Prime Minister Found His Team Against Him

Chronicle (Levin), 7 August 1946, Page 6

Prime Minister Found His Team Against Him

-Press Association

By Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, August 0. When the House of liepreseutatives resuined ihe debate on local goverumeut today Mr. Broadfoot (Waitomo) moved an amondment tlnit the Governmeat be urged to iiitroduce legislation to give ofLeet to the umuiimous reeoinmeiidation of the eomxnittee to stabilise hospital rating at tlie rate per pound on cajptal vatue oii the average for the years 1935t36 to 193S-39. Hon. W L. Parry: Tliat's a pieeemeal. resolution anyliow. Mr. 0. H. (Jhapmaii (Wellington youth) speaking on the ameudmeiit, said if the Consolidated Lund vvas to bear the cost of hospital taxation, it would be only fair to raise the land tax to meet the dill'erenee. Ile did not think the hospital rate was too higli when the service that hospitals gave was taken into eonsideration.

Mr. W. Sullivau: Do you want to see the rate go higher ? Mr. Chapman said he did not but he thought complaints that taxation was too liigh wero unjustilied. Ile said tlie j increased nospital rate was niet by a | guaranteed price that the farmer rej ceived for liis produce, i .Mr. Clifton Webb: Tliat's not souiid j though. i -Mr. Chapman said he was not alto- ; gether in favour of the eomniittee 's re- ; conimendation coiiceruing liospital rut-j j ing. The efl'ect of the recommendai tio a was to suggest liiat tlie Governj ment accept tlie responsibility for hosj pitul expendilure above the stabilised rate. If the Goverumeut decided to j ! meet expenditure over and above tlie I | stabilised rate, the money had to be j : t'ound somewhere and the source, lie : suggested, was lncreused land tax. The | recommendation of the eonuuittee j : which was supported by the aniendment, should 1 »e considered very carefully before is was given ell'ect to. A reduction of £10 on rates representod a l>roiit oi' £230 to the landowner, lie said. Mr. W. .Sullivan: JJoesu't that work in rever.se too? -Mr. Chapman said the mere valuable j u property became tlie*niore saviug it was to tlie ralepayers. -Mr. 11. L. Combs (Wellington >Sub-! urlis) said that once the rate was at the i poi n t suggested by tlie Opposition, tliey J would nexl ask that the peg be lowered ; and linally that it be removeu alto- ■ gether. j Opposition voice: That is what the! committee recommends. -Mr. Combs: 1 disugreo witli the com- , mittee on that pomt and have said so ail aloug. -Mr. Combs added that lie considered' that the right to rate the land for hos- j pitals should in: retained for all timo init that the rate could be reduced. The > expenditure oi' liospital Boards could i be substanlially reduced if loans, as , thev 1'ell due i'or reueunl, wero taken ! over by the Keserve Bniik at the cust oi' j servicing only plus sinking fund. A further amendment was moved by! Mr. L. Hackett (Grey Lynn). The: amendment was that the Government he 1 urged to ' ' adopt such measnres as it | deemg advisable to. give effect to the desire of the committee to secure an , equitapie readjuscmnt of the incidence • of hospital rating, taking into eonsideration the increase in lio«pital expenditure due to Social Seeurity, free hos- i pital benefits for many patients in pub- 1 tic hospitals formerly not provided forj aclecpiately, the extended and more j scientific treafcment and care of j and other f actors which have added i very materially to the cost and main- . tenance oi hospitals since the systemj of hospital rating was enacted. ' ' There were Opposition cries oi': "It'si tlie same amendment."

