PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES REPLIES TO QUESTIONS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 278, 23 August 1945, Page 8

PARLIAMENT DISCUSSES REPLIES TO QUESTIONS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Wide Variety Of Subjects Come Before House

BANK OF NEW ZEALAND MENTIONED BY MR. LANGSTONE Ministerial replies to members’ questions were circulated and discussed in the House of Representatives yesterday. '1 hey covered a wide field and were debated till the tea adjournment. Lotice or a taigc number of questions was also given at the beginning of t ic si ting >y members on both sides of the House. . The financial debate was resumed m the evening by Mi. Lioadtoot (L T ., Waitomo), the other speakers being Nir. Langstone ' ' marine), Mr. Gillespie (N., Hurumii), and Mr. Williams (L., Kampo ). Mr. Broadfoot advocated the further development of hydio-clcctiicity with a view to establishing industries that could produce tor all paits of the world, and suggested the possibility of harnessing Hernial power for the production of chemicals. Mr. Langstone discussed the proposal to acquire the privately-held shares in the Bank of Lew Zea la nd and said that if for no other reason it was imperative to have a State bank because of the size and complexity of State activities which themselves required banking facilities. Mr. Williams speech was interrupted by the adjournment at 10.30 p.m. till 2.30 p.m. today. , , ,

Mr. BROADEOOT (N„ Waitomo), who was the first, speaker when the financial debate was resumed in the evening, said the people of the Dominion had been expecting some relief from the burden ot taxation, but they had been very grievously disappointed. The increase ot io4,UW.000 announced in the revised estimates ot war expenditure was simply a subtle method the Minietnr of Finance, Mr. Nash, had adopted to keep up the existing high level of expenditure. Lend- case amounted to £83,000.000 and reverse lendlease to £58,000.000, leaving a debit of £25,000,000 against the Dominion. One would have expected much more information about a transaction of such magnitude. Like many other people, he would like to know how this debit was to be cleared up. The prices charged under lend-leaee were of an inflationary nature, but the Minister handed over New Zealand’s products at pre-war prices. If New Zealand had received the prices paid in America for the same products there would have been a credit balance. . Little vision had been shown in connexion with industrial expansion, and there had been a complete lack of leadership. New Zealand was blessed with natural resources of great value. An effort should be made to develop the idle lands of this Dominion. A large number of the .Maori people were drawing social security and vet they owned land. No one should be able to draw State funds and at the same time Jock up land from development. The time was long overdue when we should have a newsprint factory in this country. Industries should be established here that, did not clash with those of Britain. The increase in social security benefits was demanded by the inflationary policy of the Government. The £2 it was proposed to pay to beneficiaries would be worth no more than £1 pre-war. Shortage of Housing. The whole country was vitally affected by the shortage of housing, and the position would be aggravated by the return of tiie men and women from overseas, in view of the shortage of houses one was perturbed by a Ministerial statement that a timber deal had been arranged with Australia, which was to get 13,(>00,(100 feet of our building timber, ’.rim I. timber would build bouses to house 1000 people. Australia might have well taken some other commodities. ' It was an extraordinary arrangement to make seeing that New Zealand was desperately short of timber. More milling bush should bo made available to millers so that thev could plan their operations ali’ead. Control by the Forestry Department was retarding timber production. Another grave hindrance in home building was lack of cement, and witli modern. machinery to extract cement we could build houses in concrete cheaper than in wood. It was up to the Government Io see that sufficient coal was made available to the cement industry ,so that it could produce to the fullest extent. With costs so high today every possible device should be used to reduce them to facilitate building. The- Government knew of these, hut it dilly-dallied about with them. He was convinced there were means of reducing housing costs by several hundred pounds. Britain was using prefabricated aluminium houses. Several Ministers bad gone there. It was to be regretted that they bad not brought back details. The question of housing in New Zealand was so vital that he urged the. House to set aside one day during the session for a comprehensive discussion on the matter in an effort to reach a solution. A reduction in the sales tax, which amounted to 4/- in the £l. would go a long way toward alleviating costs and encouraging building. Much had been said about increasing production in New Zealand, but the simplest method would be to make conditions for farming better and to give the farmers a just reward. In assessing pay-outs, for butterfat and other commodities built up by the primary producer, there should be taken into account as u relative factor the depreciated value of the currency, the purchasing power of the £1 having been so debased that it now stood at 10/- compared with pre-war values. Well Balanced Economy. Mr. LANG-STONE (L., Waimarino) said one would marvel after hearing the remarks of the member for Waitomo that any people desired to remain on farms, but the actual facts were that farmers were better off today than ever they had been in the history of the country. Tue war effort in production and in the manner it had been financed was something of which they had every reason to oe proud. The economy of this country was, as the result of wise management, as well balanced as that of any other country in the world. In spite of till the. talk by Opposition members of. depreciated currency and the terrible burden of taxation, the unit of money in this country could purchase more goods and services than the same unit of money in Australia, Canada, the United States, and in Great Britain. The. feature of the burden of taxation was that so small a

