PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2804, 23 June 1916, Page 6

PARLIAMENT

THE COUNCIL

DEBATE ON THE BUDGET

THE ESTIMATES

The Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m.

The- Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Amendment Dill was received from the House, of Representatives, and read a tirst time, and the second reading' set down for Friday. SIR FRAN CAS BELL" explained that the report of the Statutes Revision Committee on the Military Servico j3ill would be presented on Friday, and the committal stage taken on Tuesday, togother with the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Amendment Bill. The Council rose at 2.31.

THE HOUSE

The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. Mr. H. POLAND (Ohmemuri) gave notice to ask the . Defence Minister whether ho would consider the advisability of appointing a permanent War Pensions Board, the members of which could devote tho wjtok of their time to war pensions business. Mr. R, A. WRIGHT (Wellington Suburbs) gavo notice to ask the Defence Minister whether he would consider the question of giving to all soldiers honourably discharged from the New Zealand Forces a certificate of character. He ,6trtted in explanation that the discharges now given were merely formal, and quite insufficient, as some instances had proved, to satisfy employers that tho men bearing them had been honourably discharged. Mr. J. T. M. HORNSBY (Wairarapa) asked the Native Minister whether he would give attention to a certain Native land transaction by which some landowners in' the Martinborough district were endeavouring to acquire «.. block of Native land. He asked the Minister to take stops to review tho circumstances before the alienation can be .completed. The Hon. W. H. HERMES said that if the honourable gentleman would supply him with particulars he would 'see .what he could do in the case.

Mr. A. H. HINDMARSH (Wellington South) gave notice to ask the Defence Minister to consider the advisability' of giauting commissions to dispensing chemists, serving as such with the Forces, in order'to give those men the same.status as dentists and nurses, as was' in Canada, Fraiice, and other countries.

FINANCIAL POLICY

THE DEBATE CONTINUED

BUDGET'GENERALLY APPROVED

The debate on the motion to go into Committee-ol'-Snpply was renewed by Mr. E. A. WEIGHT (Wellington Suburbs) who said that the predominant note of the Budget'was the strong financial position of the country. • The land values were rising, but after the war they would probably drop, and therefore the Finance Minister had rightly aimed nt establishing a reserve. He approved of tho taxation of 45 per cent, on war profits, but he thought it was quite enough to take, as difficulties would be presented. ' If they went too far in .taxing war profits, war profits would disappear, for men would not continue their production on the same scale. He therefore disagreed strongly.with the suggestion to take 75 per cent, or .100 per cent, of the war profits. It was, only human nature for a man to curtail his production if his efforts merely resulted in his taxation being increased. He ascumed that the excess profit tax would not apply to 'salaries in -any case, but What, he asked, would be the position of a young and growing business which" for three years had been struggling and only now'in the war years reached, a profitable basis? The same thing would apply to a man who had been on tho land struggling for three years, and only now reached a favourable position. It Would be unjust to tax such men, and he hoped provision would be made for meeting, such cases. He could not quite understand the five per cent., extra tax on incomes, which he thought was *severe, unless it could be shown beyond doubt that we needed the money and that othor avenues of taxation were closed. But those other avenues were not closed.. What about the goodwill of licensed houses? Ho cited a case where n man, for a poor hotel fn Wellington, paid .£3OO for goodwill alone for .a three years' lease. Another source of revenue would be n tax upon picture-show films, M-hich came into New Zealand in thousands of feet through one firm only. Such a tax would affect people who were making huge profits. The tax on beer could also be easily increased and he urged that taxation should be imposed upon motor-cars and motor-tyres which were being imported in thousands, particularly from America. We owed America nothing, he said. Sentiment cut no Ice there but the business man was out or the dollar every time. Anything she had done for us she had Seen very well paid tor, and he therefore had no compunction ,n urging the taxation ,fi,T nCa f Y 00 / k ,. T * ie rubbe »' manufacturers of Australia and Britain should be protected against America. He rejoiced to find that a war loan was to be raised in New Zealand, for he boleved the people would respond more heartily to the idea than to the Public Works loan. He would suggest, however, that a shorter term than 25 years should be fixed. Tho Minister of Education, ho noted, had urged economy A on- he would-not advocate extravagance in this direction, but he issued a warning that it was possible in this direction to be penny wise and pound foolish. It would be dangerous for undue retrenchment to be inflicted upon the Education Department, .which would be particularly dangerous if it meant less accommodation for the pupils of the primary schools. He considered the syllabus was unduly crowded, and more 1 " attention should be paid to reading, writing and ciphering, and less to "fancy subjects." Tho Incoms Tax. Mr. E. P. HUDSON (Motuka) said that, generally speaking, .the taxation legislation proposed was decidedly popular and fair. He would have preferred to see the income tax made on a graduated scale, as at present.it would bear hardly on the smaller man. It would be extremely difficult to equitably assess the war profits tax, and he hoped due attention would be given to special cases. He suggested that it would be fairer to assess tho profit on the article produced—thus on wool •to declare that the total war profit was 4d. per lb., and collect such a sum. from all producers.

