UNPOPULAR BUDGET

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1006, 24 June 1930, Page 1

UNPOPULAR BUDGET

GOVERNMENT WILL TAKE RISK MR. FORBES’S STATEMENT Press Association CHRISTCHURCH. Today. Speaking at a reception at Cheviot last evening, the Prime Minister, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, said the financial statement he had made had placed the issue clearly before the people. He had had the feeling that it might be said that he had been doing something that would damage the credit of the country, hut he recognised that if the position was clearly stated it would b 3 known that it was being dealt with. “It was a pretty stiff sort of Eudget to present to a new Prime Minister,’* said Mr. Forbes. “I asked the Secretary of the Treasury if it was usual to present that sort of Budget to a new Prime Minister, and he told me that it had not happened before in his time. I decided to share the responsibility with the people of New Zealand.’*

Confidence in the ultimate recovery of the Dominion from its financial troubles and in the determination of the Government to balance the ledger on the correct side even at the price of unpopularity were expressed by Mr. Forbes. Cabinet had been thoroughly turning over the estimates of the public departments to see how expenses could be cut down. “I dare say that that means a good deal of unpopularity, but when you have figures and when you know what they mean, then it is the duty of whoever is in charge to face the position, whether it is unpopular or not and I intend to do so,” concluded Mr. Forbes amidst applause.