Mr. llackett went 011 to say tliat he did not think the committee \s recoiumeudatioii went far enougli into the the -f ti ture oi' the health of the public oi New Zealand. -Mr. W. .1. Polson (Stratlord) said that tiiis amendiueiJt enabled Viie eight Government Members 011 the eonuuittee wlio uiiauimously agreed that specilic legislation was required, to run away bocamw Ihe Government was lyit willing to do what thev asked of it. He did not. know it those eight Government members would accept it. The origiual motion was to 'ro for the report lo Ihe Government lor eonsideration and the (Opposition amendment asked for speeilic legislation. Tiie eonuuittee 's reconimendatioii was supported 011 both sides of the llouse and the Governnient had brought ilonn an amemlmeut which Jel't it to the (ioveriiineut to adopt such measures at it deemcd advisable. This amendment would not deceive tlie coiuitry said Mr. Polson. It was designed to put the matter back vrhere it was. If members of tlie Government could flnd consolation in that sort of dodge, they were welcome to it. Mr. ITasor said he was sorry Mr. Polson had shown such an exhibition oi" had temper. Lvery Meniber of tlie j llouse had the constitutionai right toj niove an ainendnient and to his mimi! the amendment moved by Mr. Hackett j was a miich better oue thau tlie Gpposi-' tion 's because it gave reasons. The amendment moved by Mr. Broadfoot was a deliberate attempt to trap the Government and, knowing the Op- 1 position, he had wondered why they liad ] delayed it for so long. The normal j motion was that the report should be j referred to the Government for consid- j eration, for the sole purpose of discussion and not as any attempt to force anjMhing on the Government. Mr. Lraser said Ihe Opposition was enlitled to niove the ameinlinent and had done so but that ainendnient wasi ho]>elessly iuadecpmte and could be , attaeked ou the grouinls tliat it singled i out oue point only in the Conuuittee 's ' report. M r. C. -M. P>owden: Because the Gov-i erunient is ruiuiing away froni tliat recomniendation. . Mr. Lraser said tlie liest answer to 1 tliat foiiiulationless assertion was that ; 110 Governnient would ever pledge itself ' to iruplelneiit a report of a Purlia-: mentary Conimittee. The Prime Minister said he would [ repeat to the House what he had toldj the rieputation which waitert on Juni

on behalf of the local authorities — that he certainly was not in iavour of the complete removal of hospital rating from the land. Every person who bought land knew he would be rated on it and, said Mr. Fraser, he would not be prepared to roe that charge swept away in its entirety, placing the burden on the shoulders of those least able to sustain it. ' •

Mr. Hackett 's amendment dealt with the matter sensibly and equitably and was xireferable to Mr. Broadfoot 's. No Governnient, witliout abdicating its powers, could pledge itself in advauce to imxilement ull the recommendations of any Parliamentary Committee or iioyal Commission. ilr. Doidge: Lsn't tlils a case wliere tlie House wants to vote 011 the reeoinmeiidation tliat Ihe Conimittee has niude and tlie Governnient is trying to prevent such vote?

Mr. Fraser said the House was master of its own destiny and could vote as it pleased but there was 110 support for a deluge of talk about the Govern-j ment being guiity of dereliction ol'i dutv. "That won't stand a moment's examination," he said. Mr. Polson: Not dereliction of duty but politieal jobbery. Mr. Lraser said with regard to tlie 1 merits of tlie rating question, there j seemed to be some honcst dill'erenee of opiniou anioug Opposition members as to whether hospital rating should be stabilised at a given levei or should be abolished. However, lie thought that tlie Opposition as such had not expressed itself in favour of the abolition of hospital rating. Mr. Polson: The Committee 's report does not suggest tliat. It is an honest compromi'se. Mr. y. W. Hmitli (Bay of Tslauds) said he personally favoured the ubolilion but as an honest comproniise had sigued the recomniendation for stabilisation. The Committee had asked the Government to look at the question of abolition. Mr. Fraser: W'e will do that. Woj have looked at it before and cun do soj again. Mr. Lraser said Mr. Hackett 'sj ainendiiient went as far as any reasonable meniber of the Opposition could desire and he was coufident there would be a uuaiiimoiis vote 011 it. -M r. Doidge: The ITime Minister has ! been very adroit in drawing up the! amendment. i Mr. Lraser, in a ftirtner reference to the question of abolishing hospital rating entirely, said that any look he, took at that question' would he a pretty hostile oue but as for any reasonable : and fair adjustment of hospital rating, his attitude would he not unsympathctic and he hoped not an unpleasant one. The question was one of what should he dono. Had hospital rating 1 become a hitrden as the result of social j seeurity legislation? Did the rating : charge now exceed what was rationally expectecl when rating was first estah-i lished? Mr. Lraser said, ihe .iwas prepared to consider some adjustment but did not agree- that rates should he stabilispd on the 1935-39 average. Mr. W. Sullivan:' What will the Prime Minister suggest? . Mr. Fraser replied that the whole position must he examined. Rates might he stabilised on the basis of 1939 plus — Mr. Doidge: If the Prime Minister is prepared to make a reasonable adjustment, will he undertake to bring down legislation this' session? Mr. Lraser: Legislation might not be necessary. I am not prepared to give that undertaking at the moment • but I will undertake to do all tha't this amendment asks.

