WAR CABINET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24419, 3 October 1940, Page 8

WAR CABINET

FINANCIAL FUNCTIONS EXPENDITURE SIDE ONLY NOT CONCERNED WITH REVENUES (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Oct. 2. The fact that the War Cabinet was concerned with war expenditure and had nothing to do with the raising of money for war purposes was stressed by Mr J. G. Coates (Opposition. Kaipara). who was the first Opposition speaker In the debate on war finance in the House of Representatives tonight. There seemed, he said, to be a general misconception as to the part played by the War Cabinet in war finance. Mr Coates said that the Leader of the Opposition. Mr A. Hamilton, and himself as repi-esentatives of the Opposition in the War Cabinet, had nothing to do with the financial policy, which was the responsibility of the Government. They were, however, concerned with war expenditure, but had not been asked about the basis on which the finances for war purnoses were to be raised, whether from taxation. loan money, or by the use of savings. The / Prime Minister, Mr Fraser: What R/Ir Coates savs is quite correct. What the War Cabinet had done, Mr Coates said was to confine its activities to the war effort, and even that was difficult to define to-day.

GOOD WORK ACCOMPLISHED WORKING IN CO-OPERATIVE SPIRIT iFrom Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Oct. 2. “ I say quite definitely that the War Cabinet has justified itself, because it has done its work well,” said the Prime Minister (Mr P. Fraser), when speaking on the debate on war finance in the House of Representatives to-night. Mr Fraser was replying to Mr W. J. Poison (Opposition, Stratford), who had expressed amazement that the Opposition members of the War Cabinet had no say in the methods of raising the money for war purposes; “The War Cabinet is working well and in a most co-operative spirit.” Mr Fraser said. “ I am grateful to the other members for the way in which the problems have been attacked. ! Much has been done, but there is a mighty amount to do yet.” Dealing with the question of the Government’s methods of raising money, the Prime Minister, said, it was quite obvious that the party with a large majority in the House could not have decisions of that kind taken out of its hands, and neither would it be fair to the Opposition members of the War Cabinet to place on them the responsibility for raising money in a way with which they might not agree.