PARLIAMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 10, 10 September 1915, Page 3

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Per Pbkss Assocutmw. In the House this afternoon, Ministers, in reply to questions, said legislation woiikl be necessary to permit soldiers at the trout to participate in land ballots, and legislation would be provided to enable absent troopers to lie represented at the ballot by some friendj that a trooper's pay ceased on the man being killed; pay of missing men was stopped till their fate was known ; that it would be unwise to prevent details relating to the supply of munitions to appear in the newspapers. In reply to Hon. D. Buddo, the Prime Minister said he would look into the member's Lights on Vehicles Bill,'anil see if he could take it up. EX!) OF BUDGET DEBATE. The debate on the Budget was resumed by Mr R. A. Wright. He agreed in the main with the taxation proposals, and thought a small tax on exports would be preferable to taxing farmers' profits. He was glad to see there was no intention to place an additional burden on workers. He favored preferential duty on foreign motor tyres, and considered they could cheerfully face the extra revenue required. Exports had enormously increased, and he saw no signs of any slump in prices.

Mr It. W. Smith said that one satis? factory feature was that extra, taxation on the laboring classes had been practically omitted. It was a sound principle that the bulk of the money required should be obtained from those who had made profit out of the war. He did not - favor increase of the ordinary land tax, BOejd condemned .the agitation to for patriotic purposes. Mr A. H. Hindmnrsh explained that a representative of the Labor Party had not joined the National Cabinet because, alter Sir J. G. Ward and his colleagues joined Mr Massey, the Government had a majority-to pass their proposals. He denied the accuracy of the statement that the Labor Party were actuated by a desire to find all the taxation on land. He favored heavy duties on luxuries. Mr J. A. Young said that the Goverhmeut had to call on all the available sources of revenue. He objected to- the kerosene and petrol taxation. The Budget proposed to increase the graduated tax by 50 per cent. This tax had been inaugurated for the bursting up of large estates, and to apply it to war taxation purposes was adopting a dangerous' principle. SIR JOSEPH WARD REPLIES. After the dinner adjournment, Sir J. G. Ward replied. He said that not one of the proposals suggested by lion. members in the course' of the debate had not been considered by himself.' The idea of framing proposals had been to put thei main.portion ofj taxation on those able to bear, it, aiid leave out the worker and the necessaries of life. The Government really ought to have had £600,000, at least, more than was asked for. No self-respecting Government could permit their, proposals to lie altered, even if the combination were formed on national Tines. '■■ ,He was there with his colleagues to assist in putting the affairs of the. country into a good sound position;; Ho-had no personal motive. What they were "asking for was a mere ilea bite to the fifteen hundred men who had already iriveu their lives on behalf of the country, and-of those who were yet unfortunately to give their lives for that object. The question simply was, bow could they best give their assistance ,?

Detailing the criticism. Sir Joseph Ward said the total amount received lor champagne last year was £707; 'the increase proposed would have given £BOO. As to taxing.amusements, proprietors were now paying' as much in income tax as if-they collected a small amount on tickets. He had thought the matter out, and was convinced that proprietors would pay more under the increased income tax than they would if they inaugurated a special tax. The suggestion to tax .films! was untenable.; The proposal to tax motor cars had also been carefully examined, and the basis upon which taxation had been arranged was considered'preferable. He explained that |]fe liloitijgajVe tajcayag necessary^'prevent evasions of the ; hmd tax. He defended the proposal to raise the duty on spirits Is per gallon only, instead of Is, as suggested. The duty was 17s in Australia, the highest in the world. Regarding the beer tax, he argued that the brewing of lighter beers was desirable. The Controller ot Customs had showed him that the revenue required would bo provided. The amount of increase to be charged against brewers would amount to about £87,000, and this tax could not be passed on to drinkers. As to the suggested increased duty on cigarettes, the Controller of Customs had advised him that not much more revenue could be expected from that quarter. As to the mineral oil duties. if it had been possible to have individualised oils, he would have been prepared to have altered the proposal, but that could not be done satisfactorily. They must remember that if these duties were not raised the alternative was extra taxation on the necessaries of life. The tax on kerosene would not average more than £1 per year from those who used the oil, and that was all the poorer people were asked to contribute towards the war revenue. He would see if petrol for fishermen could not be admitted

fre« of duty. The graduated land tax could not be applied to town lands, as it was not a bmstiug-np tax, and so far as a city man was concerned it was more than counter-balanced by the heavy income tax paid by the City man. Sir Joseph Ward warned the people that the issuing of State paper money was a dangerous proceeding. It was not advisable, to establish a State Bank, linked up as we were with the Bank of New Zealand. The Government would not abandon the system ot sinking funds, and he was confidents the loan would be raised locally. One firm had offered to take up £350,000. The present system of taxing banks was found satisfactory, but they were not paying as much as they should. Sir .Joseph Ward urged the need for both public and private economy, in view of the fact"that no one could prophesy how long the war would last. Considerable savings had been made ou last year's estimates, and it was not proposed to spend nil the vote on this yeai's estimates. It might be necessary to make still further savings in the future. Concluding, Sir Joseph Ward pointed out that the National Government was entitled to the support of members in their proposals. Any reasonable objection would be met if possible. an ( ] such alterations could lie made when Bills were in committee. The House then went into Committee of Supply, and passed the first item of the Estimates without division.