THE BUDGET DEBATE

Taranaki Daily News, 8 August 1930, Page 8

THE BUDGET DEBATE

Despite the announced desire of the Government to speed ’ up the work of Parliament to permit of the departure of the Prime Minister to the Imperial conference, the debate upon the Budget is proceeding in the orthodox fashion. With the declaration of the Labour Party that it will not oust the Ministry for the sake of putting Reform back into office, and the plain statement of the member for Dunedin North, Mr. J. W. Munro, that it would-be suicidal for any party to force an election upon tae country at the present time, the whole debate seems rather a waste ■ of time. When the details of the Budget come up for approval much that has been said in regard to it as a whole will be reiterated, and with just as little chance of making any serious alteration to the Ministry’s proposals as the debate that is now proceeding. If the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce has been correctly reported, the mercantile community is by no means wholly adverse to the increases in Customs duties proposed in the Budget. It was stated by the council that one result of the higher tariff would be the establishment of additional industries in the Dominion, and one member asserted that one of these new*industries would employ 800 persons. Much will depend upon the nature of the proposed industries and whether they are likely to ittain a strength that will enable them to develop without the aid of a high tariff. The tariffs now proposed are, as the Minister of Finance has stated on more than one occasion, primarily for revenue producing purposes, to meet a national emergency. Naturally the public will expect that when the need for’ increased revenue has passed there will be a lowering of tariffs, with the consequent reduction in. the cost of living. If Industries are to be established on the understanding that the proposed heavy Customs duties are to be permanent their ultimate benefit to the Dominion is extremely doubtful. It will certainly be interesting to know definitely to what industries the Wellington Chamber of Commerce was referring.