FINANCE BILL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 76, Issue 302, 22 December 1933, Page 8

FINANCE BILL

DEBATE IN COUNCIL PUBLIC DEBT EXTINCTION. WELLINGTON, Dee. 21. A debate on economic problems took place in the Legislative Council last night during the second reading of the Finance Bill (No. 2). The Hon. J. A. Hanan said that a clause in the Bill proposed to validate an alleged marriage which could not be proved. Such action was without precedent. A private Bill had been promoted for the purpose of validating the marriage, but it was not accepted by Parliament. The evidence that had been tendered would not be accepted in a Court of Law. and yet the marriage was being validated in a Finance Bill. It was contrary to public policy. The Minister of Education (the Hon. R. Masters): This does not validate the marriage, it simply provides for the payment of moneys to a widow and her children. Mr. Hanan pointed out that it was designed to give those people the same rights as they would have had under a lawful marriage. Mr. Hanan said that a sinking fund was provided for the repayment of the Public Debt, but he asked how provision could be made for payment to the sinking fund out of a budgetary deficit. He deplored the large amount of floating debt, caused by outstanding Treasury Bills. It was obvious that the Government was borrowing to make payments into the sinking fund. Such a policy could not go on, as a Government which overspent its income would land the country into disaster. They were mortgaging the capacity of future taxpayers. There were too many people leaning on the Government, instead of each making an effort to put his own house in order. It was deplorable that groups and sections should seek favours and privileges at the expense of the people as a whole. Mr. Hanan deprecated the growth of centralised power to the detriment of personal liberty. He pointed out that there had been revolutions in the form of Government in several of the leading countries in the world, and much of this was due to the fact that the people had lost confidence and faith in the old order and sought something new. The Four R’s. They had all heard about the three R’s of the schoOlrom—Reading, Writing, and ’Rithmetic—but to-day there were four—Relation (or inflation), Repudiation, Revolution, and Reconstruction. There were imminent dangers in bureaucratic government, which wag concentrating power in the hands of a few, and it was the duty of the Government of the day to bring about a diffusion of civic control and responsibility. The Hon. D. Buddo expressed the hope that next year would be brighter than the past. The Hon. C. J. Carrington thought that there should be greater cohesion between public and private schools. It was to be hoped that the Government would adopt a sympatnetic attitude towards private schools. He deplored the heavy cost of government, and addea that the Minister of Education had shown the other departments a good example in carrying out economies. In reply, Mr. Masters said that he thought it was only right that the Public Trustee should have the authority to administer the estate of a man who had died intestate, in the interests of his wife and children. These people had lived happily for many years and the money that had been left should rightly go to the family. The Minister pointed out that under the Public Debt Extinction Act amounts were set aside annually for the repayment of the Public Debt. He agreed that there was still need for the closest scrutiny of Government expenditure. The Bill was read a second time. Speaking on the third reading, Sir James Allen asked whether anything had been done to rectify the position of the superannuation funds. It was to be hoped that legislation would be ready next session. Superannuation Fund. The Minister stated that a conference representative of every section of the Pubic Service had been discussing the superannuation funds with a view to arriving at some satisfactory solution, an l it had adjourned until February next. He hoped that the funds would soon be placed n a sound basis. The teachers’ fund, in which he was interested, was in a serious position, and a little while ago to provide for the payments to superannuitants. The Bill was read a third time and passed.