NEW METHODS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21156, 4 July 1940, Page 8

NEW METHODS

RESOURCES OF DOMINION MR FRASER ON EXPENDITURE PUBLIC WORKS PAYROLL (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Wednesday New Zealand could not be defeated financially on the home front, said the Prime Minister, the Hon. P. Fraser when speaking in the Budget debate in the House of Representatives tonight. Orthodox and unorthodox theories had no fears for him at the moment. The Government was given power to use the entire resources of the Dominion and without raising any alarm or boosting any methods that might be called unorthodox, he wanted to say that if they thought they could go through the war on orthodox methods they would be mistaken. They would have to try, if necessary, powers that had been untried. The increase in the cost of living since the war began was about the same as the rise in Australia, said Mr Fraser. Nobody could say that the increase of 3.1 per cent was excessive in view of all the circumstances. It was a fallacy to say that all the taxation was a burden and wasteful, the Prime Minister added. Fiftyfour per cent of taxation was returned to the people in the form of social services. Public Workte Employees “As far as the general civil votes are concerned, the Leader of the Opposition, while deploring the amounts involved, did not point out where they could be cut,” said Mr Fraser. The latest return for men employed on public works showed that in June the total was 17,089. Actually on the department’s payroll there was 12,711 men in June this year, against 16,414 a year earlier, a reduction of 3703. The present total was smaller than for a number of years. The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (Opposition—Kaipara): How does that tally with 17,089? Mr Fraser said the difference was made up of men employed on contracts who did not appear on the department’s payroll and men employed by local bodies on subsidies granted from the Public Works Fund. “These men, I am informed, are working mainly on county roads,” Mr Fraser added. “Are we going to cut them off?’ * Mr Coates: If war work is more essential, certainly cut them off. Mr Fraser: Yes, I agree, but if the only result is to throw men out of work without benefiting the war effort, then what have we achieved?” The Prime Minister said that 3966 people were receiving unemployment benefits, 8500 were working under Scheme 13, there were 3936 working under Scheme 4b, and another 450 in miscellaneous classes. This made a total of 16,752, of whom nearly 12,000 were engaged usefully. Mr Lee Moves Amendment “This Budget is orthodox. More than any Budget produced by the Labour Government it shackles New Zealand to financial orthodoxy, even granted that it contains some excellent features,” said Mr J. A. Lee (Democratic Labour—Grey Lynn). Mr Lee moved an amendment to the motion that the Speaker leave the chair. He submitted that the Budget proposals were not acceptable without further amendment, in that they made no provision for the use of the public credit to increase internal production, they increased the burden of internal debt, the system of finance outlined in the Financial Statement was not calculated to enable the rehabilitation of the soldiers after the war at the standard which was their right, and they would reduce, without adding to the country’s war effort, the consumption of food and other necessaries of life in thousands of New Zealand homes. “One individual is trying to control the destiny of the nation and that individual is trying to defeat financial unorthodoxy,” Mr Lee added. “All the time we have been blocked by orthodoxy. I say orthodoxy is not going to help us win the war. It is certainly going to help to defeat the Labour Party.”