FINANCE BILL IN HOUSE

Chronicle (Levin), 20 September 1946, Page 6

FINANCE BILL IN HOUSE

-Press Association

— r' — Salaries and Other Items Meutioned

fu Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, -Sept. 19. . Hon. W. Nash, moving the pccqaQ eading of the Finance Bill in ttie :Iouse, said 'to July 31, goods New Zeaand had supplied to- Unrra or was coim nitted to supply, were of the total ,-aiue of £4,166,723, which meqn that >ur first contributioii and large part.oi )ur second contribution to Unrra's iunds, which the Bill would .authorise, lad already been expended in New Sealand. . Referring to the clause which proyidjd for aii inerease in the Governor: Jeneral's allowances .from £2000 to E4500, Mr, Nash said that. the present 3um was fixed in 1920 and thut legislation also limited .payments in conneetion wdth gardeners and upkeep of the grounds, to .£500. -The grounds were^ ^osting £1200 yearly today and the present Bill oniitted the limitation to £500. . ■-•/• If New Zealand was to bave a Gov-emor-General, said Mr, Nash, it should be prepared to meet the cost of allowr - ances." " - ■ - Mr. W. -S. Goosmaii: The last-Gov-ernor-General inust liaye liad a -pretty bad .time. . . . ■ * . Mr. Nash: He.probably did. - -Tlie Minister ad'ded. that speeiai allowances were fiiade .wher'e possibld. .D-iseussing the .elause reiali'ng t? afi inerease in tlie Salary- of /the Chiei Juslit-e to £2500 and that of the other Judges to £2250, Mr. Nash shid that" his informaticin was'eorropt, they were the, .lowest paid Judges in tlie 'Bfitish Empi're. Mr. F. Langston.e.: . They are not doing badl.y, -klr. Nash said thcre was provision in the Bill for f he, lieserve "Bank to grant overdrafts to the Government. Pr'evi- • ously wh'e'n the Government sought an advanee from the Reserve Bank, it'gave as'secufity Treasury. bills.,' Mr. Langstone: Bits of p'aper. ME Nash said that the Government would now have an overdraft account • on a :day' to duy basis at a rfite of interest whicli he th'ought would. be one per eent. The Government eould be.grauted an overdraft of ,up to .100 per cenr. of what-it recjuired,. but the overdrait would be limited , to. -the abiount of the investments held by Treasury. - Highways Fund Alr. W. Sullivan (Bfiv of Plenty) said the whole Highways. Fund was in a very preearious position and it was time it was reviewed and investigat.ed so that a decision eould be reaehed as to the right and proper method of disposing of the revenue derived from petrol and trye taxation. Nothing should be done to rob the Main Highways Board of its means of malntaining the highways at a high standard and local bodies should also reeeive sume assistnce] in maintaining codntrv roads. r A t Mr.' W. Binith of Tslands) said tliere was n{r. jftsiifte^ion iu mamtaining the war tax'^n jfptdol' unless the revenue would hc.-Mmi foj roadinaking and maintenance a'ud i'mpfovement. Mr.- G. II. M.ae:kl^-i#.^teTtohY also pressed for- Into the incidence ' " taxation' revenue from W^l^f^^asdii|excess of the i reasonable expeuditure ' of the Main Highways Board. ' • ' . Mr. Johnstone (Raglan) said the petrol tax was 14.7,peuce of wliich Ihe

greater part w:ent into the ConsolidateJ IMnd leaving only Cd. available to the .Highways Board/for expenditure. Tlfis couplcd with curtailed imports .of petrol and' the jfact that there was a great deal of -leew^y to be made up in road maintenance and construction work, meanl that the tqxation revenue available for roading purposes was quite inadequate. The cost of maintenance and construction work had skyroclcotted. For in stance the cost of bitumenising roads ,had txebledN' ......... "Mr. "do'hnstone^urged that the reeom mendations of the Parliamentary Gom mittee ou. local government in regard to easing tlie rating hurdon on loca1 authorities should be implemented m soon as possible.' Mr. Nash, replying, said the Govorn ment would hold its securities and bor- ' row money by w&y of overdraft from ■ the Reserve Bank. ° ! Mr.. Mackley: The Government bor |

rows against its own securitv. Mr. Nash: We can get the same result by selling securities for tlie amount of money we require. Mr. Bowdeu: But that would be a different result. Mr. Nash: Very different. The debate was interrupted by the adjournment for tea at 5.30.