DOMINION FINANCES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume L, Issue 16496, 31 July 1924, Page 2

DOMINION FINANCES.

THF. BUni.ET debate

(Per Press Association.) - WELLINGTON., last night. The debate on the Budget was continued by .Mr. Sidey, who said that the A!iniatet of Education evidently had been- completely taken - by smpr.se by tliis'nature of the leader of the Opposition’s attack on the Budget, his whole speech being an admission that he was unable to follow him. He. therefore, was obliged to fall hack on -Mr. WiilordY speeches in the country for the substance of his reply. The'time was when the countrv expected to find the Government policy proposals in the Budget, but that time had passed. taxation proposals were always eagerly looked for* but in spite of the fact that the Taxation Commission had concluded its investigation, and .it was known its re port was not- to be widely departed from. . there was not- reference to it in the Budget, because the Government evidently was unable to make up its mind. The speaker blamed the Premier for withholding the announcement of the surplus for so long. This was contrary .to the usual practice, but while the information had not been given to the people of Now Zealand as early a? usual, the fact- was published in London as early as .May that the surplus xvould he over a million and a half. Thet surplus was really much larger than the sum announced. By taking into account several other slims which should have been taken info account, the surplus really amounted to £2,250,000. Perhaps the Premier was reluctant, to- announce the trim figures, because he was conscious it was too large, and that he had been taking too much money out. of the pockets of the people. In connection with the yearly accounts there were some respects in which these accounts did not improve .with, closer inspection. A good deal of credit was being taken by the Government because their expenditure was less than last year. The test was that- their -expenditure must be undei annual appropriations, and not. under permanent appropriations. Under the .annual appropriations: the expenditure as compared with the previous year in- • creased by £-108.000. If the increase in outstanding liabilities store added, the. incveasedi expenditure would be found to be half a million, and that in spite of the fact that £95,000 of last year's decrease in expenditure was due to .the fad® that, there was no general election. If the figures were taken strictly as they appeared in the Budget, it would be observed that notwithstanding the increase of £1.200.000 in Customs * revenue, the total increase in revenue was wiped- out by increased expenditure under theI annual appropriation. It was expendi- ' lure under permanent appropriations which enabled the Government to claim their expenditure was less than last year. A reduction in pensions of about £150,000. chiefly war pensions, was sufficient to account for the difference in expenditure between the two years, and ha was ,sure the Government would not claim any credit for that. Much, the same thing might he said of the statement that the revenue last year was short of the estimate by £8630. The Minister of Education claimed that as a record in New Zealand’s financial history. This was a grave illusion. T he Prime Ministei Inst year in his estimate of the revenue for *1923-24, included the sum of £128,000 on national endowment revenue. Having, however, excluded national endowment revenue altogether from lib accounts, lie ought to have deducted from last year’s estimates. £128,000 allowed on that account in ascertaining whether his estimate of the revenue had been exceeded. This lie failed to do. Deducting £123,000 from the total estimate of £27,969,000 it was found that his estimate for 1923-24 was £27.841,000 without. endowment .revenuo, and thjg, instead of being over-estimated, was undei the estimate of the actual revenue received, by £119,370-. Last year the Budget showed £1.287.000 in interest on public moneys. If the Minister de.iberately excluded certain of these moneys from his accounts he ought also to have eliminated them from his estimates. As ho lmd not done this, it was right that to £119,370 there should be added , £540.000 outstanding interest, when it ' would, be found.instead’ of over-estimating his revenue bv £8630. he under-estimated I it. by £659,370. After dealing at some length with the question of exports and imports. Mr. Sidey proceeded 1 to discuss the re- . duction in the national debt, contend ing it was a striking commentory upon •the reduction which was claimed for the jjjast two years, .that the interest and sinking fund charges- last year were greater than tv-o years ago by £147,000, and-although the payment of interest showed a small reduction last- year of some £26.000 on the expenditure side, there was over £IOO.OOO less interest on public moneys on the revenue side after allowing for an outstanding £540.000. Mr. F. J. Rolleston, discussing the ’question of the moratorium,, submitted there was more in it than interference with private contract. There was the great national question of what was to become of the farms from which the cultivators had to walk. If this happened to any great extent, there was going to be loss in production, which was-n matter which gravely concerned the whole conntry. He. thought the present- method of dealing with the housing question was not economically sound, and would be much better managed hv local committees. Housing was one of the most important questions the State had to deal with, and he regretted more was noi being done in this direction. On public ,finance he thought the time to exercise economy was not when tilings were bad, but when things were good, and it was something of a commentary on onv present position that -almost bn top of the order paper was a Bill to grant n greater number of permits to racing clubs. He thought finance was above party and he had endeavored to discuss it- from that point of view. Mr. Armstrong said that most members of the Labor Party could agree with what Mr. Rolleston had said regarding the -Taxation Commission, but for what he had said he was afraid Mr. Rolleston would find himself by hjs ownparly. The Taxation Commission- was sot lip solely for the pnrnnse of takings responsibility front the Government and the House, which I lief should rightly hear. On the. subject of income lax he pointed that in New Zealand we were paying just about half that paid in Australia- and England. He condemned the failure to provide more houses for the people, while the Government was steadily aggravating the trouble by their immigration policy. Taking the new arri--1 vals, with the natural increase in the population, it was impossible to overtake the shortage in houses at the present rate of limiting. He quoted figures to show how the trading of the Dominion was increasing, and argued that the people were never better able to pay the taxation which thsi country required, hut the Budget, announced a reduction of taxation to- the extent of on? million, which merely meant that the burdens were going to be’taken off the rich, and so make Die lot of thei pooi* ever more difficult. The Reform party had in 1911 denounced the Liberal party for its borrowing policy, and if they were asked to-day for a remedy for our present financial diffienl. ties their reply was, “borrow more. Dealing next with the miration. of mortgages, he declared it took practically the whole of the returns from the dairy in

