FEDERAL BUDGET

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21861, 25 July 1934, Page 11

FEDERAL BUDGET

HEALTHY POSITION NUMEROUS CONCESSIONS CUTS PARTIALLY RESTORED ASSISTANCE TO PRODUCERS By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Received July 24, 9.25 p.m.) CANBERRA, July 24 In delivering his Budget speech today in the Houso of Representatives, the Prime Minister and Treasurer, Mr. J. A. Lyons, said tho estimated revenue for the coming year was £72,193,000, including £34,600,000 from customs and excise. £8,000,000 from the sales tax, £8,500,000 from income tax and £13,500,000 from the postal services. The estimated expenditure was £72,179,190, including £19,000,000 on war repatriation services, £4,187,000 on defence, £12,000,000 on invalid and old ago pensions, £12,323,000 on the Postal Department, and £13,524,000 on payments to tho States. The Government would provide £3,767,000 for the relief of unemployment. It would give further relief from the sales tax to the extent of £220,000. Also it would reduce the primage duty by £IOO,OOO. Radio listeners' licence fees would be reduced from 24s to 21s. Additional concessions were to be made to soldiers' dependants and old age pensioners and maternity allowances were to be liberalised. The cuts in public servants' salaries and those of members of the naval, military and air services would be restored to tho extent of £270,000 a year. Mr. Lyons stated that the direct assistance which had been provided for primary producers in the past three years amounted to £9,000,000, including £5,000,000 to wheatgrowers. The Government's future policy in regard to ,the Wheat industry would be announced before Parliament was dissolved. It was proposed to aid apple and pear growers to the extent of £125,000, also to renew the guarantee to exporters of oranges to parts other than Now Zealand of a reimbursement of their out-of-pocket marketing expenses. Mr. Lyons pointed out that legislation had been passed already designed to stabilise the dairying industry.

COST OF DEFENCE CONSIDERABLE INCREASE COMMONWEALTH'S RECOVERY (Received .Tilly 24, 10.5 p.m.) £ CANBERRA. July 24 In the course of his Budget speech Mr. Lyons stated that expenditure on defence in the coming year would entail a gross increase of £1,900.000, a portion of which would be devoted toward the cost of a cruiser of the Leander type. The remainder would bo used for the co-ordinated development of the three defence services. Special grants to the smaller States were to be made as follows: —South Australia, £1,400,000; Western Australia, £600,000; Tasmania, £IOO,OOO. ' The Government intended to reduce the charges for telephone calls by making the standard fee lid. Reviewing the past three years Mr. Lyons said the increase in the aggregate of the public debt was approximately £31,800,000. The most eloquent testimony of the improvement of the Government's credit was the remarkable appreciation of prices of Australian stocks since the national debt conversion. The average yield from the 4 per cent stocks was £3 -Is Od per cent, compared with £G 6s 9d in September, 1931.

Mr. Lyons dwelt at length on the wonderful internal recovery, the marked fall in unemployment, the substantial increase of overseas trade, the satisfactory trade balance and the progressive reduction of interest rates. He emphasised the fact that the national income had risen from £438,000,000 in 1931-32 to about £497,000,000 in the year just cjosed.