QUESTIONS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LX, Issue 17059, 11 August 1917, Page 5

QUESTIONS

Ministers gave the following answers to questions:

That so long as naturalised British subjects give no indication of disloyalty the conditions of naturalisation must be observed in New Zealand, as in other parts of the Empire. That motor vehicles have become essential for the carrying on of some of the industries of the Dominion. The duty collected on motor cars last year was £148,000.

That the Railway Department, through the High Commissioners, was doing its best to obtain material which is urgently required. That Mr. Massey and Sir Jos. Ward gave no promise to Bishop CLeary in England that the Marist Bros, would not be conscripted. That the attention of the banks had been drawn to the unclean banknotes in circulation^ and further representations were being made. That the present instructions from the Imperial Government regarding the shipment of meat are that preference Li shipment must be given to beef and wether mutton. When the companies cannot fill the alloted space with such meat, ewe mutton and lamb may be shipped. These instructions were being carried out.

The Hove resumed at 7.30.

Dr. Thacker continued the debate on the Budget, urging that more than £100,000 should be devoted to education. Technical education especially deserved more liberal support. It was specialised industry that had made Germany a nation, and it was to that form of education we would have to look for the commercial and industrial' advancement of the Empire after the war. He found fault with the manner in which patriotic funds were collected. They should be nationalised, and their administration reduced to something like a common system. Otago now had on.c system, Canterbury another, and there was neither sufficient reciprocity nor generosity in administration. He asked that less niggardliness be shown

to the widowed mothers of soldiers. He deprecated the tendency of Reform members ,to dominate the National Cabinet. He then proceeded to advocate favourable terms to small investors for the purchase ot war bonds in preference to annuities from private companies. Speaking on military matters, he contended that some prominent staff officers should be sent to the front and made to do something for the decorations bestowed on them by a suffering country. Conscientious objectors should be reasonably treated. They should not be herded with Prussians, as they had been, and when sent away tneir friends should be given due notice of their departure. If treated kindly they would soon get a conscience, when they saw how bombs were dropping on English towns. He denounced the waste gomg on in the administration of the Defence Department, and concluded by denouncing any attempt* to militarise the democracy of the country. Mr. Nosworthy said there was a generai impression abroad that the man an the land was the man who made money during the war. That opinion was erroneous. It was the speculators, transport agents, banking institutions, and mercantile firms who made money, and he was afraid the Budget would not get at these people as they deserved to be got at. He agreed with many of the readjustments of taxation proposed, but some of the old blots still remained, particularly the practice of charging a man on his debts, namely, mortgages on his land. 'The Customs had remained stationary during the war, but the land and income tax had been steadily increasing. That could nor go on for ever, and next year, if another loan had to be raised", more of it would have to go on Customs. For that reason lie approved the tax on tea. This war was not being fought for the benefit of any one class; it was being waged for all classes, and all classes should bear^a fair' share of the cost. Anomalies existed under the graduated land tax, and he was not sure that, they were eliminated under the proposed progressive land tax. He could see that taxation was going to fall heavily on the man on the land under that system. He was not complaining, or blaming the National Government, but he did complain that taxation was 'kvied on a man's' capital and not. on Ids income, or on his equity in land. Discussing the income tax, he. thought the higher 5 the income the higher the graduations of the tax should be. On incomes of £6400 and, pyer there should be not: only graduations, but a surtax as w.ell. Make those pay who could afford to pay. Only net income, not gross income, 'should be taxed. He favoured a tax on cigarettes, and warmly supported heavier taxation on motor cars find beer. All luxuries should be taxed every time and all the time, not only to carry on the war, but to make provision for soldiers and their dependents as well. Mr Forbes said the people of the Dominion were ready for heroic measures, and that was why the criticism of the Budget had been so mild, for notwithstanding the drastic taxation, there had been practically no complaint. Though there had been little complaint on this score, the fact remained that there was widespread discontent with the National Government, not so much,with the ideal of a National Government, but with their administration. For this he thought the'absence of an election was responsible, for when a Government had not to face the people they were apb to become autocratic, and the tendency of autocracy towards social legislation was to turn a deaf ear. Auto-, cracy might be the best medium to carry on a war, but when it came to social legislation it coiild not .enter into sympathy with the people/ A National Government should possess wisdom and courage. While he did not say that the present combination were devoid of these qualities; they did not possess them in excess, especially courage. One of the causes of the discontent with the Government was the failure to grapple with the cost of living and war profits, and to him this was one of the disappointments of the Budget. The^ war profits tax should not iiave been dropped because it failed to catch everyone. In England this tax was not abandoned when it did not realise the estimate, but it was doubled, and it would be a great disappointment to many people when they realised that a large sum of money, which was true war profits, was not going to be specially dealt with. Surely there was enough ingenuity in our tax-gath-ering department to get at that fund represented by the difference in the value of products before the war and now. Another cause of discontent with the Government was the extravagant expenditure of the Defence Department. N and ,to a minor extent, the absence 6t a radical policy for the settlement of soldiers on the land. The fact was that the National Government were allowing things to drift, and there was no proposal in the Budget to deal with land settlement in a manner that would be.satisfactory to the soldiers when they return. The change in the method of levying the land tax was going to destroy the effect of the graduated tax, and it would be found that large estates were not to be broken up under the new system. The Budget _ admitted that low values were increasing, and the Crown found difficulty in purchasing for settlement. Prices were being forced up by the very war which necessitated the settleemnt of soldiers, but there was not a single proposal in the Budget to meet the Droblem. His remedy was that all Durchases by the Crown for settlement purposes should be on the basis of Government valuation. Extravagances should be taxed, and there was no greater extravagance than liquor. He was not at all satisfied with the proposed beer duty, and hoped that before the Budget was passed the Government would be made to feel that it was the wish of the House that this duty must be increased. ■ The debate was adjourned on the motion of Mr. Wilkinson.

The House rose at 11 o'clock