Western Star AND WALLACE COUNTS GAZETTE PUBLISHED Every Tuesday and Friday TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. THE BUDGET.

Western Star, 13 August 1912, Page 2

Western Star AND WALLACE COUNTS GAZETTE PUBLISHED Every Tuesday and Friday TUESDAY, AUGUST 13, 1912. THE BUDGET.

The debate ou the Budget commenced in the House of Representatives on Friday night last, and it will run probably well into next week. If the reform of the Legislative Council and the proposal to appoint a. civil service Commissioner, to whom would be delegated the matter of making all appointments to the Civil Service, were omitted from the Budget, there is nothing to distinguish it from those with which people have become familiar during i-ccent years. The new Ministry is evidently desirous of continuing on the lines which have been laid down. Discussing the National Debt, the Treasurer says, “ Opinions may differ as to how much of the total is self-supporting, but the amounts expended in the construction of railways (£26,154,970), in the purchase of native lands (£2,715,217), in the acquirement of lands for settlement (£6,318,638), are of this nature; and the amounts spent on telegraph and telephone lines* (£1601,767), loans to local bodies (3,507,000), and reserve fund securities (£800,000) must bo considered as revenue producing. ‘Other amounts, such as those expended in purchasing the Bank of New Zealand shares, £500,000, and for advances to settlors and workers, £9,203,815) bring in more income than is paid out for interest.” This should be reassuring to those who speak of the debt without remembering the assets. The public debt-extinction scheme is explained, and it is going to he continued. The total amount borrowed for advances to settlers is £7,747,881, and the total advanced since the Department began business is £12,722,055. It is just possible that the payment of instalments will provide ample money in the future without the necessity of borrowing for this purpose. The Upper House is to be made elective. There will be two constituencies —the North and South Islands, and each will return twenty members on the system of proportional representation. There are those who hold that the Upper House should be abolished, and that a small revisory body should bo appointed instead whose sole power would be to make verbal amendments in the Bills. This and other phases of the question will no doubt be fully discussed when the Bill is brought down. The second ballot is to be repealed, and another system introduced, bur. what this system is to be the Government has not yet decided. Anything would be bettor than the second ballot. Between now and 1919, loans totalling twenty-three millions will ho falling due, only ten millions of which arc payable in I joudou,' the balance having boon] I raised in Australia and New Zealand; but the Treasurer docs not anticipate an y difficulty in effecting renewals. There is to bo no Local Government Bill this year, but a Bill is to be introduced containing a scheme to replace the present method of assisting local bodies to construct their roads and bridges. This will provide that local bodies shall bo classified according to their ooccls, and

according to the measure of their own efforts to meet their wants. The Government proposes, out of public works moneys raised for the purpose, to pay over to local bodies sums which they themselves may spend on necessary works. The sums allotted to the most needy will be larger than those paid to the next class, and so on. These subsidies, it is hoped, will diminish the roads and bridges votes, and finally do away with them altogether. As to railways, the Minister states that the construction of main lines of railways will be prosecuted with such vigour as the funds at the disposal of the Government will permit. As to the other lines, it is proposed to try the experiment of adopting some cheaper form of construction without altering the present guage. This might make the money go further Contrary to expectations, the Government has decided to increase the graduated land tax. The Treasurer says, apropos of this, that “ there can be little doubt that the higher rate of taxation on the owners of large holdings has operated to induce them to break up their properties,” The Bill to be brought down will provide that the 25 per cent, additional graduated tax which is now imposed on estates of £40,000 or more in valule* shall be made to apply to estates of £30,000 or more in value. Humanitarian legislation is not to he neglected. Old age pensions are to become payable to women at sixty. The scope of the National Provident Fund Act is to he widened, and to meet the cases of those unfortunate enough to have become permanently incapacitated for work either by accident or by reason of being invalids. An Invalids Pensions Bill is to be introduced. The Arbitration Act is to be amended in the direction of altering the constitution of the Court so that each Supreme Court Judge will preside over the Arbitration Court in the district in which he is resident, except in cases where Dominion awards are asked for or are being dealt with. Expert representatives from each side of the trade or industry affected will sit with the president in the hearing of cases coming before the Court. Another important amendment will be a provision for a secret ballot for the decision of important questions by industrial unions. An amendment of the Loans to Local Bodies Act is proposed with the object of giving County Councils the right to borrow for the purpose of providing workers’ homes, so that local authorities, if they feel so inclined, may undertake this very desirable work for themselves. We are afraid that few local bodies will undertake the work. However, the Government will be prepared, on a reasonable guarantee being given by a local body or a certain number of responsible men, to provide homes in suitable localities for persons accustomed to farm work who prefer life in the country to life in the towns. Attention is directed to the financial condition prevailing in Great Britain, which means that the Dominion will have to be content with less money. At the same time it is proposed to raise a loan of £1,750,000 for public works. With reference to the land question, I.upholders of acquired land are to bo given the option of the freehold, but the natural endowment lands are not to he interfered with.