SUPPLEMENTARY VOTES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20044, 16 September 1939, Page 14

SUPPLEMENTARY VOTES

NATIONAL ESTIMATES TOTAL NE AR LY £815,000 NO MAJOR DISCUSSION (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. Supplementary estimates, which were introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday by the Gov-ernor-General's message, provide for a total expenditure of £814,969. There is an additional vole of £2OO to cover the recent visit to England by the Minister of Finance and his staff. A grant of £SOOO is made to cover the Maori participation in the Centennial Exhibition. The estimates of the Department of Justice and Prisons contain an item of £7OO to provide for the installation of mechanical recording machines in he Supreme Court in Wellington, ana extension to other centres is under consideration. Radio Facilities Additional expenditure on radio facilities for aerodromes and air routes is represented bv an item of £15,000. Additional subsidies amounting to £27,500 pounds are voted for railway transport of lime for farmers and for fertilisers and farm produce. There is a vote of £40,000 in connection with expenditure on the Rangitata irrigation work. One noticeable feature about the supplementary estimates is the absence of any .additional votes for defence purposes. The estimates include £2OO for the cost of investigation into the freezing workers’ dispute. Flax Growers’ Subsidy

The sum of £2225 is toeing advanced to growers of linen flax. Tlie sum of £950 is voted for the expenses of Dr. A. J. Smith, of the British Food Investigation Hoard,' who was invited to visit New Zealand to advise on the extension of refrigerated space required for a national emergency.

The National Provident Fund provides an additional £6OO for maternity payments owing to an unexpected increase in the claims. The Main Highways account is voted an additional £250,000 for road construction and improvements. The railways require an additional £65,000 for wage increases. Unauthorised expenditure includes £272,018, the amount required to meet the dairy account deficit for the 1936-37 season. The subsidy to Union Airways for the vear ended March, 1939, is £12.500.

The Department of Lands and Survey has made provision to the extent of £6OOO for payments to outgoing lessees in respect of uneconomic holdings. This is explained in a clause of the Lands Disposal Bill which will authorise boundary changes in a number of holdings. Considerable difficulty has arisen with certain Crown tenants owing to the fact that their holdings do not contain sufficient land to constitute economic farm units. It is necessary to establish tenants on a sound basis, and the Lands Department and State Advances Corporation are carrying out investigations with a view to arranging the re-subdivision and regrouping of sections in order to provide those concerned with additional land.

There was no major debate on any portion of the supplementary estimates, which were finally disposed of by 5 p.m. The Appropriation Bill, which gives legislative effect td all the estimates of departmental expenditure passed during the session, was introduced and read the first time, and the House adjourned at 5.5 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday.