DEBATE ON THE BUDGET.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 16175, 11 July 1923, Page 8

DEBATE ON THE BUDGET.

"WINDOW DRESSING" POLICY".

, PROMISES AND PERFORMANCES. REPLY TO CRITICISM. TRULY WONDERFUL FEAT. 'Per Press Association.J WELLINGTON, last night. When the House resumed at 7.30, (lie debate on the Budget was opened by Mr. Wilford, who said that ho proposed to discuss, some of the proposals contained in the Budget and also mention some of the changes essential to good government in this country which are absent from the Budget. In 1912 the Reform party started their policy of "window dressing," and he proposed to show howgreat were the. differences between the promises and the performances of that party. He.thought, the fact that not one Minister controlled . any ,ono Department for any length- of timo contributed to this result. Even _in this Budget there were con traditions in figures and statements, due probably to some want of permanency of Ministers. The Premier, whose accession to power might be described as, a "political accident" had ,' ridiculed his . (Mr. Wilford's) - suggestion j that there must he a reduction in company taxation. But now, in his Budget, ho declared that a reduction in company taxation must take place. t The Premier had statad at Oamaru that, 'amongst interest earning assets which could be set against the national debt, Were the railways, but, as the railways last year earned only £2 16s per cent., the statement made by the Premier was one scarcely worthy of a Minister in his position. . . ' *

The Reform party stood by the.present banking system and, that constituted a fundamental difference between that party and the Liberal' party led by himself. The bank, rate of interest was oppressive and the .times, all,/over the world were advantage of by tho 'banking rings! . The Reform papers wero claiming that the. Reform party must remain in office because, there were some sixty millions of lqiins jfalling due in tho next six But w'hy wero the papers not frank, arid,,tell.the people that half that. sujp. duo; to the post office alone,., tn^,renowal^ '.'j>t which was only a .matter between the Minister of Financo and the Postmaster-General. So. tijafc jthp.. claim that a wizard of finance .must;remain,-at tHe head of affairs was only a political cry raised to mystify tho people., Other public departments ; had ..a150.,., lent money to the State,, onp.of ...wfiich , was the Public Trust Department.. The Premier was in charge ,of that .Department; ho was also Minister for Finance; and he wondered if• Mr,; Massey had, much troublo in persuading., the /head of the Public Trust to renew a Joan; to tho Minister of.Finance!,..' ',',»■: ' ~•.

Dealing with the proposed reduction in taxation, he .declared \ that the-. Customs duties were too high. * As., Minister for Finance, the Premier, had indulged in a policy of borrowing arid..spending, Anything he could Mortgage, he had mortgaged, and ho wondered now ;.long this career of borrowing ,ahd spending was to go on. He wanted to know why the Government had put nothing in the Budget which offered somo relief in connection with the .currency and exchange questions. Ho sent out of tho Dominion some sixteen million pounds' worth of dairy produce annually and,, when • the costs and charges made on that amount were considered, it was'tinio;tho' Government did to relieve the farmers of those charges. '" ■: :' On tho subject of loan redemption, he quoted the Budget of 1922 and accused the Premier of a breach of] faith in not carrying out the promises rti&do in that Budget, which breach j of faith, he claimed,. confirmed his 'opening statement that the Reform 'budgets' Were only "window dressing," intended tb meet the necessities of the moment/ t " ' It was a much debated question as, to whether in bad thines th© * country should reduce its national debt or reduce taxation. Ho favored tho -letter"','View, and declared that every million borrowed by tho Premier put a further burden on the taxpayers. We must set bur faces against large borrowings, and ah heroic effort riiust.be mado' to ; rediicb taxation on companies) and Customs duties. Coming to the annual appropriations, he declared that the expenditure on departments exceeded last year's expenditure by a million and a-half arid yet, in face of this, the .Premier" had boasted in his Budget .of. economy. Why was this? It was a matter that would have to be carefully into. There wero other discrepancies in the Budget which did not square. •;'* „. So far as the soldier" settlements were concerned the Government was hiding the true position in the Budget. Why did they not .tell' tho. House frankly what the country's losses,wero in connection with those settlements? While tho Premier proposed", penny postage,, ho raised, telephone charges. What he ■gave, with one hand ho . took away with tho.other. Ono pago.of tho Budget told the House that, tho Public Works Expenditure was to be. a million and a-half more than .last year; yet, on tho next page, ho warmed, the people that they must economise. So far .as land settlement was concerned the proposals of the Budget wore helpless. : This country only had to be, got out of .its difficulties by a progressivo/land policy which would immediately reduce .tho unemployed problem. We' were now paving £318;583 subsidy to .the "Public Servants' Superannuation Fund, and that would have to go. But< thetime: was coming when others,,beside-th'o public servants would bo.claiming.isuperannuar tion and that position • would require careful attention, by future,.Governments.

