PROFITS SCANDAL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11927, 9 February 1917, Page 3

PROFITS SCANDAL.

INEQUALITY OF SACRIFICE DEPUTATION TO ACTING-PRIME MINISTER. In pursuance of resolutions recently carried by the. Clxristchurch City Council in reference to the necessity for Government action regarding the coat of living, a deputation consisting, of the Mayor of Chri.stchu.rch and Mr J. B. Struthors, waited on the Acting-Prime Minister, tho Hon J. Allen, in tho st.itioninasters room at the Chris tchureh railway station last evening just before the Minister's departure by tho steamer train. Mr H. G. .Ell, M.P., introduced tho deputation, and amongst others present were the Bon W. J>. S. MaeDonald, Minister of Agriculture, the Hon G. W. Russell. Minister of Internal .Affairs, Br Timelier, M.P., Councillor H. F. Herbert and Mr W. W. Tanner. The time at the disposal of deputation and Minister was very limited, and speeches were necessarily of a torse and condensed Rescript ion. .WAR PROFITS. Tlie Mayor, who was tho first speaker, assured the Minister that, the deputation -was annua tod hy no hostility whatever towards t li« Military Service Act ?nd the method.* deemed necessary by thtr Government for the maintenance of 'he supply of soldiers from the Dominion. The deputation, however, desired as briefly an possible to place before the Minister some of the injustices and inequities which were occurring, particularly in regard to war profits. The shipping companies wero reaping; a rich liar vest owing to the war, and other sections of tho com:nunity were also benefiting io an euornmiiß ■extent at a. time when brave men were sacrificing their lives and their all in the service of the Empire. THE POCKJOTEJ> SURPLUS. The Minister had. recently publislicd certain figures showing the increased amounts taken by tho Government from rertaiu individuals in the way of tax a-

j tion. One man had paid £.'(>3-IO in taxI a tion, but the circumstances show-cu I that he must, haw- pocketed i.'SOOO more j .than ho had received in previous years. I Thc>ro v.-as a company which in a year before the war taxation Avas imposed paid i'l. fi oo. and which paid £48,«f!0 last year, but that company had evidently extracted an additional L'oO.ooo from the pocket.*; of tho people of this Dominion. It was positively wicked to allow any man to pocket £. r >O,fKK) as war profits, and the Government should have taken every penny of war profits. No man had a right to reap pecuniary benefit from the nation's dire necessity. The speaker looked upon the people in receipt, oi war profits as collec- | tors from the community at large, I and the money they collected owImg to the war ought to go into j the coffers of the Government. j TWELVE AND A HALF MILLIONS. j The Mayor went on to quote details j of war profits, demonstrably paid to primary producers. in two years, on six primary products, the w;ir profits were shown tn amount to twelve and a half millions sterling. This was not an increase due to increased production, fn some eases the rate of pro- | diicl.ion had since the -war, j and yet the export value of the comj modrty had largely increased. | WHEAT GKOWEttS AND PATRIOTISM. j What seemed to the average citizen I the last straw was the demand made by I a, small section of the community for i t'ls Md a bushel for wheat, after that I sootier- had made enormous profits out | of every other product it I)ad at, its disposal, "When New Zealand's .sons camo forward to offer their services to ibe .Empire as soldiers, they asked for no guarantees. They did not;, stop to ask for a guarantee against loss of life or limb, or make stipulations regarding their remuneration. They did. not even ask for a guarantee against, .financial loss upon their return home. In the face of "the attitude of those brave fellows, where was the patriotism of the men who asked a.n extortionate pnee of | the Government as the consideration i for their growing wheat? If this roun- ! try were to have Socialism, it was time j it, had Socialism all round. ! EQUALITY OF SACRIFICE.

