DEBATE ON PETROL-TAX

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1050, 14 August 1930, Page 1

DEBATE ON PETROL-TAX

PRIME MINISTER TAKES STAND

STORM OF CRITICAL PROTEST ROUSED

ALL-NIGHT SITTING IN THE HOUSE

THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter WELLINGTON, Today. AN unequivocal stand was taken by the Prime Minister about six o’clock this morning' when he spoke on an amendment to the Customs Amendment Bill, moved by Mr. R. A. Wright (Reform—Wellington Suburbs), that the petrol-tax be reduced to sd. Mr. Forbes’s independent attitude brought forth a storm of protest and criticism from both the Reform and Labour benches.

Mr. Forbes, after explaining the objects of the tax, said the Government was anxious about the unemployment problem and if the petrol tax were not passed the money for providing employment on road works would be lost. The highways fund would be poorer by that amount. The Government was trying, by taxation, to place the burden on the users of the roads instead of on the shoulders of the general taxpayer from the Consolidated Fund. That was a fair thing. The Government had been paying a £ for £ subsidy to local bodies. Mr. R. McKeen (Labour —Wellington South): The Government is putting the responsibility on to the shoul- j ders of the local bodies. Mr. Forbes said it was a case of : getting more revenue to deal with the i question of the highways and the J present method was considered the I fairest, way for getting money. The | House had to decide on that. Mr. D. Jones (Reform- —Mid-Canter- j bury) said the House had to decide whether the Government should pay ! subsidies or not. There were other I ways of raising money than the pres- ! ent. Mr. Jones took strong excep- | tion to the remarks of the Prime Minister that the question was not a Government responsibility. If the Government could not raise monev there was only one thing for it and the members knew what Mr. Jones meant. Mr. Jones claimed that the legislation providing for the grant to the Highways Board should be honoured. .Mr. W. E. Barnard (Labour — Napier) skid he had not been impressed by the attitude of the Prime Minister. Mr. Forbes would presently find that he would have to obtain legislative authority for his finance adjustments according to the outline in the Budget. The Government would have to stand or fall by the Budget and it seemed that Mr. Forbes was only postponing the day. The amendment intended that Mr. Forbes should remodel his proposals altogether. Mr. H. S. S. Kyle (Reform- —Riccarton) said that from Mr. Forbes's

statement it seemed that Mr. Jones’s assertion that the petrol-tax was for the relief of unemployment was correct. He appealed to the Government to honour the agreement with the motorists. Mr. J. McCombs (Labour —Lyttelton) supported Mr. F. Langstone (Labour —Waimarino) in his contention that both the Consolidated and the Highways Funds were Government funds and subject to the authority of Parliament. After pleas by Mr. A. M. Samuel (Reform —Thames) and Mr. M. J. Savage (Labour —Auckland West) that the House adjourn so that the Prime Minister could consider the serious position of the Government, the House rose at 7.3 a.m. until 2.30 today.