POST-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18228, 12 November 1924, Page 9

POST-SESSIONAL ADDRESS.

y. J. ROLLESTON'S ' speech. f i

(toICUL TO "TBM MSI. ) ' * TIM4Rt 7 . November 11. evening Mr F. J- Rolleston, | , Jp for Timaru, gave a public ad- - Mw» work done during the sesJ. Wallace) r Sfcd over a good attendance, and , was ?tren an attentive-1 [ >l ®Ueston said that there were no 1 important questions before the the present time than those ' finance and taxation. Large j both by the local bodies and IjSLgtate, still continued, in spite protestations as to taperSSttid in spite of repeated warn--2,\ economists and others as to JJ&ngers of such a policy. The borSw fpr the present year authorised S finance Act comprised £2,000,m for Public Works and £5,000.000 for Site Advances purposes, in addition to Si* there already existed legislative f !Sitv for borrowing large sujns foi ffi. Works and railway improve- ' The programme of expendi--5S to tiie Public W<?rks Estimates for ftnTßSr amounted to over £8,000,000, SSift WM well that the magnitude of should be realised, for PSb perfectly plain that we could Snt kfiWl K OIII S that pact. Hie eoE- ' '£bF«W increasing payment of invest every jear would inevitably tend " ftfipple our productive capacity. * ufin -tha indebtedness of local bodies iLfjiirrtncd from £7,000,000 in 1901, to ' ffinaO.OOO.OOO. and was still in- ' 'tmtmfiF at the rate of several millions ifoaK An attempt had recently to check the 'local .body frmring by limiting the interest that ' ffifc be paid to 5| per cent., but it *, &13out>tful if this would have any It would certainly not fSh the Sooth Island, where money •'wPwU being obtained by local bodies 'S.p... osnt. The only real remedy - for both State and local bodies the position and go back to '* " of self-reliance pursued • generations, which Imtrythrough its greatepression. i "of direct taxation in id and income-tax had considerable time. He ated his reasons for the principal policy. Government. Ordinarily xation should only folf expenditure, but we •ear's Budget that tlifc ■dita'ro for tho current 0-000 in excess of the ure cf lust year. Inci-attac-hed to borrowing market" were considerain, tlie war debt of . to l>e repaid, and he surplus ,of revenue equired for other more be applied to reduct, pnd not be used as a grrihg away part of here was the more rea* war debt repaid, beof deflation now'being that" the longer we ayment of the war debt ould have in reality to sro were many matters: iSj wages and salaries, other social services,' >r which wero increasand required increased .11 ; these considerations to furnish conclusive ;ainst reducing our 19'.Taxation. . ' irtant - point was that es v of land and income red ' with other . e.oun- : excessive. f T3iere was show that heavy taxaZealand was driving her* countries. The figures to show that in .e tax the position was mlar to that of penny owing to the reduced enny, they were now raco at less than promust be remembered majority of the inZealand were under consequently a lie: income tax was col' :e incomes. In view of .for war debt. and t could, not bo said to lo* distribution of the incomes of £ 600 and vero contributing notlii of £IOOO a year were ly £ 8 a year towards ■ was that if these inaping their fair share someone else was pay.other words, ,it ssed on indirectly to laud tax, Mr Bolleshe proposal was for a per cent; all round, and : the amount of the h could " be deducted jrer's assessment. The ption in ' respect of . had been increased to £IO,OOO, and where r ed value exceeded exemption of £IO,OOO by £2 for everv cess, so as to leave no b the unimproved value or exceeded, £15,000. made by this year's ssion to one particular rers, of whom it could »t they wero the small ners. .It was certain lany of them were not , but owners of town ro was no doubt that would benefit by this ption, but the same rcI bccn obtained in anJ was inclined to think st benefit would be obsity man and tho owner

of Taxation. gßffij|iftitb; -was that it was the local Inpnue'that was becoming the burZealand, and not the land ll|ijff)M»B tax. Tho chief argument BaKE? 0 * a reduction of taxation was |§£P|tr~would reduce tho cost of unfortunately this arguIfflSSiSfafhyhgh sound enough in theory, jßgl|g' ; worked out in practice. The |gHsP£- living depended upon factors |K&Phan that of taxation. FollowJHwpUjii Argument, it had been urged Slßgppe reduction of taxation was because of tHije oppressive HBgj£ of the tax on companies. This admitted tho contention that graduated tax on comwrong, but surely it was ||lj§??Kbt> in order to give companies g' vo tn e same relief to iu- _ taxpayers and bring about SPpirease instead of a decrease in living. What he feared might fall to the lot of HHgJFJrtpfe .Prime Minister to have jgfj|tj > ? l pOße the taxation they hadTegHp|§?*' aa d if ho had to do that in times, he did not envy mBB»WP lob. ■...-■-■ lfi||j|i£ttd arid Income-tax Act hnd the provision for tho [ffißjafiSjL' o ? incomes from pastoral HhP{* effect of the Act' of 1923 InisiaLij <5X6m P* pastoral tenants MMBPftfWpy» from payment of either This great in-

justice was now remedied, but a whole jear's income-tax from this source had quite unnecessarily been lost.

The Gaming Bill.