j Mr .J. B. Struthers said that the, peo- | pie of the Dominion wanted to sen tlie i sacrifices entailed by the war d'stributed in a moreeqtial manner. M;.; y young I \mv Zcalanders had offered up their | lives---the supreme sacrifice. 'These boys I set out with the inspiration that, their j mission was to defend the weak and to | fight for the honour of the Empire. i When they saw the condition of things ! described by his Worship, 'the men who | were fighting the. Empire's battles j might, well begin to have doubts regard--1 ing the spirit in which they were sent ! forth 10 fight. Those fathers and moi titers who. tike the Acting-Prime Min- | i.ster himself, were in the position of : having lost their sons at the front. j were beginning to wonder whether the. I motto under which their wins went forth j to tight wa.s ;stili the motto of this i country when ■ilicy >.aw on all hands j gross inequalities of sacrilice. ] AN OBNOXIOUS DOCUMENT. The speaker said he desired to call j attention especially to the treatment ■ meted out by the- Government to the j next of kin of those who had made the j supreme sacrifice, betters of condolence j and .sympathy were forthcoming from ! tiic King, the Governor, the Primo | Minister and the Minister of Defences | but along with these, was a document telling the next of kin that if they j wanted a pension they must fill up a form antSt. answer a number of questions. ,. xhe speaker had received such a fonnAjand found it a most obnoxious paper to fill up, based practically on the principle of an application for charitable aid. The applicant had to set out what the deceased had, what he did in the way of buppoming his father and mother, an assessment of the parents' means, and details of the support, they received from anyother member of the family. There had to be an affidavit, also, from someone who knew the family and who would testify to the truth of the statements in the application. THE SPIRIT OF THE WAR, It occurred to the, speaker that perhaps this "R'as an indication of the value placed by the Government on the sacrifice made by those who had given their lives. In face of the fact that others were making huge profits out of the war tho whole thing savoured of gros:* ingratitude. At tho same time the Government sanctioned and accepted the relief granted by certain outside societies and organisations to enable men at the front to meet their liabilities. Mr Allen: Exactly what liabilities do you mean? Mr Struthers indicated that ho meant liabilities in respect to dependents. Continuing, he said that the treatment of dependents by the Government wa s making people wonder whether the spirit in which tho Dominion was facing the war was consistent with the defence of the weak and the maintenance, of national honour. Tho Mayor suggested that as time was so limited, and the eteamer traia was to start in a few seconds, the Minister might communicate his reply in writing later. THE MINISTER'S REPLY. Mr Allen «aid that ho had arranged for tho train to be held. He regretted that circumstances restricted the time at his disposal. He would have liked to have given the deputation a fuller opportunity for speaking,

