PARLIAMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20961, 26 August 1931, Page 11

PARLIAMENT.

7 ' economy scheme.

COMMITTEE'S HUGE TASK.

PRELIMINARY inquiries.

SHORTER hours in house.

/ filling in the time.

[by TELEGBAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. Tuesday.

Parliament is virtually marking time this week while the, National Economy Committee is settling to its colossal task of handling the financial crisis and devising ways and means of balancing the national accounts for next year —a task which appears- to present a greater administrative poser than the framing of the current vear's Budget now before the House. f When the House of Representatives met this afternoon the Prime Minister, the Et. Hon. G. W. Forbes, explained it was intended that the House should sit only so long as was necessary to transact formal business and /then to adjourn until the evening. To-morrow and Thursday there will be no afternoon sittings and special arrangements will be made /or Friday, which is usually occupied by a day sitting of the; House. Mr. Forbes said this would have to be considered by committee later in the week. Interest in the Committee.

Although the first flush of public enthusiasm in the activities of the National Committee has died, there is still keen interest in the meetings, which were occuped to-day in taking evidence from Mr. A. D. Park, Secretary to the Treasury, and examining him upon specific points of New Zealand's financial position. This investigation will be carried further to-morrow, when the heads of other departments will be examined upon the finances of their departments, so that members of the committee may gain a proper perspective of the task they are expected to accomplish during the next few weeks.

When pressed for some idea of how long the committee is likely to sit, the Prime Minister said he could not tell, because a great de&l of work was entailed in getting down to business. Mr. Forbes confirmed the committee's decision by moving, when the,/ House adjourned this evening, that there be no sitting of the House to-morrow afternoon.

Objection to Adjournment

"While the House is waiting for the committee to formulate a plan of action, the Budget debate will he continued and whejj-that finishes private members' bills which are now awaiting attention will be brought down for discussion. This apparent waste of time is, in effect, a compromise to meet ./ Labour members objection to an adjournment of the House, because it will enable the business of Parliament to continue and at the same time give the committee time to devote to its exacting task.

This, it is acknowledged, will probably involve the recasting of the Budget and possibly the readjustment of estimates in most departments. It was the desire of the Prime Minister to avoid this if possible, but in view of the alarming fall in customs revenue, accountable in some degree to trade passing through cheaper channels, it is more than likely that the revenue will fall far short of the first optimistic estimates and cause a drastic readjustment of expenditure to meet exigencies as the financial year develops. f/ Sanction of House Needed. Mr. Forbes, discussing the committee's activities, said this evening that it had not yet had time to get down to essentials. In order to determine how difficult was the task to be accomplished, the -difficulty itself had to be focussed and examined. He acknowledged, moreover, that should the committee ultimately devise a plan there was no guarantee that Parliament would sanction it and adopt it as a method of meeting the financial stringency. lhe ' committee's work must

necessarilv be of a preliminary nature for / a few days, but next week might produce a sjggestion for a short adjournment.

The liiii tor the postponement of the licensing poll was introduced this evening. Several Labour members challenged the fiist reading', but did not press the division, purely on the principle that the postponement of the poll would mean the disenfranchiseinent of electors. Parliament will probably lie allowed to pursue its quiet way for the remainder of This week, but next week might bring the first- development from the activities Of the new committee.

1 PETROL TAX PROCEEDS.

YIELD OF £1,300,050.

EFFECT OF' HIGHER DUTY.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELL! X GTON. Tuesd ay. The operation of petrol taxation and the distribution of Jiie yield from this source are dealt with in the Transport Department's report, presented to the House of Representatives to-day. It shows that the net yield from the tax last year, when the duty was raised in July from 4d to 6d a gallon, was £1.300,050, as compared with £961.907 m the. previous year. Of 'this amount, the Main Highways Board absorbed £1,219.209, and boroughs with a population of 6000 and over ,£80.341, although the report points out ./that after August' 1 last year the pro- ' portion paid to boroughs was reduced from 3 per cent, to SJ, per cent. 1 here had been an increase in applications for refunds since the tax was increased to 6cU

The difficulty of assessing accurately the incidence of the petrol tax is emphasised in the report, which says the tax may shift either backward to the pioducers of benzine or forward to the users of motor transport services, while a certain amount of the burden j may be carried for a time by the operators of motor transport services. In the long run, the tax will tend to be shifted forward to the users of motor transport services, and in so far as the increased cost of these services causes a diminution • in the demand for them, a proportion of tax will also in the long - run be cast upon the producers of motor vehicles and equipment in the form of losses of business consequent on a / diminished demand. Investigations by the department indi-

cate that approximately 50 per cent, of the total cost of operating motor-cars in frew Zealand is for the purposes of a Bon-busiDess nature.