THE TREASURY CHES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 141, 17 June 1931, Page 7

THE TREASURY CHES

MONEY FOR WORKLESS, POWERS OF PRIME MINISTER L 1 DEPENDENT ON PARLIAMENT 1 GUT OF A BATTLESHIP It )f r ( Par tress Association. J ie WELLINGTON. June Iff. The gift to Great Britain of th* o battleship New’ Zealand, and ;h* d ability of the Prime Alinister to anil ticipato the will of Parliament in drawing upon State revenue, intrud* e ed into tho representations of a d<M 2- putation from tho Wellington Citi* J zens’ Unemployment Committees >. which waited upon the Prime Alinistcf 5 to-day. It was strongly urged by the > chairman of the committee, Air J. L t Goldsmith, that the Government should ie provide funds fur the purpose of n granting unemployment relief during •j tho time between the suspension of s . tho No. 5 Scheme and Parliament’s n approval of more expenditure upon Lh relief works. ,t Air Forbes pointed out that tho Unemployment Act provided for the L t collection of the levy, which was csie timated to produce a total of about e £600,000. However, when this ran r out, there was no more to be had*' Parliament had not given him anyf j power to take more money for the v relief of unemployment, and he had no power to hand further money to » tho board, whose funds wcr. now depleted. Air Goldsmith: But you, as head of I the Government, have authority to use II unauthorised expenditure. e Air Forbes: Oh, no. The Treasury, ~ chest is not a place into which you , can put your hand and pull out what n you want. The whole question of v money is bound up by Act of Parliament. ] Air Goldsmith: But your prcdcccs-i n sor could go to England and purchase II a battleship for £1,000,000 and get T . the consent of Parliament Air Forbes said it was as well for i one to know the position before j making such a statement. .Sir Joseph Ward had certainly said ho would v donate a battleship to the British Government, but ho said it could bo done unless ho first obtained the consent of Parliament to pay for the s vessel. He himself would deal with I the question of unemployment and of 0 finding more money, but his action! I would bo subject to Parliament’s cone sent. y Mr Goldsmith: Will you do that! e AI Forbes: Certainly 1 will us soon (1 as Parliament meets. r Afr Goldsmith: We want it before e that. p Air Forbes: Sir Joseph Ward could c not spend one penny without the conk sent of Parliament. Mr Goldsmith: But he committed the Government. We w’ant you to I spend tho money before Parliament; s meets. We are sure. Parliament will| approve of what you have done. Fail-1 h ing that wo ask you to take theso £ men and put them into a camp imme* r diately. Otherwise there will be an( upheaval, and wo do not want that/ e There is no accounting for what a man will do when he is hungry. p The Alinister of Labour, the Hom t 8. G. Smith, said that recently 1371 men wore sent out to relief works in the Auckland province and 990 of them returned to town shortly after. Air Goldsmith said that in such a case the men could not expect any further assistance from the Government.