in view of the great importance of the subjects touched upon, and he would have liked to reply very much moro fully than time would allows He could not, however, allow the representations of the deputation to go forward without an immediate reply. Ho thanked the deputation for its assurances in regard to the Military Service Act and tho methods of Hie Government, in securing Reinforcements, and appreciated their offer of loyal and hearty co-operation in carrving out the provisions of tho : Act. * j WHAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD DONE. With regard to the co*fc of living, tho cost of living had gone up all over the' world, and the increase was probably | loss in. New Zealand than in any i other part of the world. Hi? hearers ' knew what had been done by tho Hon \V„ I>. S. Mac Donald to restrict prices, j and they knew what, had been done! in regard to the. prices of butter and of ! moat. The result of action taken by the Government in Auckland bad been very satisfactory. All the butchers in Auckland bad fallen into line, and wero j now taking meat from the Government, accepting stipulations regarding the retail price. In regard 10 wheat, the Government had given the question, earnest and sincere attention. There "wore two sides to the matter the cost of tho loaf of bread,, and the necessity j for encouraging the growing of wheat. In these tiinr.s they did not know what would happen if they could not. hn certain of their wheat- supply for their own requirements. Ho hoped that, tho farmers would be encouraged tr> grow sufficient wheat, to last- New Zealand till next season. AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND FIUCES. Tho Minister proceeded to quoto a comparison between New Zenland and j •Sydney prices before and after tho war began. Tn New Zealand in July, 1014, sugar was 2d r>er pound and in <Svdney it was 2 f f d. The price in duly, lOlli, in Ne-;v Zenland wa 1 ' lid. and in Sydney. 3ld. In London the price had risen from 2h] to ''id per pound since the war began. Leg of mutton prices in New Zealand were o-jd ner nound in Jnlv, 101-1, and 7d in July 1016, In Sydney the price was od per pound in Julv, 1014, and fld per nound. in Julv. H-Ud. In New Zealand th- price ojf milk was absolutely unehanced so far as j "\\ cllinsit.on was concerned, owing to too j M.ops token by the Men \V. T>. S. Mac- } Donald. The price was 6d a quart- in 1011, and it wa-s still 5d in November. I IOH.I. j '' EVER. VTT U SC, TTTj M ANLY j POSSIBLE."' Nobody eon Id «ay that in time -if war they could main Lain prices at wh'it they were in pre-war times, The conditions wore utterly changed., hut, New Zealand had not done so badlv in comparison with other countries. He did not contend Hint it- was not the dtify of tho Government to do all it io restrict it rise in price;-. At every meeting of the Cabinet they had had this citiestion under their consideration, nnd they had done all ihat was humanly possible to limit and even to decrease tho riso in price that might have taken place. The Hon CI. y. said that ho ■ could add to the Mini-nerv statement on this point the fact that according to tho G'overnmeri! Siatisi ician thr- rCe <n food price,, in New Zoa'ano in i/m.jisendar year lOlf.i. amminied to ottlv 7,(11: per cent-. ALL PROFITS TAXKI>. Mr Allen, continuing, '-aid Hint ho bad not time to Heal with the increase!? in taxation. !le must refer his hearers to_a former statement by him eu tli.-.t point. He. quite comprehended that in cases wbero a man pai<l heavy excels profits taxation lie must he retaining more than he paid on; m taxes but 'die deputation ilium, understand ihat the flovnnnnonf- w,-k not confiuin"- iUoK < 0 taxing war profits. It was very diflletdt to ascertain war profits, and iho Government: therefore, taxed all pr i- : tits, am] in addition imposed much I heavier taxation than formerly on land I and income. Fanners now paid a very j heavy income tax. TAXATION OF SHIPPING j COMPANIES. i The Government had very little con- j t.ro] over shipping companies. Those registered outside the Dominion were taxed by tho imperial Government, which had also commandeered a il tho refrigerating spaee. So f a . r as New Zealand iras concerned the shipping companies bad had to take, their gruel in tho way of taxation.. The companies registered in New Zealand were paying greatly increased taxation, the increase being from a basis of h per cent to one of lo per cent, while the actual amotnn paid, speaking from memory, had gone, up from ,'J 11,000 or £12,000 to £&>i,ooo. He would publish exact- .figures ]ate r on. Tho deputation would say that tho companies wcro earning very heavy profits, but i New Zealand bad to keep the shipping! here. If it were driven av,ny from! New Zealand it would go somewhere else. j A Voice: Commandeer them. \

Mr Allen said the Government had no to commandeer ships, except for the transport of troops. Dr Thacker: Wo asked you in Parliament last session to buy them right out. WAR PROFITS ELUSFVE. Mr A lieu .said, tho Government had other things, to think about ju.st at present. Tho extra profits of shipping companies in the Mother Country were taxed at from (it) to 70 per cent. The deputation asked the Now Zealand Government to take all the surplus war profits. Would any of them tell him how the Government, was going to got at the .surplus war profits? The Government was faced with that difficulty at tho outset, and it was now taxing people on their ordinary profits plus their war profits. A Voice: If the price of flour in Now Zealand is justifiable, why did you reimpose the duty? Mr Allen said that Mr MaeDonald could answer that quest ion better than he could. Mr MaeDonald said that if, was impossible to get outside flour cheaper than the local flour could be bought' in New Zealand, PENS f ON APPLICANTS. Mr Ell said that the position in regard to soldiers' dependents had not boon touched upon by tho Minister. The position was most unsatisfactory. Mr Allen said he supposed Mr Ell referred, to the matter of pensions. It was necessary to ascertain the financial position of the applicant. The deputation must remember that tho Government was not dealing with people who were all perfectly honest. Tho law was not for the honest man. j There were some people who applied for pensions as dependents who never were dependents. The Government had to protect the country. He could not seo why any honest man should object to fill in the application form. Mr Ell: My objection is to the amount granted, not to the form. Mr Allen said that the amount was what Parliament had granted. If tho people wanted bigger grants they must express their will through Parliament. REFUSAL OF PENSIONS. Mr Ell: Grants have been refused to poor people; to dependents. Mr Allen said he would be pleased to have full details of any such cases. Mr Ell said he knew of a hard-work-ing widow whose son was killed and who waß refused all help. Mr Strothers: Would it not he advisable for the Government to grant pensions as a matter of right? Mr Allen said a pension was granted as a. matter of right in the case of the wife or children of a man killed. Mr Struthcrs: What about his father and mother? < Mr Allen: They get Ji pension if they

