SALARY "CUTS"

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 141, 11 December 1929, Page 15

SALARY "CUTS"

MR. COATES'S ATTITUDE

"I MAKE NO EXCUSE"

"I make no excuse for the 'cuts,' " declared the Leader of the Opposition (the Eight Hon, J. G. Coates), when dealing with the subject of Civil Servants' salaries in the course of a political speech at Eastbourne last night. "I say the Eeform Government did absolute.; the right thing.*' Mr. Goates said he knew it had b&&~ said that the existence of surpluses ; made it unnecessary to impose the "cuts," but it had to be remembered that the- Eeform Government had reduced taxation from a maximum of 7s 9d in the £ to 4s 6d. A voice: "To the rich." "Not to the rich," replied Mr. Coates, "but to those who came within the schedule of taxation." The reduction in taxation had been made to encourage people to go on the land.' No country could develop under heavy taxation. It was incorrect to say, as Mr. Nash, the Labour candidate in the Hutt by-election campaign, had done that the Eeform Government had reduced taxation on the rich men and placed it on the- Customs. The Eeform Government had given practically a free breakfast table. Customs taxation had increased in volume because of the importation of luxuries such as motor-cars'. His reply to criticism over the "cuts" was that it was quite unfair that one section of the community should be immune from a public responsibility, which the Civil Servants were always ready to meet. At the General Election he had clearly indicated that it would be impossible to restore the "cuts." The United Party, and the Labour Party, however, were elected on a pledge to give back the "cuts," but now those parties knew that the "cuts" could not be restored in percentages.

A voice: "How aid you vote!" Mr. Coates: "I always'voted .the right way." Over twelve months ago ha had told a deputation from the P. and T. Service that in April, 1929, the Eeform Government would re-open ■ the whole question of salaries with a viewto increasing those of the lower-paia men, but he also intimated very clearly that he would not support any increase in the honoraria of members of Parliament unless the Civil Servants benefited also. He had maintained that attitude last session, and Mr. Nash had de-scribed it as a "scurvy trick," but how could his dealing with the matter be deemed "scurvy"? In 1928 he made a definite promise of what he would do (if still in office) in April, 1929, and he still stood exactly as he did then. He would leave the matter at that and let the public judge.