WOULD BE BETTER IN ZOO?

Chronicle (Levin), 26 August 1949, Page 7

WOULD BE BETTER IN ZOO?

Press Assodatiorp

State Plamiers Under Fire , In Budget Debate

(Per

WELLINGTON, AuguSt 25. Did the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance think that capitalist America would lend money to Socialist: countries to belp in the nationalisation of vindustries, asked 'Mr*;- Sull^yan^ (Bay j of .Plenfy)_, in the House'ofJ^epxe?ienta- • tives this afternoon when the Budget" debate was eontinued. ; Evesy day Government members said. Bomething about unernployment in America but if we were to close the country to American goods, we . were only aggravating the position there, said Mr. Sullivan. He suggested that if the dollar loan would ease the shortage in New Zealand of farm machinery, the loan should have been sought long ago instead of negotiations being left until npw.- 'He wanted to know if American investors would be induced to .finance part of the Murupara pulp and paper project or was it to be puTely a State undertaking. Before capital could be attracted froni the United Kingdom or the United States we would have- to scrub the. smell of soeialism off the doorsteps of this country. ' ; Fit For Zoo. f "The Soeialists- have got their countries into the.eaetus aiid are running to capitalist countries for assistance;' said Mt; Sullivan. The Goverqment was sinking the people 's taxes in salt mines, the petrol business, linen flax, the , Onekaka, iron and sfeel experiiii'ent and to scor'e of othef proj'ects.' The, country would be . bette; off if someOne- wotdu put the State .planners into' a cosmopoii?.f tan zoo. ' . " •' Oue of the . biggest j.okes was when the Minister of. Finance- said "in England last July that he wa's going . to persuade t'he people of New Zealand to take more goods- froin the UnitedvKing-. dom but in the Budget the Minister saia that only by eontinued import controi could New Zealand asSist the United Kingdom and maintain .Sterling. It was regrettable that Mr. F. P. Walsh had not consulted theindustry before announcing that a 25 per cent increase in five years was the target set for primary producers but before that increase could be obtained, the farmers needed encouragement and not lip ser.viee from the Government, more machinery, cheaper fertiliser and more labour.

Mr. P. G. Connolly (Dunedin CentraiJ said M'r. Nash's recent statement tuai we would buy more goods from Britain, would be borne out as time went on. The volume of imports from Britain last year was the highest in New Zealand 's history. In view of the probable curtailment dollar imports by 25 per cent, we would be buying more from Britain and what Mr. Nash had predicted woulu be a fact when next year's Budget was being eonsidered. The United States, as some writers said, was slowly conquering the world with dollar?.- ' c . Opposition voiee : Would you oppose Mr. Connolly: I am opposed to it if the goods are obtainabie in other countries and I think they are. I have been opposed to Wall Street ever since i toolc an interest in politics. I was opposed to Bretton Woods. If you enter international financial agreements you surrender some sovereignty. Haste Needed. Mr. A. G. Sutherland (Hauraki) said there were at least 6000 exservieemen awaiting settlement on the land and progress in that direetion had been. dragging on until many of them were worn out looking for promiSed Crown land. Land development had to oe pushed on. with haste, he said., and if the production target was to be reacheG there would have to be 500,000 more dairy cows, 4,000,000 . more breeding ewes, 300,000 more cattle, and treble the number of breeding sows. Another 4,000,000 acres would have to be developed and re-established, more farm equipment and materials brought into the country and 30,000 more farm workers put on the land. All Crown, European and Maori land lying idle should be surveyed and a more thorough and" modern investigation made of the 500,000 acres of peat land in New Zealand. Although a township could oe built in a year at Mangakino, farmers could not get houses built in rural areas. Mr. Sutherland said the farmers were heartily siclc of the cries of Mr. F. F. Walsh for more production. _ Mr. Smith : We've had him. Mr. Sutherland said that the only thing to bring New Zealand back to an even keel was a change of Government.

Inaccurate Picture. Mr. T. P. Shand (Marlborough) said the Budget and public accounts gave a lamentablv inaccurate picture of the nation 's finances. The true surplus for last vear was probably between £11,000,000 and £14,000,000 • although Professor Tocker, taking the Government 's evtravagant borrowing into ac--count, had estiinated that New Zealand had ineurred a deficit of nearly £40,000,000 in the past vear because the Government borrowed £48,000,000 in the year. Much of that money came from the farmers' stabilisation accounts. These funds should be so invested that one-quarter of them could be repaid in any year and the whole amount witliin four years. Under the Government 's present system' of, borrowing tli'ese moneys, it would be unable to repay them if acrisis arose., . The Minister fiirted wifh the dollar crisis but gave none of the information to which the country was entitled after sending him to Loudon .recently. Britain 's dollar famine was'^due to Social1 ist policies which liad raised costs to a point at which Britaiii .could not export on the buyers' mai'ket which had developed recently. Mr. Shand said many ex-.servicemen had been waiting five years for a farm. Seven thousand men had been rehabilitated on farms but 6000 were still waiting and at the present rate of progress it would be 1955 or later befote they were all provided for. Tt was almost impos.sible loday for any nonser'viceinah to obtain a. faTtn but tliat could not go on indefinitely and only ' an accelerated settlement progfamme ' .would moot the dilficulties. Tho I/snd

Saies Aet must be amended to enable farmers, on selling land, to obtain a fair price and not be penalised in relation to the rest of the community. Mr. J. Mathison (Avon) said that if the National Party was returned to the Treasury benches in November, the. country would be in a bigger mess than ever before. The pockets of the people would be tightened up immediately tli'e National Party went into office. Apart froin loss of business the people would suffer, the National Government would have very strong and powerful trade unions in existenee. "In the event oi ■ any attaelc on conditions that the Labour Government had been responsible for, it would mean that we would be on the side of the'' workers, " said Mr. Mathison, ' ' and believe me we would give you the works. " Mr. Goosinan: Is that a threat? , The House adjourned at 10.30 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. tomorrow.