MR. LANG'S NEW CUT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21068, 30 December 1931, Page 12

MR. LANG'S NEW CUT.

friendly society grants. LIMIT ON PAYMENTS. Limitation of subvention payments to friendly societies to £50.000 a year evoked heated protests from the Opposition members in Ihe New South Wales Legislative Assembly a few days ago. 1 lie bill giving effect to the limitation was passed. The Minister of Justice, Mr. McKell. said that the payments had increased from £5658 in 1909 to £77.455 in 1930. Tho Government had, therefore, decided to limit the annual payments. It was originally anticipated that the highest amounts to be paid would be £30,000 a year. "The difficulty with which we are faced to-day," said the Minister, "is that the Government finds it necessary to reduce controllable expenditure. Practically all items of controllable expenditure have been reduced, and this is one that must be reduced. There is no other State in the Commonwealth' in which subvention payments are made. No payments are made in New Zealand. Therefore, if the amount is reduced, friendly societies in this State will receive £50,000 more than any other State and New Zealand." The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Bavin, said he admitted that any Government would have had seriously to consider reduction of subvention payments, but-the proposed reduction was a deliberate discrimination against friendly societies. The effect of the Government's proposal would be either to throw the burden of maintaining the. aged members upon the remaining members of the societies or else to deprive them of their benefits because of their inability to pay their subscriptions. The percentage reduction. on adjustable Government expenditure imposed upon the Government by the Premiers' Conference was 20 all round, but the, all-round cut made by the present Government was only 13 per cent., despite the Premier's promises. Yet the reduction the friendly societies were asked to make was 40 per cent. " Mr. Bavin said he could not understand why the societies were being singled out for this heavy reduction. The Government was deliberately spending £2,000,000 in the railway service by refusing to apply Federal awards to the service. lie would not agree to the friendly societies' expenditure being cut by £30,000, while the Government spent £2.000.000 a year in giving benefits to railway officials over and above what they, were entitled to from the Federal tribunals. "If you were to allow the Federal awards to be applied to the railway service," continued Mr. Bavin, "there would be no need to make a cut on the friendly societies." It was humbug, added Mr. Bavin, for the Government to say it must save £30,C00, when, at. the same time, Mr. Lang stepped in in the case of a disputo between the Railway Commissioners and the men at, Lithgow coalmine, which would have been settled on a basis which would have effected a. saving of £70.000 a year. By declining to allow the Salaries Reduction Act to apply to the Lithgow miners in order to give a political bribe to his own supporters, Mr. Lang had cost the State £38,000. "I shall not vote for this bill while this sort of thing is going on," said Mr. Bavin.