"MONKEY PUZZLE"

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19495, 30 November 1937, Page 5

"MONKEY PUZZLE"

WORKS POLICY OPPOSITION CRITICISM CONFUSION IN FIGURES A NOTE OF CAUTION "MONEY RUNNING SHORT" (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The formidable number of millions of pounds involved in the public works policy, and his difficulty in finding out the exact total, provided the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. A. Hamilton, with his opening text when discussing in the House of Representatives the public works statement. The size of it was impressive, and it cost 5s 9d a copy to print, he said. There was a recent time when £25,000,000 a year was the national expenditure, but the country seemed to'be about hitting the £50,000,000 mark to-day. There was £40,000,000 in the revenue accounts, and he did not know what was in the public works statement. "I guess," he continued, "that there is not a Minister on those benches who knows how much money is represented in this statement. The Minister may know how much is borrowed money, but it is a monkey puzzle to the rest of u s to find out. There is confusion between the statement, the Budget,- and the estimates, and it would almost confuse the best accountants and economists in the Dominion. We cannot make a balance between them." The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M< J. Savage: Tell us where they do not balance. Mr. Hamilton replied that he would do that as he went along, but he thought he could put a few points to the Prime Minister which he could not answer. Making Credit Available Looking through his notes, he remarked: Yes, I think I can do it." , "But I am not under cross-exam-ination," protested the Prime Minister laughingly. The Leader of the Opposition invited Mr. Savage to analyse the highways account and tell him what was revenue and what was loan money. The Hon. R. Semple: The hon. gentleman is not quite sure. He is confusing himself. Mr. Hamilton: I can work out accounts just as well as any job in politics, but here confusion is one of the weapons this Government uses. The Hon. P. Fraser: Easy to confuse the Opposition. Mr. Hamilton: Confusion and withholding. Let him make clear about the statement in the Budget that the public works expenditure is £17,378,000, and we are going to pass £9,204,000, plus highways votes making a" total of £18,370,000. The statement had declared that the Government would not allow any necessary job to be held up for lack of money, and that if the existing volume of credit was insufficient more credit would be made available., Therefore he would like to know where the money was being found for this huge expenditure, which was over £5,000,000 more than last year. Wool Sale Results "They must be running short," commented Mr. Hamilton. "There was £58,000,000 in the Post Office Savings Bank last year, and they have borrowed a lot of it." Government members: Who said we were running short? Mr. Hamilton: People who blind themselves to the possibility of money running short must be blind indeed. He called attention to the results of the first wool sale, suggesting that most likely the Dominion's wool cheque might be cut in half. In boom times they should live as nearly as possible within their income. Mr. Fraser: Does the hon. gentleman suggest that there should be no borrowing? Mr. Hamilton: No, not if therj is essential work to be done. "The figures are not confusing to me," said Mr. E. P. Meachan (Lab.. Wairau). "The amount of £17,367,000 set out in the Budget related to a public works programme. He wis of the opinion that a wrong impression had been created by the the figures were set out. Actually, of fha total mentioned, under £10,000,000 was under the control of the Minister of Public Works. The Budget figures included all works undertaken by the Government. Mystery Unravelled Of the expenditure under the control of the Minister of Public Works, he continued, it would be necessary to provide approximately £6,000,000 from loan money as follows: Railway construction, £1,108,000; main highways, £1,593,000; roads, £966,000; buildings, £1,139,000; hydro-electric, £625,000; lands improvement, £156,500: irrigation, £105,000; other works, £232,000. The mystery of his resources and where they came from was unravelled by Mr. Semple, the Minister of Public Works, during the committee consideration of the estimates, for he h-jd not replied to the main debate on the public works statement. He mentioned that the average construction cost of the South Island Main Trunk line per mile was £30,000: NapierWairoa, £39,000; Hellensville North, £36.000; North Auckland. C 75 000: and Waikokopu-Gisborne, £40,000 per mile. Members wanted to know whf»re the money was coming from. He had previously stated that the £17,000 cOO allocated to public works represented expenditure by all departments. Only £10.897,000 was earmarked for the public works fund. Of this. £6,284,000 came from loans, £1,104,000 from the consolidated fund, £171,500 i'rom the unemployment fund, and £3,337,000 from special revenue, which included £2.572.000 from the petrol tax, making a total of £10.897.000. The special revenue also included £745,000 from the hydro-electric fund. Mr. Hamilton: I make it over £12,000,000. The Minister: The figures on my total are £10,897,000.