Mr. A. H. HINDMARSH (Wellington South) argued Hint there was scientific justification ' for a land tax. It was not a tax upon formers, but upon the land. He went into the matter from the economic aspect, after which ho congratulated the Minister of Financo upon his generally hold Budget, although lie disagreed with some of the statements made. For instance, he did not agree that the cost of living could not have been regulated. A tax might have been introduced which would have operated to secure cheaper food. Last year lie had been derided for suggesting an export tax, but other members were now making the same proposal, and it was also supported by Mr. H. D. Bedford, an ex-M.P. and an acknowledged authority on economics.

Mr. T. W. KHODI3S (Thames) congratulated the Finance Minister on having produced a satisfactory Budget. Ho said that he believed in the taxation of war profits, but ho was not sure that the method proposed for the assessment of the tax was practicable or fair, no would have preferred ■ to see the Government levy taxes on certain commodities, the prices of which had been raised by the war.

Dr. H. T. J. THACKER (Christchurch East), after declaring that NewZealand in addition to the war was suffering from "a social, industrial, and economic epoch," said that the particular disease of the Dominion had relation to its social and economic welfare, and the

Ministry should bo the nurses of our complaints. He went on to speak of tho slow progress mod* upon the new Parliamentary Buildings and the Otira tunnel —two urgent national works. The latter work, when completed, would reduce the cost of living, particularly to Christchurch, in tho wav of cheaper coal. Tho Main Trunk lino of the South Island should also bo pushed on to, reduce some of the profits of the "fat, rich, and monopolistic "Onion Company." A State ferry aervice should link up tho railway systems of the two islands. Touching on the cost of living, Dr. Thacker declared that the Merchants' Association of Wellington was "one of the gaping voids gulfing down and practically swallowing tho life-blood of tho people fighting for this Empire.' Mr. T. A. H. FIELD (Nelson) said that tho extra impost on incomes would bo comparatively light on big incomes. He would have preferred to seo tho revenue to be obtained from incomes levied by some : sliding scale method, beginning, perhaps, at 2-J per cent, for smaller incomes. He considered that the establishment of the reserve in England was a wise and statesmanlike precaution. It might happen that large sums of money would be required by the Government when the soldiers came back in their tens of thousands, and this money in a liquid form would be extremely useful. At 5 p.m. the amendment was defeated on the voices, and tho House went into Committee of Supply. THE ESTIMATES TELEPHONE SERVICES. Good progress was niado at the outset with the Estimates. Tho balance of the Legislative Department's vote, and the Finance Department's vote were passed without any discussion. ijn the Post and Telegraph vote, Mr. D. Buddo made a suggestion to the Minister that in small towns tho charge for telephones might with advantage to the people and the Department be sfightly reduced. Ho did not urge a big reduction. •' Mr. A. Harris urged the Minister to discontinue the practice of putting slot telephones Ti prfMSe -*jnops, a practice which reduced very much tho value of these telephones to.the community. Mr. C. H. Poole said he hoped the Postmaster-Goneral would not accept this suggestion. He understood that the Department had not now the material for establishing more box telephones In the streets.

Mr. George Hunter said that it was mucn more important that some telephone facilities should be given to, people in the back-blocks who now had no auc|i facilities than that the people in the cities who already had splendid telephone services should have improved services. If economics were to be introduced he would urge that the economies should not bo practised at the expense of the people m the back-blocks, who had no tolephone facilities at all. He hoped that if the Postmaster-General had any money for expenditure on telephone extension he would keep in mind the claims, to his consideration of the people in the back-blocks.

