DOMINION FINANCES

Southland Times, Issue 19311, 1 August 1924, Page 5

DOMINION FINANCES

VISITORS’ PRAISE SUBPLUSES AND DEFICITS NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA. (Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, July 31. The Minister of Trade and Customs (Hon. W. Downie Stewart), dealing with the criticism of the Budget in the House of Representatives to-night, said that the good pointe of it came to him qu.t? incidentally, for while the Prime Minister was reading it, a representative of one of the States of Australia, Colonel the Hon. G. Eccles Snowden, who was proceeding Home to take up the office of Agent-General, was in the House listening to Mr Massey’s Budget.

The mention of the surplus came as a strange word to that gentleman, said Mr Downie Stewart, as they had not had a surplus in his State for several years. The Leader of the Labour Party: They will next time, as they have a Labour Government there now.

Mr Stewart: Does the Hon gentleman refer to the same State? Mr Holland: Yes. Tasmania.

Mr Stewart: The difficulty the State of Tasmania is up against is in the per capita contribution to the Commonwealth. I have an interesting table here, which shows the financial results of the different States in all cases. Instead of having, as New Zealand has, an accumulation of surpluses, they have an accumulation of deficits. These are the accumulated deficits: New South Wales, £3,500,000; Victoria, £1,250,000; South Australia, £1,500,000; Western Australia, £5,500,000; Queensland, £615,000; and Tasmania, £349,000. Not one had an accumulated surplus. During the latest year, however, some of the States have had a surplus, but there were deficits in Queensland, £184,000; Western Australia, £400,000; Tasmania, £298,000. None of the Australian States are in the happy condition of New Zealand. I am always glad when critics from Australia, Canada, and England, expressing such enthusiasm over New Zealand’s sound financial position, although it is quite true that we are bounteously endowed with our climate and rich soil. If we are to be taken to task when things are awry, we should have a little credit paid us when things go well. (Hear, hear.) The Chairman of Directors of the Bank of New South Wales said of us: “In New Zealand they have had an abnormal amount of rain and floods, which have caused some losses to agriculturalists and pastoralists, but not sufficient to make much material difference to the State which may be regarded as in a prosperous and satisfactory condition, and, furthermore, there is evidence of the New Zealand Government wrestling with and improving the country’s financial position.” (Hear, hear.)