dush'y to meet the interest charges on mortgages. This was largely the result of gambling in land, and it was time some party came into power courageous enough to put a check on land gambling. It simply means that if there was a small drop in the price of our products, the farmer’s interest in his land disappeared. The Reform party said the remedy for this was more production. He believed in more scientific methods of cultivation and cheaper shipping freights, but the first- thing to be done was to eliminate the speculator, and the policy of the Labor party alone xvould do that. Air. de la Perrelle said the Premier was becoming an adept at manufacturing surpluses, which xvas done by the simple process of over-estimating the expendiure and under-estimating the revenue.; He regretted there- xvas nothing in the Budget promising the suppression of trusts. Now Zealand xvas steadily becoming a land and trusts and combines, but this xvas not, surprising, “since it was generally understood that- if yon handle a combine you bruise a Reformer.” A still further reduction in the cost of telephones to back blocks settlers was urged, and a larger subsidy to the Navy advocated. He was in favor of having txvo, cruisers in Nexv Zealand waters. The speaker proceeded to extoll the natural resources of Southland. Mr. Hnxvkcn said lie considered Air. Wilford had failed to make an effective attack upon the Budget, which revealed '-hat the country xvas in a thoroughly sound position. Reviewing the policy as disclosed 1 in the Budget, he said tin? first task the Government had to face was the repatriation of soldiers, and this had been carried out. in a- manner not equalled by any other country in the world. The housing problem had been tackled in a most efficient manner, and he believed xve had almost reached the stage xx'hen the housing shortage would be> overcome. Public xx-orks had been carried out in a most, energetic way, and that without dislocating the finance of the country. Indeed the credit of the country never stood higher than it did at. present. What the Government had done in the matter of granting educational facilities was, greatly to their credit. It, xvas true that, xve did not have all xve might have in the matter of agricultural education, but the position of the settlers m the backbloeks xvas immensely improved. In fact the Minister of Education had done wonders in this respect, as had also the Postmaster-General in the matter of country telephones. Not alone had the Government great achievements to their credit but they had avoided serious pitfalls. Two of these xvere State shipping and the inflation of currency. For avoiding these mistakes, which had been so disastrous to other countries, he believed credit xvas due to the Prime Minister, whose foresight in these, directions had been remarkable. He favored more money being available for settlers and the ‘establishment, of agricultural banks, xvhich xvould help to relieve the pressure on the Advances Department, and at the same time teach fanners some idea of thrift and practical finance. Any housing scheme which did not encourage young people to pay off ‘lie cost of their homes and have them ■cut free, xvas not in the best interests of the country at large. Ho favored the building of houses, but he wanted to see people own their own- home's. He advocated support- to the minor industries through the, judicious use of the Customs tariff. We formerly imported £40,000 worth of egg pulp, but since the. tariff was put, on xve imported none, hut xvere rioxv in a position to export about the same value in eggs. He, also urged the immediate planting of third-class lands in trees. If xve' did this our national debt, would disappear in forty years. Air. Lee condemned xvhnt he called the shameful overcrowding in our schools. He did not blame the Minister of Education for this condition of affairs, because lie believed the Minister had fought hard for the best, interests of his department,. Considering the depreciation of the purchasing power of money since the xvnr, lie did not believe the Education vote had been greatly increased, arid so the school buildings programme had come to a standstill. The- result of this xvas that many schools xvere most improperly congested. It had been said that four feet of air space xvas necessary to properly rear a duck, but some of our schools only provided seven feet of air space in xvhich to rear a child. The -enlargement of some of our schools xvas of more importance that the provision of a second cruiser. We handed the child to the teacher, and told him to expand its mind, while; xve put that child in a building xvhich could have no other effect than to cramp its body. He urged most- complete medical assistance for children, and protested against unauthorised religious observances in many schools. ' Air Lee put in a- plea for separate universities in New Zealand 1 as an act of justice to Auckland, where students attending the engineering and dental classes xvere severely handicapped because the time spent in these classes did not count, in the Christchurch School of Engineering or at the Dunedin Dental School.

The debate xvas adjourned on the motion of Mr. Edie, and the House rose at 10.25.