Sir Joseph Ward (Postmaster-General) said that lie agreed that tho providing of telephones for people in the sparselysettled districts should take precedence over any other telephone extension work Wherever it was possiblo to Authorise expenditure for this purpose he would do 60. There could not be a doubt that the Government ought to give these facilities wherever it couJd.' Eegarding sl'-t tele-| phones, he, pointed out to honourable 1 members that it was impossible for many reasons to meet all tho demands for theso coming from very many districts. The Telephone Department' was growing enormously. Last year the revenue was ,£258,000, and the expenditure on telephone and tolegraph lines ran into, between .£700,000 and 68600,000. An order had been given for a number of slot telephones, but they were expensive, and they could not be furnished as - freely_ as ordinary telephones. Tho slot machine cost seven times as much as an ordinary instrument. Replying to Mr. Harris, be said that in some districts it was very uecessary to have slot telephones set up in places, of business to which people frequently went. The policy of the Department was to put the telephones where they best met tho. peoples convenience. To Mr. Butldo he said that he could not hold out any hope that the rate of telephone subscriptions would be reduced. The discussion on telephone services was continued after the dinner adjournment. City members demanded more slot telephones and other concessions, and country members asked for any sort ot telephones-they could get. The Post and Telegraph Estimates were passed at 10.30| p.m. • RAILWAYS. -• THE.GENERAL MANAGER. On the Working llailways Vote • Mr. G. Witty asked what the Government intended to do about the General Manager (Mr. Hiley) when his term of engagement of five years expired, as it would next year. He suggested that there should be no need to givo him an extension of time, as there were men in the Service who had grown up with it who ivere quite fit to take control. Mr. Hinduiarsh asked whether the Department intended to treat the new railway station in Wellington as an urgent work.

Mr. Anderson and other members urged the Minister to remove the unfair extra freight on imported hardwood itim* bers. ' \ ■

Mr. W. H. Field inquired what was to bo done for the duplication of the line between Palmerston North and Wellington. Was it true that some surveys had already been made?

The Hon. W. fi. Hemes, in replying, said that the reappointment of the General Manager was hot urgent, as his term did not expire till 1918. Nothing so far, of course, had been done. Only Mr. Hiley's spare time had been used in the service of the Defence Department on their' request. He (the Minister) would have been churlish to refuse the request especially in war time* when it was the duty of every Department to help the Defence Department as much as possible. Railway casual labourers would benefit by the war bonus by receiving Is. 3d. per hour instead of Is.ljd. lhe rate for hardwood timbers could not.be revised at present because he could not afford to relinquish any revenue that he was earning. The Minister of linance told him that the railways would have to show a good profit to help his finance during the war. Ho maintained that this timber should be dealt with through the tariff, and if that were done he would be glad to reinqiush h» railway charges, but ill t] K , then - • M e mb ers could finely not be serious m asking him i°. s H?\i £, P° W on the railwil y BtattaS at Wellington in war time. It would have been started long ago if he could nave got tho money. It was an urgent matter from the raifway point of view i to have the railway accommodation both !iat Auckland and Wellington completed m accordance with the plans laid down by the General Manager in his report. Unfortunately at present it was nol possible to raise the monev, and he' believed the rest of the Dominion would not agree to it if they could. The workwas absolutely urgent and necessary in normal times. If it were not done 'n about five years' time they would be in a very bad fix. for treating their customers in the'way they should lie treated. He therefore ■ hoped that normal conditions would speedily return and enable them to secure the money necessary, "ho proposed duplication was not »'ewvrded as a railway matter, but one for the Public Works Department. It was ft work which would be necessary in the future. Ho, believed that the other Department had had a survey made and a practical route pointed out. Level Crossings. Mr. E. Newman asked the Ministor whether it was not possible to do something to minimise the danger threatening road travellers at level crossings. He referred specially to the dangerous l"vel crossing on tho main Wellington Bond at Marlon. At this crossing three people 'had been killed in rcfcnt years, .ind tho inquiries hod proved that tho crossing was highly dangerous. Dr. A. K. Newman said he saw no reason why better accommodation should not he provided at Wellington railway stat'on. This would cost not. move than nlwut .-(MflflO. The people of this citv should not be eomnelled to wait for these convMiinii"es until the Government could afford to build " »r«it station to cost ,-Mh,(i!V or so. Sniih exnenditnro was out of tho question now.

While there was a possibility of the Government soon undertaking the big work, there was a reasonable excuse foi holding over the temporary improvements, but now that the building of tho station was indefinitely delayed, the people of Wellington ouuld not be expected to wait any longer for these.other improvements so urgently needed. ' The Hon. W. H. HERMES, replying to the member for Rangitikei, said that the policy of making level crossings was originally adopted for tho sake of economy. The Government could not now afford to change that policy by building over-bridges and sub-ways at the. crossings. This would cost a huge sum of money. He deplored the loss of life that had occurred, out in view of the number of people going over the crossing the number of accidents was extremely low.. The Minister promised to reconsider the request for improved passenger accommodation at Wellington station. He 'hoped, however, that the new station would not be very long delayed, as; it was urgently needed. It would be begun as soon as he could get some money. | • (Left sitting.)