PARLIAMENT

Wairarapa Daily Times, 11 May 1932, Page 4

PARLIAMENT

SESSION ENDS. Division bells rang in the House of c Representatives for the last time thissession at eight o’clock last evening, when members called for a- vote on the usual formal motion to adjourn thq House. Before the division was takeii ; the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, and the Leader of the Opposi- ; tion, Mr H. E. Holland, both comment-: ed on the strenuous nature of the session, and paid a tribute to Mr Speaker and the work of officials of the House. There were 14 votes cast for and against the motion, and Mr Speaker then gave his easting vote in favour of the adjournment. NATIONAL ADJUSTMENT BILL. Thirteen amendments to the Natiaaal Expenditure Adjustment Bill werijWtroduced in the House of .Representatives yesterday afternoon bv GovernorGeneral’s Message. It was explained that the amendments involved no variation of principle, but were mainly. * .designed to remove anomalies and to < meet cases of unintentional hardship. The provision relating to hospital baord subsidies has been deleted from the clause which reduced all State grants to educational and other societies by 10 per cent. The reason for the deletion of the reference to hospital boards is that the amount of the subsidy from the Consolidated Fund in aid of such boards is governed automatically by their expenditure. The required saving of public moneys will therefore be effected, not directly by a statutory reduction in the rates of subsidy (which is impracticable), but by a reduction, through the agency of the Health Department, in the estimates of expenditure of the boards themselves. -lit: In redemption of the promise, existing pensions are protected by the insertion of a new elause providing that the rate of pension payable to any person who is in receipt of a pension on the passing of the Bill shall not be reduced by more than 10 per cent, while the current pension certificate remains in force. Several of the amendments affect the section relating to interest reductions. Interest payable on mortgage debentures secured on mortgages that are themselves exempt from the operation of the Bill is exempt from the reduction. This will have the effect of exempting debentures by the Rural Intermediate Credit Board. In the case of company debentures issued free of income tax, the rate of interest may be reduced below 5 per cent., but not below 44 per .gent.