BUDGET DEBATE RESUMED IN HOUSE

Chronicle (Levin), 28 August 1946, Page 7

BUDGET DEBATE RESUMED IN HOUSE

—Press Association

Much Heard About Coal and Taxation

By Telegraph -

WELLINGTON, August 27. Alr. W. M. 0. Denliam (Invercargill) resuining tlie Budget debate in Pariiament, said the gcucral coiuplaint about ihe Budget was tliat the reduction in taxation had been insuiiicient but the laxpuyera had been rolieved of £18,000,UUU this year and would be rolieved of : £21,000,0w0 next year. If there had been a reduction ^to the extent of £-10,U00,000 advocated by the Opposition, there would huve to be retrenchnient and curtailment allecting the whoie ecoiiomy of the country. There had been nothing but coinplaints in Upposition speeches and lxe believed tliese coinplaints arose froin Alembers' dissatisfaction with the Leader of the Upposition. Despile donials there were unuiy who were not sati.stled with the policy and tactics of the Leader of the Upposition. -M r. i". \V. Doidge: Tliat is absolutely untrue. Alr. Doidge withdrew the reniark when Alr. Wpeakcr intervened. Mr. Deiiham said tiie Leader of the Upposition was trying to show iiis supporters tliat the Natioual Party was more labour than thc Labour Party and Inembers of the Natioual Party were beconiing delinitely alarined. Mr. It. 11. ALackley (Masterton) : Wait and see. Mr. Denhani went on to say tlia-t iieior had so iiuich progress, expansion and developnu'iit been shown as in Labour 's eleventh Budget. Acliieveinents uiuler the Labour Uovernnient were aduured by the rest of the world. Cerluuiiy ihe re was nothing spectacular in ihe Budget nor was it political bait or a bribe but it proved the Leader of the Uppt.vit iou V assertion tliat somewhcre Lbi/itHijOOU was liidden away, to be lalse as were other ruxnours which had been ein-ulated such as tliat of a Disl ii lieri t un«-e Bill. Il was an houest Budget portrayiug the trne linancial pusition of the eouutry without window dressiug or political propaganda. The rcmoval of the saies tax on I'lothiug had been described as ilLusory Init ou elothiug alone New Zealanders would save £2,000,000 after subsidies had been witlidrawn l'roia manufactur- • ' rs , aad there would be . a deerease of one-sixth ia ihe priee of furniture. Constant avowals by the Leador of ihe Upposition tliat the Opi-iosition would not reduce wuges, salaries and pensions made him suspicious and lie Miggested there were severn) wavs of decreasing wages — raising the intcrcst rates, increasing hours of wurk. and reuioval of priee eontrul which, if Jifted, would reduce the purchasing power of .he people by 2.~> per eent. Thousands of young people had been .iuisiiiforined by Natioual Partv propaganda and it was only false pride which led young women to join the Natioual Party because it was inore "tony." Thev eu.joyed higli wages, a 4U-hour week, and i'ull employinent, all of which had lioen provided by the Labour Governiueut and not by any conservative loverunieut. Flying a Kite. Mr. U. F. Sim (Rotorua) said tho .Meinoor for ruvercargill was trying to .ly a kite when he critieised the loyalty of ihe Nutional Party to its leader, tiad Ihe leader of the Govermnent the amo loyalty. — Miss Howard: Don 't be sillv. Don 't ie chiJdish. Mr. Sun said evory sectiuu of the •ouimuuity had been eutitled to expect reater rcdin-i ions ot taxation than had been made. It was a half-baked Budvl niiM'ii on A i r. .Nash "s convietion tliat .ie could spend the people 's money more wisely than they could spend it tliem--elves. Members of the Government were oonducting themselves more and .uore as masters of the people instoad »f their servants. The Uovernment had liown tliat it iiitended to pursue a polcv of i'ull nationalisatiun. Cost of Coal. Mr. Sim said it should be retueinber■«J that countries which had fallen • uder ihe sway of diclators had started iy taking over the lianks and then nanging the electoral laws. Those hings had already been done in New Zealaad and aow the Budget promised int ionalisat iou of tlie coal mines. Tliis had been adopted by the Government as .ts policy despite the fact that eleven privately owneil mines in Now Zeuland were [inxlucing coal uiore economically i liaji tlie eiglit State owned mines which, on the average, were roceiving l/l» per ton more in subsidies than wero '. lie privute mines. The cost of coal production vould increase as more mines were takou over. The furlher we could xeep away from nationalisatiun the better. Tlie people of tlie Dominion were not laiut-hearled and would soon rid thenisehes of tlie bureaucraey and suppression whicli had prevailed l'or the past eleven years. Vigorous Land Policy. Mr. yim made a plea for a more vigorous i»olicy of land settleuient for relurued servicemen of whom, he said, Ihero were between 150UU and 7000 waiting for holdings which they could not get. Ile said the Government should subdivide blocks of Crown land instead uf keepiug tlieiu untouched while it. cut up large blocks of privately owned land. The Government 's refusal to subdivide Grown land, while taking over privaie t'arms, had led to suspicion that the Luml .Saies Act was being used as an instrunienl of further socialisation. .Mr. Sim said tlie country was turning against policies of excessive control and restrlctioiis which the Government hau practised for too long. Kven in tlie Labour Party niiuiy of the younger lueuibers were restive and were anxious to get rid of sonie of their elder meu. Young people were realising they should be given a larger share in producing those commodities which they had been promised for so long. They fealisert they umst liave a Government which wuuld lcgislato to meel prcsoat trends. Save Industries AI r. 1). W. Coleman (Gisborne) answeniig crilicism of the Goverinnent

