WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 21 March 1931, Page 2

WELLINGTON TOPICS

THE TEN PER CENT. CUT. SIR FRANCIS BELL'S VIEW. (Special Correspondent). WELLINGTON, March 19. The main subject 01 conversation in political circles to-day is the speech delivered by tho Right Hon. Sir brands J3ell in the Address-iu-Reply debate in the Legislative Council yesterday. 1° iolk living beyond Wellington, and, no doubt, to many ot' those living within the Capital City, it . may be necessary to explain that Sir Francis tutored not only Mr Massey, the leader of the first Reform Government, during the early part of his long term of office, but also guided his early calleague s as well as the succession of novices b.y which they were followed. That his task was well' discharged may be judged from the bearing and the achievements of the Ministers of the Crown with whom he was associated. His own bearing and direction Ri the Legislative Council were as creditable to his party as were the bearing and di* section of the Prime Minister in tho other branch of the Legislature. 1< or sixteen years Sir Francis was the sildit back-bone of the Reform Party in Parliament and gave to it the assurance of a continuous abiding place in the affairs of the Dominion. IN ANOTHER ROLE.

Speaking in the Legislative Council yesterday on the motion for the adoption of the Address-in-Reply, Sir Francis struck a note few of his friends had heard from his lips, A mere exigency iri the public finances, h e said, was not to be placed on the plane of a calamitous earthquake, nr p Wfll* like crisis, Financial stringency had occurred before ahd would occur again, It was a matter to be dealt with by business men upon business considerations. He proposed to ask the Council not to be influenced by appeals to patriotism and co-operatjon. Exactly the same appeals were being made on the other side ot the Tasman by Air scullin, Air Lang and Air Lyons. They were appealing to people to come together and to co-operate. For what.-’ For something which to the mind o* most people was dishonest und repugnant. bir Francis did not say the proposals of the New Zealand prime Minister were as bad as that. Here a man who did not agree with the Government’s proposals was not to be; coerced into voting tor them. Thank God, the New Zealander stul had as much freedom as that. It was not much, but it was something. THE FREE AIAN. Having referred to other aspects of the ‘‘Ten per cent, cut” Sir Francis protested against the newspapers referring to him as the Leader of the Opposition in the Council. No sucli person existed, he declared, unless he had escaped the notice of all the, other Councillors. It was true, lie added, that he had been a party man for many years, but no man wjw sat on the Government benches coukl be otherwise; but to-day he had no share in the counsels or the Reform Party. Ho did not know, n°r. did he care, whether Ids views coincided with those of /the party with which he had been connected or not. B u t if the whole parity agreed to. something to fvhich he disagreed he did not care. He would take the-.course which any other honest man in similar cheumstances would take. Civil Servants, Siy. Francis maintained, were not only a special class, they were a particularly defenceless class, and the Government had fallen upon them, of nil people in the Dominion, to provide the money it required.

OTHER WAYS. Turning to other ways of meeting the needs of the country than falling upon the unhappy Civil Servants, Sir Francis referred to the Post Office surplus which he estimated at a million and a half; the Consolidated Fund, which pays the deficit Qn the railways, and has something to spare, and to other sources of revenue with which the layman is not familiar. Then he tells of the million and a quarter to he obtained from a twopenny duty on sugar and a small tax on tea that would give the Minister of Finance a further quarter of a million, There seem to be other sources of revenue which might be brought to the assistance of the Budget—and incidentally to the relief of the Civil Servants—such as increased charges on beer, spirituous .'liquors and tobacco, but all these luxuries appear fully burdened and an increase in the duties quite probably would reduce the revenue. So Sir Francis’s way to the malcontent must remain.