealand to buy goods which Britain had to offer. Feople Get Benefit Mr E. P. Meachen (Government— Marlborough), dealing with several issues raised by Mr Murdoch, said that taxation was not stopping anyone enjoying the good things of life. The high civil expenditure was being spent wisely and well and the people were getting the benefit. The Government had been criticised from time to time for having brought control to industry, said Mr Meachen, but in 1919 a Board of Trade Act was passed which probably had the widest possible powei's ever brought into being and exceeded any that might have been imposed by the present Government, which, in his opinion, left little room for complaint. Mr Meachen said he hoped that arrangements would be made as quickly as possible to extend the reticulation of electricity to rural areas. A number of electric-power boards had surveyed prospective customers in such areas and concluded that the revenue would not meet the cost of reticulation. He understood, however, that the Minister of Works was preparing a scheme which would enable the difference between revenue and cost to be met by subsidy and that was in the public interest. Mr Meachen contended that there were too many power boards and the work they did cbuld be undertaken almost as well by the hydro-electric branch of the Works Department. Statement by Prime Minister When the debate was resumed last night after the tea adjournment, the Prime Minister was taken to task by Mr K. Holyoake (Opposition—Pahiatua.) who, after a point of order had been raised as to the admissibility of the word “untrue,” described as “deliberately misleading and deliberately incorrect" Mr Fraser’s Christchurch statement to the effect that the National Party would not continue with, social security benefits.

Mr Holyoake said further that the Prime Minister, when quoting the National Party’s 1938 manifesto, read only half and did not complete the sentence dealing' with social security. The fact was, said Mr Holyoake, that the National Party’s policy toward social services was to continue with all existing benefits, especially to mothers in the homes.

Mr Holyoake said that the cumbersome machinery of the Land Sales Act so far had been used to acquire fewer than 200 farms, but there was a danger that if Labour retained office after returned men were settled, this measure might remain as an instrument of implementing the policy of State ownership of land.

Under the present. Government the State had encroached upon coalmining, rimbermiliing and house-building, while monopolies wore being set up from one end of the country to the other under the protection ot' the Industrial Efficiency Act, continued Mr Holyoake. Now a State monopoly was to be established in civil aviation. Die Government had for several years maintained a monopoly' in sterling exchange, while the acquisition of the private shares in the Bank of New Zealand might well be a step toward the establishment of a State banking monopoly. More Respect When Mr Holyoake, after quoting from speeches of several Cabinet members, referred to “these obviously aging gentlemen encumbering the Treasury benches,” the Speaker, the Hon. F. W. Schramm, asked him to withdraw, adding that he should show more respect. Mr Holyoake: I will show respect for their grey hairs. Hatred and strife had been stirred up in New Zealand by members of the present Government, said Mr Holyoake. The utmost unity Was essential for the postwar period, and unworthy class hatred must cease.

Mr A. E. Armstrong (Government, Napier) said that Mr Holyoake’s speech ■,vas mere calculated to stir up class distinction than any other he had heard. At present New Zealand required the greatest understanding and unity possible if the country was to do justice to the returned men. Mr W. A. Sheat (Oppn., Patea) agreeing with Mr Meachen’s contention fhat electric power supply should be extended to all rural areas, said that every effort should be made by the authorities so that more country could be brought into production. He considered that the successful development of electricity supply was largely due to decentralisation and local power boards. If the fatal error of central control were committed it would result in endless dissatisfaction everywhere. Mr Sheat said that although the Budget debate had entered its third week members of the Government were avoiding any detailed analysis or defence of the country’s financial position. They had failed to justify the revised estimates introduced following the surrender of Japan. He wondered if Government members had been instructed by Mr Nash not to discuss his revised estimates which the Opposition had torn to shreds. The House had hoped for a full statement. this year of the Dominion’s position under Lend-Lease, said Mr Sheat, but apart from a statement cf the amount of Lend-Lease aid and reverse Lend-Lease aid since the system was instituted, and also amounts for the past year, little informat ion was given. They had not been told what commitments, if any, had been entered into respecting Lend-Lease arrangements. „ . , . It was obvious from official American statements, Mr Sheat considered, that Lend-Lease payment would be forgone if other nations lowered their trade barriers against the. .United States. The Government should say candidly if it

had entered into any such commitment to lower barriers against United States trade with this country. The House rose at 10.30 p.m. until this afternoon.