MINISTERIAL 'REPLV. '' ir;! Tho Hon. Downio Stewart said that he did not propose to spend much time replying to Mr. Wilford, t or his speech reminded'hint'of the .statements once made by that gentleman: "Where tho liberal Party is it would be hard for us to explain." Mr. Wilford'.. had complained that the railways • were. not earning sufficient' interest' in the'' capital invested, but, as a matter dffaoti thoy were earning a higher interest than the standard set by the Liberal party, so he thought therb' was little to complain of. Mr. Wilford had declared in favor of a State Bank.. How, then, could ho support Sir J. Ward at Tauranga? One of Sir J. Ward's chief planks was against a State. Bank.'.' The line of action of the banks doing .business in Now, Zealand was nothing like so disastrous to customers as Mr,. Wijfqrd had pictured. ; The iact, was;, that,;.a State Bank could nob dp, better fojh its customers than, tho present banks a were doing. He complained, of the. exchange rates, but offered no remedy. %lv. Wilford also complained -that. Customs duties were too high, but, all through the .debates on the latest Customs, tariff, the continual cry from the Liberals was that sufficient, protction was not being given to New Zealand industries. The revision of the tariff had resulted in the. colleclection of less duty on, British goods than j would havo been colle-cted had the tariff not been_.revised^" \ so that people who bought British goods were lighter taxed than previously. .Tfap, Government bad been blamed for 'borrowing, but the pages of Hansard wore full, of applications, rnade by Afr., JVVilfojd ,fe>* Lugo cxpenditufp pn hydro-electric worts and other .schernes, all. necessitating heavy borrowing.. Regarding the* alleged "breach of faith", on the' part ofj the Government, he claimed that moneys were being appropriated to, the purpose stated by the Premier as fast ns they, were available and rid,one could.dp it more speedily.', Discrepancies ■ Departmental appropriations. .were common enough, but w-ero easily/explained.by the fact that the books or jfche Department did not always close on the'fame! ,: daio

on which, the Treasury made up its figures.

Speaking of the Budget generally, he claimed that it, vas remarkable on account of the recovery mado in the financial .position and the economics effected imposed an enormous burden on the, Premier, anl \vhap h- had accomplished was truly a wo; dcri'ul feat. Our trade with ih.> Mother Country was gradually unpxp-'i : )£ umLr the preferential tariff. Ihe railways were now doing well and tho repatriation scheme had been remark ibly si ccessful. Evoi'v department show«d' tnj, effects of tho progressive pciioy. even depertmerits such as the Slate Fiv t . epartmeu with which the State Fire Department with which the Government was not supposed to be sympathetic. Their returns had improved every year it had been under tho Reform Government and their interests in the Pacific were doing exceedingly well. New Zealand was the first country after the war to come back to a 4 per cent. loan.

Tii conclusion, ho said that the legislative virtures of the Government had been made so thorough/ manifest during the recent debates* on tho no-confidence motions that tho leader of the. Opposition had to go outside the Budget to find something on which to criticise tho administration. The fact was, however, that tho people would welcome tho Budget as one that contained many proposals for tho benefit of the Dominion as a whole. The adjournment, of the debate was moved by Mr. Sidev. and the House rose,till 2.3o.next day.