policy of nationalisation of the coalmines, said if the State had not takou over the mines industry would huve . been in a parlous state today. More coal than ever before was being produced, but the output was not bemg supplemented by imports which ceased when the war began. He commentleu the Government for taking over the coalniines. Upposition members seenietl ; to think that the Government shoulu take over only uneconomic wornout industries but the Government had done a wonderful job and saved the industries of the country. Satisfied With. Leaders. yir. II. T. Mortou (Waitemata) said credit for increased primarv produc tion belonged to the farmers of thc country and not to the Governnient. la! spite of Goverument assertions eoat production had decreased by 56,UUb tons in the Waikato since the nnaes were operated by the State. Mr. Mortou said it had been suggest- ' ed by Government Members that the] Upposition was not satislied with ilsj leader. " If Members of the Govern- 1 ment were as well satislied with their j leader as we are with Mr. llolland,j they would be liappior and more con-, tented than they are today," he de-j clared amid a chorus of Upposition liear) heurs. i Mr. A. G. Osborne: The Member for Pahiatua is not saving a word. .Mr. Iv. J. Holyoake (empliatically) : i liear, hear. j Mr. -^Lorton said the Leader of the j Upposition would be the seeond bornj A ew Zealander to becoiuo I'rime A 1 i 1 1 - i ister, of whom the whole country j would justly be proud. lie predictedj that it would be Ihe women of ihe' country who would u.useat the present; Government. Mr. Merton said retunied suidiersj were bouud and shackled by the Uov-, ernment. After the iast war soldiers 1 could niake a start iu any trade they preferred. j M r. Clyde Carr: At 7 per ceut. i .Mr. Mortou: They can't start al 70 per tent, today — if they pav it. He said that never was the housing situation m Auckland so tragic for ro-!' lurued soldiers than today and returu-j ed soldiers of this Iast uar were aiiso-' lutely douied the right to own their 1 o\\ n i'anus or homes. ! I Mr. McCombs: That's iucorrcct- amlj you know it. Alr. ALorton made an emphatic pro- . test against the exportation of Aewt Zealand softwuods to Auslralia in ex-j chauge for hardwooil aud said that ihe. | tpianlity of timber ienviug New Zealand was sufficienl' to build between 1UUU and 12(JU a\er.:ge sized liouses.; He advocated a greater use of concrotej poles to eil'ect a saving in timber e\-I jjorts. Alr. Alortou considered there! could huve been a greater reduction in: taxation if the Alinisler of Finance1 had felt so inclinedy "but he sat there. with a cherubic and seraphie smile andj chewed an acid drop. " lie felt surc, however, that ihe Alinisler 's halo was growing " a bit tight on liim" aiidi that he had a headache. i He suggested that expenditure could be reduced on New Zealand 's representatives overseas, the total Iast year being £208, UUO and ihe estiinated expen-i diture this year £121,000. The Priam Alinisler, he said, was the " mosl ex-l travagant politically and iinancially reckless" I'rime ALinister New Zealand' had ever had. i Alr. C. 11. Cliapman (Wellington, North) said Alr. Alorton was rapuilyi earning the reputulion as the mosl irre-i spunsioJe Aleinber of the llouse. . i Alr. Osborne: Clown of the llouse. j | Alr. Osborne withdrew this remurkj when asked to do so by ALr. Bpeaker. 1 More About Coal. ! Alr. Chapiuan said it had been allegcd by Alr, Alorton that the eoal position in New Zealand had never been worse. ' C'ertainly the coal position was dillicuit but no more so than it was iu 11)20 when there was no increasing demand; for coal for industry as there was today and when coal could still be im-; ported, whereas today we were depeu dent ua our own supplies. C'oalmiiiers were doing a good job and even if some of the mines which had been takou, j over by tho Government wero not eeo-, j nomieully sounil, the coal wliich caiuc from llieni was vital to the country 's produc ti ve ell'ort. The Upposition still protested., against controls. Alany coulrols such; • as those over maupower had already! j been Jifted by the Goverument buti i others were necessary to tho Domin-j j ion 's wellbeing. If, for instauce, con-. ' trol of rents were to be abolished.j [ rents would increase by o(J per cent. orj | more in many instances. There had been some disappoinlnieiit ; ! with the Budget. I'erson iily he would [ i like to see income up to £."j()(> exempled! . from income tax but we had to reiueui | [ ber tliat this year we were still pay- ! i ing £51,UU0,0UU for the war and il was: | unreasonable to expect drastic tax 1 ' reductions. ! I Upposition members l'ouud it such a! , good Budget that they were at a loss! to lind criticism for it. Alr. Chapman praised Labour 's ad- j j ministration during the pttst eleven i : years and declared that New Zealand j J was today probablv the besl country j I in the world for the working people! and for working farmers, even if not j for those who lived by intcrcst ;Vnd i J rents. I Tlie llouse adjourned at 10.30 p.m. | j uutii 2.30 p.m. toinorrow.