Referring to the Gaming Bill, 3[r Rolleston said that it was quite plain from the outset that the Government were determined to put the Bill through as it. stood and would not : entertain any proposal for compromise. Ho himself was amongst those who opposed the measure on the grounds that 288 racing days in New Zealand were quit© sufficient for our needs, and that no further facilities should be given for the purpose of totalisator betting. It was true that the long stonewall w«s a. deplorable waste of time, but, on the other hand, it might bo said that members were justified m entering a strong protect, not only against the Bill, but against the methods adopted in making the Bill tho most prominent feature of the session's work, and the refusal of Ministers to answer any questions or give •my information. The Prime Minister had said that the racing public were taxpayers to a greater extent than many other classes and so far as legislation, they must be treated properly. No one would say that they should bo treated any differently from any one else, but he eould not see why the fact that when they backed a winner they had to submit to a tax of Is in the £ on their dividend (a tax which they need not pay unless they liked), entitled tliem to any special consideration over thfe rest of the taxPaying public. The Prime Minister further adduced the argument that they were good citizens during the war period. So were thousands of other people, _ who, however, did not make any claim for special treatment on that account, and as to any piomlses Living been made, surely no Goor Minister hfid power to bind Parliament to any such promise. The truth was that if we did not make a quick recovery from the effects of the war, we would ; want more woriting days and not more racing days.

Mortgages Extension. The Mortgages Final Extension Bill had been one which caused much discussion. As finally passed, it provided that all applications by mortgagors who wished to claim further protection 'must lodge thc-ir applications in the Court before January 31st, 1925, and on the hearing of such application the Court had power to extend the term of the mortgage to any date not later than March 31st, 1927. Tho effect of the new law was that it would be known on January 31st, 1925, exactly how many mortgagors there were still seeding protection, and if there was likely to be anv groat hardship caused through the exercise of mortgagees' powers. Then, as no action could be taken before June 30th, 1925, there would be an opportunity for Parliament to reconsider the matter and decide if any further protection should be given. It Vas generally agreed that the sooner t.ho Moratorium was closed the better. but at the same time there were national interests to bo considered, and there never had been, prior to this Act. any provision by. which the Legislature could obtain the necessary data to enable them to deal properly with the matter.

Electoral Bill. Commenting on. the Electoral Bill, the speaker ' said that it had been strongly opposed by the .Labour Party and by a good many members on the Government side of the House. It had many friends amongst the Liberal Party who,> as the middle party, would stand to gain by a system ■of preferential voting. The determined opposition by tho Labour Party on the motion for leave to introduoe_the Bill had the effect of preventing tne Bill from ever coming up for its second reading. It was pretty certain that it would never have passed in the form In which it was introduced and it was subsequently dropped. . The Sngar Duty. , „

There had been much discussion about the sugar duty., A good dea\had been said about the operations of tho Colonial Sugar Company, but the outstanding fact was that if the duty was liot imposed, there was a real danger of the company closing down, its works at Chelsea, near Auckland. This would have thrown out of employment a great many workers who made very strong representations about the matter. Another important point was that the imported sugar "from Java was not suitable for the fruit canning and jam making industries and these represented that unless they could obtain the refined sugar from Chelsea, their industries would also have to close down. Tlie difference between the duty finally imposed and that to which the opponents of the Bill were prepared to agree had not been sufficient to make any real difference to • the retail price.

Other Questions. The Motor Vehicles Bill had been passed in the form in which it wa,s introduced after a long debate, in w ; hich scarcely anyone had a good word .to say for the flat rate of taxation imposed. However, it was not competent for aoiy private member to move any amendment changing ithe form of' taxation. The Government had adhered to the flat rate provided by the Bill and on the assurance that the matter could be reviewed again next year, the opposition had been withdrawn.

The licensing question was a difficult one, but it would never be solved unless Parliament was prepared to' face the position with firmness. After the experience with the Gaming Bill, he could quite understand why no one was anxious for a Licensing Bill, but the point was that during the last election it had been stated most emphatically that if the > trade survived, drastic legislation by way of Teform would be introduoed, and no doubt many votes wore influenced by this statement. Obviously the proper time for such legislation was during the second session of Parliament and there would be considerable disappointment over the fact that the question had again been shelved. The Summer Time Bill, formerly known as the Daylight Saving Bill, had been again before Parliament and before a Special Committee which had reported in its favour. The Bill, however, had been defeated by the determined opposition of some of the coun ; try members, but it was difficult to see why it should not be given a trial.' In conclusion, Mr Rolleston said that ho would not quarrel with anyone who said that the work of the session was disappointing. There had. been many useful measures passed, but, on the other hand, many important problems had b&en left untouched. An enormous amount of time was wasted at the' beginning of the session, because apparently nothing Mas ready, and then in the'last few days important measures were rushed through, practically without discussion. The party system placed enormous power in the hands of the Cabinet, and in many cases the private member became little more than a cypher. For himself, he had refused to be bound by party ties. He had had no part or lot in any party intrigues, but had claimed the right to think and act for himself. What New Zealand sadly wanted was men who would place the interest of the country abova that of any party. If, by his attitude, he was in danger of failing to achieve anything in political life" at any rate he had the' satisfaction ol knowing that he had not compromised with any principles and he had been true to his election pledges. . Asktd if ho would consider himself justified m continuing to Bupport the Government on a no-confidence motion, Mr Rolleston said that as- he had- been elected on that understanding, he could not do otherwise at the present time The meeting closed with a hearty voti of thanks to Mr Holleston for his address.