THE PUBLIC DEBT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23558, 22 July 1938, Page 10

THE PUBLIC DEBT

MANIPULATION OF FIGURES ACCURACY CHALLENGED ANALYSIS BY MR HAMILTON (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, July 21. “ The public debt makes an interesting study.” said the Leader of the Opposition (Mr A. Hamilton) during the Budget debate in the House of Representatives to-night. The Minister of Finance in his Budget has attempted to make political capital by manipulating the figures and leading the public to believe that the position is entirely different from what it is in fact.” The public was asked to believe that there was a surplus of £BIO,OOO in the accounts and that the debt was smaller, Mr Hamilton said. That might be so technically, but the Official Year Book showed that it was not right. Last year the Budget had said that the National Debt was £287,672,000 and in six places the Official Year Book agreed with that figure. This year’s Budget gave the National Debt at £290,201,000, an increase of £2,531,000. The Minister’s explanation of those figures was quite adroit. Mr Nash: You have not included as debt, items that were public debt.

Actual Increase in Debt Mr Hamilton said that he was taking the official figures. The real position was quite simple. The public debt last year was £287,000,000 and to that had to be added £7,500,000 borrowed during this year. Debt repayments were £1,866,000, which left the total amount of debt at £293,238,000. There was, therefore, a real increase of £5,500,000. The public was entitled to get accurate information, but even in his own Budget figures the Minister showed an increase in debt of about £3,000,000. The real increase, however, was about £5,500,000. Mr Hamilton alleged that the Government had no intention of reducing taxation. There was an actual surplus in the country’s finances this year of £1,500,000, he said, but instead of using this to reduce taxation the Minister had explained it away very plausibly. Full Surplus Undisclosed “ The public accounts show a surplus of £810,000,” Mr Hamilton said. “A surplus is all to the good, though the Prime Minister has stated that a surplus is nothing to be proud pf. The Budget, therefore, has been balanced at the taxpayers’ expense. A total of £853,000 was put to reserves, ahd this, with the surplus disclosed in the Budget, gives an actual surplus of more than £1,600,000. The Minister did not care to reveal the whole sum as a surplus because if he did the taxpayers would have expected some measure of relief.

“It is not only the wealthy man who pays taxes, but the whole of the rank and file as well,” Mr Hamilton said. “It seems that this Government will never reduce taxation. It likes to have the money to spend and it is good a', finding ways to spend it instead of letting industry go ahead. With the million and a-half why did the Minister not wipe out the Dairy Account deficit instead of carrying it on as a deficit? The Overseas Funds “ One of the most serious problems of the moment,” Mr Hamilton said, “is the depletion of the overseas funds of the banks. I would say that whoever comes into power after the election will be forced to tackle that problem. It is one of the happenings of the last few months that must be giving Mr Nash grave concern. “In March, 1936, the total overseas funds of the banks were £44,088,000,” Mr Hamilton .added. “ and in March last they were £26,555,000, a reduction of £17,533,000. About £5,000,000 can be accounted for in the ordinary way by the trade balances, but it seems that £12,000,000 has left New Zealand without bringing anything in.”