A Parliamentary Notebook

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 122, 13 August 1927, Page 8

A Parliamentary Notebook

Wandering Onward (THE SENS Parliamentary Reyar> WELLINGTON, Frida So varied have been some of,, speeches in the Budget deb™?,?' the statement has been Uu: forgotten, and members occ«S ! were reminded that the Statement was under discussi™ * One of the best speeches i debatesofar was contributed bVh The evening sitting was noted f ° ne ° r ,wo sharp exchanges the floor of the House, one having twice to withdraw remark. The debate will continue Ato L, week. u The House adjourned at 11 it . UR Tuesday. Mr. J. Bitchener m£S the adjournment, and will be th. • speaker on Tuesday. e «* A Possible Economy “We lean too much upon loan, i this country.” said Mr. D Jem.. - the course of his speech on the iL? get. "There are many things » could do for ourselves. For lnsti, I believe that we could reduce the7,l' of the telephone system installatioi 1 country districts by 33 1-3 per c 7." by doing it on the contract sy«eT' Mr. J. R. Hamilton: By 5o v. cent. I * r Mr. Jones: I think 50 per cenL hm did not want to be excessive.

Sale of State Farms 111 order to assist agricultural td. leges, Mr. D. Jones suggested in the House that Weraroa and Ruaknr! State farms be disposed of and so* ficient capital would be secured lithe establishment of the college at Palmerston North, while a saving "■ the loss now being sustained on these places would provide sufficient reveni. to keep the college going. Mr. E. A. Ransom: Would yon cut it up for settlement? Mr. Jones: If it is suitable. Some of the stock from Weraroa could to to Palmerston North. A Borrower's Headache For a non-borrowing Government, Reform has not done badly in putup the public debt, says Mr. J. i Lee. Constitutional government in New Zealand began in 1555, he said in the House of Representatives lonight, and from that year to 1911, J) successive Ministries had accumulated £81,000,000 in public debt. Then a non-borrowing Government took over the destinies of the country, and in 16 years had increased the debt by £164,000,000, or £ 53,000,000 more than, the 30 Governments before them. This, said Mr. Lee, is not bad for a non-borrowing Government. A little later Mr. Lee said that tie Government's action i:i being able to hypothecate a sinking fund was in reality “a little in the bottle” for lie morning. The Government suffered a sore head of excessive borrowing, and when It found it could get no fresh loans it staved off the headaehfor a little while longer by this method.