TAXATION BURDEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18016, 15 February 1922, Page 7

TAXATION BURDEN.

MR. ASQUITH'S ATTACK.

HIGH COST OF THE ARMY.

MINISTERIAL EXTRAVAGANCE

GEDDES PLAN CRITICISED. By Telceraph—Press Association—Copyright, (Received 5.4 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. Feb. 13. In the debate in the House of Commons on the Address-in Reply, Mr. H. H. Asquilh moved an amendment accusing the Government of extravagance, and calling for a reduction of the crushing burden of taxation. He said that although he would not assert that the Geddes Committee had ndt done useful work, he was still of opinion that the appointment of the committee'was un-

sound in principle. It amounted to dele-

gation to an outside irresponsible body of functions which ought to be discharged by the Treasury. The counterblast of the

Board of Admiralty accused the com mifctee of gross ignorance and abject in

competence. It looked as though the Admiralty memorandum was the advance guard of a procession of similar documents from other departments.

Referring to reductions of expenditure on the Army, Navy and Air Force proposed by the committee, Mr. Asquith complained that the personnel of the Army was 30,000 in excess of the establishment before the war, and that the cost of the War Office was £1,300,000 now compared with £457,000 then, despite the fact that the armed camp of Europe had practicably disappeared. Mr. Asquith condemned ill-judged parsimony in regard to expenditure on education. Our present position, he said, was mainly due to the wasting of millions on ill-conceived and vacillating policies. Saving of £40,000,000 Promised. Sir Robert Home, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply, said that Mr. Asquith had quite ignored the most important factor in expenditure, namely, that the war debt, which was responsible for nearly half the annual expenditure, represented 3s in the pound income tax. The Treasury asked for a reduction of £113,000,000, not becauso that sum was being wasted, but because the country simply could not face such a heavy bill. He denied that there had been surrender of the authority of the Treasury by the appointment of the Geddes Committee, which had no responsibility for the policy of the Treasury. The Treasury was entitled.to consult whatever export advice was available. No Chancellor could afford to give the time tp produce suoh a report. Large reductions must be made either along the lines of the committee's recommendations or on some other principles, but it was perfectly obvious that all the recommendations could not be aceppted in their entirety, as difficult and grave questions of policy were involved. When the estimates were forthcoming it would be found that reductions amounting to £40,000,000. not entirely due to the report of the Geddes Committee, but also to the Government's own investigations, had been effected.

False Economy in Education. The British Army had never been based on the size of European armies, but on the responsibilities of the British Empire. British finance had always been the admiration of the world, and ;t was one of the greatest factors in the maintenance of European civilisation. Mr. J. R. Clyncs (Labour) said that the curtailment of payments for health and education would ultimately be no saving. To prevent children going to school before six years old would be absolutely cruel to both children and parents. Mr. Austen Chamberlain, winding up the debate, said that the Government could not delegate to a committee decisions for which Ministers were responsible. The Government was responsible for the safety of the country and peace throughout the Empire. With every desire to find reason for accepting the recommendations of the Geddcs Committee, there were considerations of which the committee could not bo the judges. \ Mr. Asquith's amendment was negatived by 241 votes to 92. Earlier in the day Mr. Chamberlain announced that the Admiralty memorandum on tho Geddes Committee's report was circulated pursuant to a general decision by the Government, which thought it desirable that the House should possess this information as well as that contained in tho report of the Geddes Committee.