WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 September 1922, Page 1

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

THE BUDGET DEBATE. PRIME MINISTER REPLIES. SPECIAL TO GUABDIAN. WELLINGTON, Sept. 4. Tho Budget debate closed on Friday night almost as tamely as it had run on during the preceding fortnight. Tho Prime Minister got his opportunity to reply shortly after 9 o’clock, and began by claiming that the Budget was the most exhaustive statement of the country’s financial position ever presented to Parliament. The claim may have been justified hut by his very multitude of words and wealth of' detail the Minister definitely limited the number of his readers. Judging from their .speeches not a third of the members who took part in the debate had carefully studied the Budget and it is reasonable to assume that the largest proportion of those that remained silent had given it any closer consideration. Speaking earlier in the evening Dr Newman, a very candid friend of the Government, and still one of the most alert financial critics in the House, has strongly urged that future Budgets should he much shorter and simpler. This represents the" general feeling in Parliament, but since the days of Mr (Seddon successive .Ministers of Finance soem to have thought it necessary to uphold' tho dignity of their office by an overwhelming parade of words. NOTHING TO ANSWER.

Mr Massey said, with some measure of truth, that his critics lmd made out a vnry poor case for him to answer. To those who had complained that there was no policy in the Budget he replied that at the present time there could be only one policy—a policy of ceonotny, retrenchment and increased production. This policy the Governmnet was. carrying out to the best of its ability and he believed the country was satisfied with its efforts, ft was quite certain the country would have to go to London for another loan “before the Dominion was done with the. aftermath of the war,” hut the amount would depend upon the fate of certain financial proposals that would he submitted to the House later on. This guarded utterance is taken to imply that the Bill which has been foreshadowed foi the readjustment of the incidence of taxation will include provisions which may effect some reduction in the annual expenditure. There is talk of postponing payments to sinking f inds for a few years and of rearranging the terms of the free of income tax loans, hut so far it is only the merest speculation.

LOYALTY. On tiie' whole, Mr Massey’s reply to such criticisms as had been levelled against the Government was quite one of his best efforts in the House this session. He was forceful without being over aggressive, and tactful a 'tlioub dieing elusive*. But he again was betrayed into an unseemly wrangle with the leader of the Labour Party over the question of loyalty. Mr Holland seems able to draw the Minister on this subject whenever he pleases, and though ho does not help his own case by doing so he usually manages to ruffle the customary serenity of the head of tho Government. The Labour leader is never quite frank in his professions of loyalty to tho Constitution and hr has an obscure mode of expression which in addition to bringing discredit upon himself brings suspicion upon his associates. The Prime Minister, on his side, is obessed by the notion that disloyalty is rampant in the country and so makes statements and draws conclusions in this respect which are wholly unjustified hv the facts. There may he a number of workers in the country who are unable to subscribe-to Mr Massey’s definition of loyalty, hut there are

very few who are actually disloyal. WORK EXPECTED TO BEGIN. Now that the Budget debate is out of the way Parliament is expected to begin work in real earnest. The waste of time during the past two months has been prodigious, and it would he hard to say which side of the Mouse is the more to blame for what has happened hut Mr Massey is .still hopeful of ending the session before the last days of next month. He is assuming. of course. that members themselves are anxious to get away by that time and that there will ho no further unnecessary talking, lint with all the assistance the Prime Minister mav get from the House he will have considerable- difficulty m accomplishing the task he has set himself. It, is understood there are quite a number of important Bills to he introduced, and though some cf these may he merely election kites and destined to stop short of their liiinl stages, it would he too much to expect every aspiring member to remain silent during their second reading. It is fairly safe to predict, however, that seven weeks hence Ministers by hook or by crook will he free to go electioneering.