PUrrS FROM PARLIAMENT

NZ Truth, Issue 984, 4 October 1924, Page 6

PUrrS FROM PARLIAMENT

Moratorium Again

Subsidy System Causes Too Much

Subdivision'

(From "Truth's" Parliamentary .Rep.) Mr. Massey is, obviously a reader of "Truth." The other evening Mr. Parry, member for Auckland Central, quoted a statement from a newspaper, which he said was a farmers' publication. The Premier took exception to this, whereupon Mr. Parry offered to quote from "The Dominion." "If you do,", said Mr. Massey; "you will quote the Truth, and it -would not be the only paper you know; by the same name." Quick as a flash the Aucklander replied: . "We might refer you to that paper; it would do you a lot of good." •.* * . The High Commissioner's ears must have been burning the other night when the Labor members gave him a blast! Freddy Bartram, one of the Auckland members, complained bitterly that Sir James Allen had practically called him a liar m an Englisn newspaper because he had declared that people were living m New Zealand under conditions that would disgrace even London. Whether the Labor member for Grey Lynn was right m accusing the High Commissioner of being a Reform Party hack is a matter of . opinion, but .it cannot be forgotten that Mr. Holland/ has a similar complaint, and the probabilities are that the Labor Leader was correct when he stated that had the language used against him by Sir James Allen been uttered against Mr. Massey there would have been, a vacancy for a new High Commissioner. ♦ ■■■♦■.■ •".• ■ A peculiar remark was made by Mr. Massey m this connection. He declared that had he been attacked m the way Mr. Bartram was attacked he would have snapped his fingers at it. aa he did at all such attacks made on him here. Then he went on: "Something has happened recently, however, that I am not likely- to overlook, but 1 won't elaborate on that now." Some members see m this statement a hint that Mr. Massey has an . eye on the Ccmmissionership for himself later on. Others think he was referring to the New Zealand League and that he has discovered who issued the circulars: Exactly what he did mean has not been discovered yet. . * '.*-.'■'■* A most unsatisfactory position exists In regard to the subsidies granted by the Government to county councils on the rates they collect. Each county is entitled to a subsidy up to £2500, but as some of the counties could be pushed into, a , corner of others, there >s really no equality m the matter at all. The larger counties are at a decided disadvantage, and m the past many of theni have split up into separate entities so as to- get one on to the Government and abstract a subsidy for each part. At present the position is most unfair to the larger areas, and ;t is likely that some re -arrangement will be proposed m the way of taking subsidies from those 'that "have" and giving them to those, that "have not." AVhether the present Government has the nerve to do this remains to be seen, but the time has come when this .more statesmanlike procedure' should be adopted. Present subsidy system tends to excessive decentralisation.

It is a bit rough to be born only to be immediately eaten up by wild pigs. Yet this is said to be the fate of large numbers of lambs m various parts of the country. The farmers certainly have a rough time what with pigs stoats, weasels, and blackberry, which come very largely from unoccupied Crown lands, 1 not to mention mortgages, '.droughts, expensive manures, high freights,, bad roads, and the Lovd knows what else. With such a multitude of handicaps it is a wonder we have any primary producers at all.

There was a regular, squabble m the House when. J. R. Corrigan, member for Patea, declared that, as far as he knew, only Government supporteis sold land to the Government for soldier settlement. So angry did the Government become that even the. Hon. D. H. Guthrie, whose voice has not been heard m Parliament -for two years, could not remain silent." It was_ quite interesting to watch the 1 attack' arid counter-attack. Mr, Massey demanded the tabling of the cards if any member thought . he "knew anything:" Whatever mistakes were made m the purchase of these lands, the responsibility, of course, must rest on the National Government, jointly ana severally;, declared'the Prime Minister, This ide\ seemed: to amuse the Labor Party immensely, for it, of course, had ho direct cay m .the matter, although it no doubt exerted the little influence it then had m the direction 1 ' of forcing the National Government to keep up the pace.

, "Truth's" prediction ! that the ending of the Moratorium would be pushed back was fulfilled almost as soon as the ink was dried on last week's issue. The alteration back to December 31. 1024, as the last date for the filing of notices of. motion on behalf .of th'S mortgagor farmers, is; a somewhat more drastic change than might- have been expected, but the- chances are that it ' will allow of some give and tnke. with 'the result that m the <?mi the date will likely be March, 31, 1920. Before finality is reached, however, there will be a strenuous fight. As things stand at present, farmers who desire to state their case for an extension must put m their applications before the end of this year.

Many Civil Servants, by reason of their work, have to travel from place to place, and the majority of them have frequently complained >of the Government's niggardliness m the matter of allowances for travelling expenses. Few officials among the lower paid ranks are able to moec their out-of-pocket expenses on the sum allowed them for the purpose,. and they have no hope of being able to recoup themselves. The general public, who pay, would probably approve of . a more liberal scale even although the annual expenses bill for the- various departments already totals the enormous sum of £184,000.

Only an average sense of .humor.-, was required to appreciate the joke for

which O. J. Hawken, member for Egmont, was responsible the other ■ evening. He waxed eloquent for quite a time m urging the Government to do what it could to enable farmers to obtain an adequate water supply, such being absolutely necessary. No doubt he was thinking principally of daivy farmers, for tradition has it that the pump holds first rank as the best cow m each herd!

Are politics a trade? If they are, then politicians have no right to ply their trade on Sundays,' declared' ]WD. Lysnar m all seriousness. The member . for Gisborne, . however, is apt to be exceedingly funny when he intends to be serious. He got the Labor members frankly to admit . that they have no other calling, and that their Parliamentary salaries are all they "earn." On this hypothesis, he contended they should no more' be allowed to hold Sunday afternoon meetings than the innocent Chow is allowed to tend his green peas on that day. But Mr. Lysnar forgets that these openair meetings are the safety valves of our community. All the accumulated hot air and steam are blown harmlessly into the atmosphere, and every one who participates m these soap-box meetings feels very much the better for the experience, and can -settle down tc another week's work as unconcernedly as the average L churchman after two Sunday services. < To bottle up the Extremists would be as dangerous as' trying to close down the mud-geysers. Left to their own sweet wills, they splutter noisily but harm no one. Hands off their street cornet meetings!

»* * * While a, great deal is being done, and rightly so, m the way of writing down the valuations of the soldiers' lands, one. aspect of the settlers' difficulties seems to have been overlooked. Many of the returned men, particularly dairy farmers, are up to the neck m trouble over the mortgages on their stock, and they are m danger of being squeezed out unless relief is fortncoming. So. far the Government has dene nothing much to help them m this direction, but the new Minister of Lands, the Hon. McLeod, is not the man to do a half-hearted cleaning up, and the probabilities are tha.,t this aspect of the soldiers' problem will not be overlooked much longer.

Was Mr. R. A. Wright wrong when he accused the 'Government of giving all the good things to members of the Oppositibn? He certainly made members laugh when he repeated . Mr. roasters' boast that that member had got more for Stratford district than if he had been a Reform supporter After all, it is human nature to appease, those who make the most noise, and one can only suggest' that the right course for Mr. Wright is to get busy right now and keep calling for what he wants. Thus may the wrong be righted. ..'■-.

The other day quarantine blankets were put up for sale at Dunedin, uun it was only after the Mayor of ttmt city telegraphed his protest that ths sale was stopped. There was a btiggestion that the blankets were still disease-infected (some 'of them probably were at one time or another) and although Sir Maui Pomare dented this, the distribution of articles that had been m use on the quarantine island does not seem to be m line with the best ethics of public health. The watersiders who handled ' the stuff protested.

Whatever justification there was for the Wellington Labor members' contention that the Wellington City Council was throwing away good land and good money m offering the Pahiatua endowments to the settlers for £22,500/ they put up a. useless stonewall with which the House could very well have dispensed. If they had had the courage of their convictions they could have effectively blocked the measure, at least for this session. It could- then have been made a council 'election matter, , and Parliament would have had a guide as to what the Wellington citizens . really . think about the whole thing.

A trial of strength between the two Opposition Parties and the Government was anticipated when the Land and Income Tax (Annual) Bill passed through the Committee stage of its existence. For so.me days before rumor- had been- rife, as to the possibility of a desperately narrow majority for the. "Government • (the casting vote of ;the chairman was hinted) and the -whips oh both sides kept their followers: well to heel,- but when Mr Wilford came forward with his amendments, after a- discussion on the short title that lasted for seven hours, Mr Massey raised a point of order- which resulted m the amendments being disallowed. Thereafter, the Laborites called for a couple of divisions, but the Bill went through without amendment.

The Liberals, with Mr. T. M. Wilford as their chief spokesman, condemned the' Finance Minister's taxation reductions as emphatically m favor of the .wealthy classes m town and country, this view beings expressed also by the Labor Party. Mr// Wilford was particularly strong/ against further easing of. income tax on those with big incomes, and said , his view was that the new concessions ishpuld be limited to assessable incomes of £600, which means grbss incomes of at- least £ 800, counting . 'exemptions, m the same way, he urged restricting relief from land tax'to properties under £10,000 unimproved value, and his amendments .were m these two directions.

The Masseyites could only squirm. They had no real answer to 'the criticisms of their opponents.; Their one cry was that any sort of remission of taxation was bound to benefit the whole of the Dominion. Thus, on the hypothesis that the Bill was for the direct benefit of the wealthy, they contended that indirectly even the poorest man m New Zealand (this from Mr. Massey) would feel its benign influence, presumably after the fashion m which, according to scientists, the furthermost shores are affected by the dropping of a pebble m mid-ocean. We sympathise with our "poorest man." ,'/"■•■ :

And, of course, Reformers claim that their aim is to give relief all round. Funny thing they never thought that

a reduction on Customs duty would be a much more effective method cf putting their slogan "share all" into effect. As a matter of fact, the revenue from Customs taxation has doubled since 1918, an unpleasant fact which Mr. Downie Stewart endeavored to dispose of by saying it was accounted for by an increased spending capacity on the part of the people. Apparently it never struck him that higher prices might ' also have some influence on the returns. ' >

The Opposition members certainly put up a good case for drastic changes m the Taxation Bill, but they might as well have argued with a wall. Had they done so they would not have had the disadvantage of contradictory replies. First, the Premier boasted about the splendid reductions beinggiven all round.. Then Minister ,• Parr, when replying to the suggestion that the land tax reductions would have been more beneficially applied if used to restore Civil Servants' salaries to something near their pre-war standard, declared the total sum was a mere flea-bite. This was rather letting the cat out of the bag, for it was an fidmission that the' concession to the small farmers of the country were more m the nature of a' dangerously hooked bait to the farmer members of the Reform Party than anything of real value.