1 arc entitled to it. Would it. be fair to j pay a pension to a father who had | never had a penny fioiri his son';' I Mr Struthers: Yes. | PARLIAMENT TO DECIDE. Tho Minister said he had not time to debate the matter. Continuing; m regard to taxation, he said it. was obvious that any altera! ion in the present system m , u-t"be made by Parliament. Representation.-, would bo made to tin? Prime Minister and Sic Joseph Ward when they returned, and it would bo for Parliament to say whether the taxation should lie increased next year. Br Thacker: So Sir .'Joseph Ward and Mr Massey won't he bark til! next year? Mr Allen; I did not say so. T intended to say that the matter eon Id come before Parliament at session, not next year. Continuing;, .Mr Allen said that he would place the reproscnJ Unions of tho deputation before tho j Cabinet, which would, he felt sure, giro them full consideration. j CHARITABLE AID. | MY W. W. Tanner said that in vo- ! gard to the inquisitorial question* pur, ] to pension applicants, he con id say, as i a?) old member of the Charitable Aid Board, that, the form used by the board and that used by the Government in respect to military pensions were alj most identical. T( was one of the mo«t pauperising processes through which the Government could put anyone. (Hear. hear.)

Mr Allen said that if it were possible | to get the information with a less objectionable form, that would be dene. " ONLY JUST HFCUN." The Hon W. I). S. MaeDonald said that, they were all agreed that everything possible should be done for tho dependents of those who had given their lives for the Empire, but the deputation should remember that the war had only just, begun. It had come as a surprise, and the Government could not do everything : ,t onr.e. Everything humanly possible., however, had been done. Mr EH and those who followed such matters closely would find that the regulations regarding soldiers' allowance- ] i;K i }.„,„„ wondorfullv improved ever, smeo last, session. An extra payment „ p to £2 per week eoukl be ma<le._ and rates and taxes and oilier -hnaneial obligations were taken over. When Parliament met again the. uWe question could he revised. THE WHEAT QUESTION. Dealing with the cost of living, Mr MaeDonald asked if anyone in tho room expected at the beginning of the. war that prices would soar as they had done? Everyone anticipated that it would bo impossible to get Now Zealand products to the Home Land m all. Tho Government had done it.-; best with butter and the speaker was trying to arrange about meat, With regard to the wheat question, it must he patent to everybody that 'unless a payable price were offered the wheatgrowers of New. Zealand would not grow wheat. Tlicy might have to import wheat into this country in that, event, and they could not do so at anything like tin* price they Mere now paying farmers. Was it fair to pay more ior wheat to outsiders in preference to paying tho local producer? AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS. The Government had discovered that Australian flour could not he put into a New Zealand bakehouse to-day for less than £ls a ton. They ail knew that wool, butter and cheese and all exportable products could not be got out of this country, and they could not import them into this country. To safeguard the interests of the people and provide sufficient bread it war, absolutely essential to offer prices that would induce people to grow wheat. It was a very regrettable fact thai thousands of men who were needed it. agriculture had been allowed to go to the front, leaving a very serious short-"

age of men for agricultural work' in the. Dominion. lie had stated that if j flour were imported into New Zealand, ; the duty would be increased, but. he. | did not think anyone wanted to see: the flour mills of the- Dominion shut j down. [ LACK OF UNDERSTANDING. ] At- the next session of Parliament j they would have to introduce more 1 drastic legislation deeding with the-[ control of food. In the meantime the j Government was doing us best to see thai prices, did not soar any higher. There were a good many things that tho people of :\V;v Zealand did not imdersrand. : Dr ThaC-.er: And there's a good j many they do! ! PATRIOTIC- FUNDS. | The Hon G. \V. itnssed said he de- | sired to contradict the rue. ion that! tin re was anything pauperism,.:; about! soldier-, and their dependents jeeeiving 1 assist a nee from Patriotic Funds. About, a million and a half sterling had be. n raised in Ww Zealand, vo.ry larr.o'iy lite contributions of the poorer people, in supplement the Govern-ne-ni'.-, allowances, and, there could be no question regarding • be spirit, m

which it was subscribed and tho \ \ absence of any suspicion of charity j» ■ ; its disbursement. \ \ Tho Mayor thanked .Ministers on ' \ hebalf of the deputation, and tie- in- \ j lerv.ew terminated, ;