1 Mr. Lraser said Mr. Hackett V j amendment enibodied in extended form; what tlie Conimittee had recom-; I mendcd and the Governnient accepted; 1 the ameiidment with a view to an equit-j ! able adjusLmeiit of hospital rating. Leader of Opposition. ; ; Mr. y. G. llolland said tliat nt the J eud of the four days ' debate, the, j issuo had been coiifused. Confusion > 1 was one of tlie Prime Minister 's many i weapons but he could not joke this i matter away. -Mr. Polson 's protest had ; been reasonable and just. The i'aet ; was that the Prime Minister found j himself with lialf his team against liim and half for liim yet had tlie nerve to try to shift the issue by suggest ing i there was a dill'erenee of opinion [ Mmung tlie Opposition. The issue was, j oue ot' whether hospital rating 011 the j land should revert to rating, levels j which ubtained before social seeurity ! legislation was passed. The Ojiposi- • tion adirmed that it should and the •Conimittee had recoinniended that. j The Prime Minister knew that eight ; of his members, including a Cabinet i Minister, had signed the recommenda- . tion to that effect and obviously did ! not want to see the catastrophe — | which would occur if Government mem- ! bers were free to vote as they wished — ' j of a Memher of Cabinet going into ■ | the opposite lobby from the Prime: i Minister himself. i j Mr. llolland said every nian on Ihe | [Opposition benches was free to vote ac | eording to his conscience but he had 011 i no single occasiou ever fouiuj oue mem- j ber 011 the opposite side in a dill'ereiit : | lobby from the Prime Minister. | Mr. Fraser: Tliat's loyalty. Mr. llolland said Air. Lraser was try- 1 jing to :i\oid tlie situation of Mr. J'arrvj j going into oue lobby and the Prime 1 -Minister in another. The question of j local body aH'airs was one of paraniount iinportance. There were eight Govern : ment and six Opposition liieinbers 011 the , Committee which, including the Miuis- j •ter of Inlernal AH'airs, had reached uu j laniinous conclusions. The Prime Miuis- J j ter, in effect, had said tliat as he had; not lieard tlie evidence which was' placed before Ihe Coiumittee, he was 1 ' not going to have it. The Opposition ! ) had 35 menibors in Parliament and the j Prime Minister knew that eight of hii J mon agreed with tlie Opposition. If those eight were faithftil to theii ! signatures it meant that T3 members ' j would vote for the amendment moved j by the Member for Waitomo and 37 for j i the other amendment. I It wn ° the poliev of ihe Nalinnal

j Party so far as hospital rating was concerned, Lo revert to the rate which prevailed when social seeurity legislation was introduced. If social seeurity had increased the cost of health services that cost should be spreail over all seetions of the comnnuiity. There were thousaiuls who did not contriliute by way of land taxation lo hospital taxation. At some future date he hoped it would be possible to take taxation for health purposes off land altogether. -Mr. llolland said tliat tlie ainendnient moved by Mr. llackett was a slap in the i'ace for the Committee. The Governnient should. if it valued the report, implenient tlie lindings of the Conuuittee and one effect of that would be to reduce tlie tax 011 land i'or liospital purposes by 40 per cent. The National Party slood behind its six meinbers 011 the Committee. tt would be a waste of tinie for the Committee to have gono through the country taking evidence and theii to have brought down recom meiulations which tlie Prime Ministei wished to avoid backing up. All tliat the Opposition asked was for tlie Gov erninent to go 110 further than tlie Com uiittee asked it to go but the Prime Minister had put a spanner 111 the works and sidetracked tlie Committee 's recom niendatious by a further aniendnieut which did him 110 creilit. Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer saicl the Gov ernment would not take long to make up its mind and announce its policy regarding hospital rating. He was in a position to know the Government 's mind in this matter. 4 4 When I recommended the House to consider a uniform rate I knew the Government was thinking along those lines. It was in no sense a red lierring," said Mr. Nordmeyer. It was true that lack of uniformity in valuations might leail to some injustice but he thought the wisest course was for the llouse to agreo to tlie princijile of uniform ratiiig and tlien ,see t-.hai uniform1 vattiaYion' ,sf:utdard. wero? 1 applied as soon as ])^ssil)le. -Mr. Acland: Tliat will take ten years. -Mr. Nordmeyer: t don't think it will take that long. M r. Nordme.yer • said if members of the ( ) p ] j.o s i t i (j'rb: w.oti li 1 loojc (lis]»!vssi|nvately- h t Mfv- Hiicklett'Ls anren'd'me.nt, they whuld see tliht. it gav6 effect io many things tliey had urged during tlm debate. On a division. Mr. Broadfoot 's amendnient was defeated by 39 to 3b votes and Mr. llackett 's was the 11 carried 011 the voices.