SLIDE ARRESTED

Taranaki Daily News, 14 September 1934, Page 7

SLIDE ARRESTED

POSITION OF THE COUNTRY END OF THE DOWNHILL RUSH FINANCE MINISTER’S HOPE CUSTOMS DEBATE FINISHED ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENTS By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Customs debate concluded in the House of Representatives this afternoon, when the Minister, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, replied to the speeches made in the past fortnight. Mr. Coates said it looked as if the downhill rush that set in three or four years ago had been arrested and he thought the country could heave a sigh of relief. The Government had received messages from all parts of New Zealand expressing appreciation of the work of the Government and congratulating it on the better outlook, as indicated by the Budget. The Government, said Mr. Coates, had reached a stage where it could make economic adjustments and it felt in the first place it should recognise the part played by the public service. The officers of the State, high and low, had played their part well. The Government had received nothing but willing cooperation from them and had decided to increase by 5 per cent, all the salaries of the public service. Had only the lower salaries been increased it would have produced anomalies that would have taken years to overcome. Regarding statements that there should be a general increase outside the service, Mr. Coates said, such a declaration would have been definitely unfair. Private employers had not called on their employees to anything like the same extent as far as wages were concerned. Regarding the statement by the Hon. E. A. Ransom, Minister of Lands, that he hoped the year would end with a surplus of £1,000,000, Mr. Coates said much hard work had been put into the preparation of the estimate in order to get the figures as correct as possible. It might well be that the £BOOO estimated surplus would be exceeded, but it would require the strictest economy if they were to finish the year with a surplus Of £BOOO. It was true windfalls came from time to time. One had occurred since tfie Budget was made up. PENSIONS AND TAXATION.

Coming to pensions Mr. Coates said that though he and other members of Cabinet would have liked to give, oldage pensioners a restoration from April 1 he was unable at the moment to say he could do that. Referring to the unemployment tax Mr. Coates said the tax bore more heavily on the community than any other tax. , It had been stated that in making the reduction of twopence the unemployed would suffer, but that was not so. The board made provision for a peak figure of 75,000 unemployed, but actually it was less than 60,000. The Budget proposed an increase of £1,000,000 for public works above last year. The Government was alsp considering a housing scheme and he thought the reduction of twopence could be justified. The proposed national mortgage corporation, Mr. Coates said, would have the effect of loosening money from the banks. Mr. Coates in dealing with exchange said Mr. W. Downie Stewart had said farmers might lose more than they gained if they took into account the ill-will and irritation that had been caused. It had been clearly shown that the raising of the exchange rate did not produce a fall in imports, that the raised exchange did not and could not diminish New Zealand’s ability to purchase goods from overseas, and that whole sections of the farming community had been saved from bankruptcy, the entire fruit industry having so been saved. The. national income had been increased and economic life continued in face of an imminent crash. The increased exchange had maintained the revenue and prevented losses in Government lending departments. Regarding statements that the mortgage corporation might add to the national debt he would ask, Mr. Coates said, whether the State guarantee behind the Public Trust, State Fire Insurance and Government Life Insurance added to the national debt. The gold export duty brought in £117,000, but no one could say that with the present price of gold the tax was not justified. The raising of the exchange rate had added about 13 per cent, to overseas debt charges—about £1,000,000. Even if that were taken from the Budget he could not see where Mr. Stewart would get his substantial surplus from. HELP FOR THE AGED. Coming to old-age pensions, Mr. Coates Said that in 1898 the pension was 7s a week, in 1905 10s, in 1917 15s, in 1924 17s 6d, in 1932 15s 9d, in 1934 16s 6d. It would be noticed the pension was now higher than at any time before 1924. It should also be noticed that the cost of living had fallen considerably in recent years. It had dropped nearly 20 per cent, since 1929. Dealing with the statement of Mr. R. McKeen (Labour, Wellington South) that in a space of six years the National Debt had grown by £33,000,000, Mr. Coates said that in the year 1929-30 the public debt was £267,000,000. In the year 1932-33 it was £282,000,000. That had been increased by £1,277,000 in the 193334 year, his year of office, and that was in part due to loan conversion operations. Apart from that the increase in the long term debt in the last financial year was £786,000. To get his £33,000,000, Mr. McKeen had apparently used the temporary amount issued under the exchange indemnity arrangements. That was now entirely wiped out, the floating debt at present being about £2,500,000. Mr. Coates added that the estimated deficit was not reduced by manipulating the highways fund, as suggested, but by increases in practically all items of revenue. In addition the interest on railway capital showed an increase of £294,000 over the estimate. There was also a saving of £255,000 on the expenditure side.

■Dealing with the conversion of silver and the comments by the Controller and Auditor-General (Colonel G. F. C. Campbell), Mr. Coates quoted from correspondence and cables that had passed between the British Government and the Imperial Mint and the New Zealand Government. He said every care was taken in the negotiations that took place. The House resolved itself into a committee of supply. Progress vzas reported and leave was given to sit again.