PARLIAMENT

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 74, 31 July 1929, Page 4

PARLIAMENT

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. LUPKEST SUPPLY BILL. WELLINGTON, Last Night. Imprest Supply Bill, No. 2 was introduced in the Legislative Council from the House of Representatives to-day and was read a first time. On the second reading the Hon. J. Cragie condemned the importation of motor-cars as gross extravagance and said ill it had not been for that importation much more capital would be available for developmental purposes. He advocated higher duties, especially on foreign cars. The most herjoic policy New Zealand could adopt would be one of free trade. He urged the Government to settle unemployed workers rent free as a start to their settlement policy, and advocated a steeply graduated land tax in order to break up large es<tates. SLIDING DUTIES ON WHE\T. The Hon. A. S. Malcolm deprecated the fact that bread had been made artificially dearer through, the sliding duties on wheat. Desirable though it might be, they could have self-reliance on their own wheat supplies at too great a cost. He contended the millers and bakers were benefiting by the duties and not the farmers. It was not fair to penalise the thousands of people who depended on "the staff of life" by placing a tax on bread. The Hon. E. Newman said it would be bold to suggest as a matter of practical politics that the Government should adopt a free trade policy. The point that required fatfvestigation was not so much the price of wheat as the margin of profit to the middleman. The Government should also consider tlie removal of duty on imported maize if it wished the pig product industry to flourish. He also advocated classification of land according to its suitability for closer settlement. He could not understand why people with a surplus of land did n«t take the present opportunity t 0 sell it. He urged the Government to remove the restrictions on the area of deteriorated land that could be taken up and to place such lands outside the scope of, the graduated land tax. PRICE OF BREAD. The Hon. G. M. Thomson agreed there was a crying need for the price of bread to be reduced. Referring to the work of ; the Scientific and Industrial Research Department, he expressed the view that oil-boring operations in New Zealand were futile when supplies could be obtained so cheaply from Rangoon. The Government shlould bring all the fisheries Of the Dominion under one control. Overhaul was also required of the acclimatisation societies, most of which were doing nothing to improve the scientific aspect of fishing. The Hon. W. Earnshaw said the means being taken by the Government regarding unemployment were likely to prove disastrous to the State and the men themselves. In Wellington at any rate, he alleged, the relief workers were "going slow" and making the jobs last as long as possible., He advocated a system of relief works in small contracts.

[ The Hon. G. J. Garland declared there was an excessive number of public servants in th e Dominion, many of them not giving efficient service. He advocated trade reciprocity within the Empire but a harsh tariff against American motor cars. ~ j Sir Thomas Mackenzie agreed with the suggestion that an investigation should be made into the profits of the middleman dealing in wheat. The Hon. V. H. Reed disagreed with the advocacy 0 f heavy graded taxation on big farmers to force them to quit a portion of their estates. He said there was no more reason for that cry in respect to them than there was against the big lawyers. He deprecated the suggestion that farmers should pay both land and income tax. Replying to the debate, the Leader of the Council, the Hon. T. K. Sidey, said that in comparing the indebtedness of New Zealand with , that of other countries they must have regard to the purposes of the expenditure incurred in the Dominion. He instances the Governmentowned railways in New Zealand as against privately-owned railways at Home. Regarding wheat duties he, thought it desirable that they should depend on their own supplies. The duties should b e regarded in ,the light of insurance. The Bill was put through the final [ stages and passed. The Rent Restriction Continuance Bill was received from the House and read a first time, also the •Christ's College Bill. The Council adjourned at 9.45 P.m. until 2.30 to-morrow. , V