tUUC uy me-----an improvement in wheat production. The Minister of Supply had refused requests for the granting of a flat rate of 7/1 a bushel for wheat to growers. Many farmers having the national interest at heart would be prepared even at this late stage to sow spring wheat if the Minister would indicate that he was prepared to give a reasonable price. Referring to the transfer ot the war risk insurance premiums to earthquake <nsurancc, he said that farmers paid premiums on buildings which had been damaged by earthquakes, and were quite prepared to help town dwellers whose buildings might be damaged by earthquake Surely then town dwellers should not object to farmers getting assistance when their buildings were damaged by floods or snow. Both sections of the community should be mutually helpful. Government speakers hud said a o reat deal about a balanced economy, but there were some very disquieting features about production and costs and to import the same quantity ot goods to dav as in pre-war days would mean hav in J to increase the value of the Dominion's exports by about ,»0 per It was clear from this that New Zealand must increase her production and ako seek more markets. There was the dan ger that such food producing c°untms as Denmark and Sweden, with the Luro pcan market in a shattered state, might turn to Britain for au outlet tor their exportable surpluses Mr. WILLIAMS (L„ Katapoi) said it was a very popular vote-catching cry to advocate a reduction in taxation as the Leader of the Opposition had done. The New Zealand Government . had been more successful than .any of the Allied Governments in keeping inflation within rigid limits. A measure of inflation in wartime could not be molded. The only alternative to wartime nutation was to pay for a war entirely from taxation. Did the Leader ot the Opposition advocate that? Mr. Holland knew that inflation was inseparable from all modern wars. , Mr. Williams speech was interrupted 1,,. the adjournment at 10.30 p.m.

country could carry it. livery economist knew that all taxes in the long run spread themselves in the economy of a country and as adjustments took place ili<:.v lost their identity. The war had demonstrated the amazing capacity of this country. Taxation did not destroy money or income. It distributed income, and it was lite wise distribution of that income that had been responsible for tiie balanced economy and the standard of prosperity. Colossal sums had been raised by taxation, stints no one wouid have, believed possible before the war. In addition, there had been heavy borrowings, most of it iu New Zealand, yet • ever before had New Zealand had such a Balanced economy. lie agreed with the previous speaker on the need for expanding the country’s resources further, but in his opinion it was lirst essential that the State should have the necessary powers to assist the economic development of those resources. One of the essentials to that end was the taking over of the Bank of New Zealand <inl making it a fully operative State bank serving the interests of the people. The criticism against this proposal resolved into a criticism of bureaucratic control, but there was far more bureaucratic control iu big monopolist capitalist companies than was to be found anywhere in State departments. The people had nothing to fear by the State taking over the bank, judged by he record of such splendid State services as the railways. the post and telegraph, and so on. Tiie only authority with the right to create credit, should be the State. Tim State already had tiie prerogative of issuing legal tender money, and it was only logical that the State should also control the issue of credit money as the two forms of money were closely interlocked. Fanners Ignored. Mr, GILLESPIE (N. Hurunui) deplored the absence in the Budget of any indication of assistance to the bard working farmers, the people who were really responsible for tiie standard of living of the people. The Minister of Finance proposed to grant relief to secondary industries in the matter of depreciation on buildings and on machinery. Would he grant similar relief to farmers who might require Io erect buildings or purchase machinery? Both were essential in increasing production, ft was high lime New Zealand had a Government sympathetic to the primary producers and the land. There was a case for carrying »nch assistance further and granting it, to rural housing. A more sympathetic htti-

OMAPERE STOCK LOSSES

Statement Made By Minister REPLY TO QUESTION IN HOUSE Heavy losses of ewes and lambs on the Omapere soldier settlement in Hawke's Bay were referred to in a question by .Mr. HAUKEIt (Waipawa) iu the House of Representatives yesterday. lie asked the Minister of llelmbilitm lion. Mr. Skinner, 'what steps he proposed to take to mitigate the present condition and to prevent a recurrence in future, years. lie said that in Hawke's Bay newspapers Omapere sejllemetit. in its present condition, was referred to as the "animals' B'elsen camp.’' Mr. SKINNER said that since his attention had been.drawn to newspaper reports of the losses he had obtained preliminary reports from the lauds supervisor for Hawke's 1 Bay and the manager of tile Omttpere block. Many neighbouring properties in the area had had considerable losses this season, and in the ease of two particular experienced farmers the losses had been similar to those ou Omapere. The losses for the season on this block were estimated at almost ten per cent, or about 500 ewes, due mainly to sleeping sickness and allied causes, brought about by luck of feed, due to the abnormal season. When the property was being taken over the vendors said they considered its carrying capacity to be 6000 ewes but the Lands Department decided, particularly in view of the effects of rabbits on the pasture, that a little over 5000 ewes would leave an adequate safety margin through the winter. Since the property had been taken over more than 10.1100 rabbits bad been killed at Omapere. Losses of lambs, added the Minister, occurred during a very heavy storm on August 10, and were by no means confined to Omapere. No other Lands Department blocks had been affected by stock losses, and the lands supervisor in Hawke’s Bay would welcome any inspection. Their primary production council in the district advised that losses similar to those sustained on Omapere, were only too prevalent in their area. No ex-serviceman settler was a sufferer through these losses. The ex-servicemen who were successful in the ballot for sections nt Omapere were at present working for wages under supervision till final sub-division could be undertaken. A more detailed report was being obtained after a full inspection, and this would be made public in due course.