PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 September 1915, Page 4

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. By T«U*rfcph.—Press Associativa. ' Wellington, Last Nifht. QUESTIONS. In the Hoctse this afternoon, Minister!, in reply to questions, said legislate would be necessary to permit soldieW at the front to participate in land ballots, and legislation would be providid to enable absent troopers to be represented at the ballot by some friend; -that a trooper's pay ceased on the man beirig killed; pay of missing men was stoppid till their fate was known; that it would be unwise to prevent details rotating to the supply of munitions to appear in the newspapers.

In reply to Hon. D. Buddo, the Prim* Minister said he would look into thftA member's Lights on Vehicles Bill, tad see if he could take it up. END OF BUDGET DEBATE. The debate on the Budget was resumed by Mr. R. A. Wright. He agreed la 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 tyre*, and considered they could cheerfully face tie extra revenue required. Exports had enormously increased, and he saw Ho signs of any slump ,in prices. Mr. R. W. Smith said that one satisfactory feature was that extra taxation on tiie laboring classes had been practt* . cally omitted. It was a sound principle that the bulk of the money required should be obtained from those who hid made profit out of the war. He did not favor increase of the ordinary land tax, and condemned the agitation to supprtu rallies for patriotic purposes. Mr. A. H. Hind marsh explained thftt a representative of the labor Party hfci not joined the National Cabinet becattio after Sir J. 6. Ward and his colleagues joined Mr. Massey, the Government had a majority to pass their proposals; m denied the accuracy Of the Statement that the Labor Party were actuated by a desire to find all the taxation on laitd. He favored heavy duties on luxuries. Mr, J. A. Young said that the Government had to call on all the available sources of revenue. He objected to tilt 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 esfetee, and to apply it to war twaUon purposes was adopting a dangerous priaciple, t SIR JOSEPH WARD REPLIES. After the dinner adjournment, Sir J. Q. Ward replied. He said that not obe of the proposals suggested by hon. members in the course of the debate hid not been considered by himself, lie idea in framing proposals had been to put the main portion of taxation on those able to bear it, and leave out the worker and the necessaries of life. Ths Government really ought to have had £600,000, at least, more than was asked for. No self-respecting Government could permit their proposals to be altered, even if the combination were formed on national lines. He was there with his colleagues to assist in putting tha affairß of the country into a good sound position. He had no personal motive. What they were asking 1 for was a n>#ru < fleabitfe to the fifteen hundred men who had already given their lives on behalf of the country, and of those who were yet unfortunately to givo their lives for that object. The quostion simply was, how could they best give their assistance t

Detailing the criticism, Sir Joseph Ward said the total amount retielftd for champagne last year was £5707 i the increase proposed would hare given £BOO. As to taxing amußemelit;, 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 inaguratcd a special tax. The suggestion to tax films was untenable. The proposal to tax motor cars had also been carefully examined,' and the basin upon which taxation had been arranged was considered preferable. He explaincl that the mortgage tax was necosqavy to prevent evasions of the land tat. He defended the proposal to raise tlio dutv on spirits Is per gallon only, instead of 4s, as suggested. The duty was 17s in Australia, the highest in the wor)d. Regarding tho beer tax, he argued tiiat the brewing of lighter beers was dosirnble. The Controller of Customs had showed him that the revenue required would be provided. The amount of Increase to be charged against Urewsfrs would amount to about £37,000, and this tax could not be passed on to drinkers. As to the suggested increased duty on cigarettes, the Controller of Custom* had advised him that not muoh more revenue could bo 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. Tha 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 tho 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 bursting-up tax, and so far as a city man was concerned it was inore 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 waß a dangerous proceeding. It Was not advisable to establish a State Bank, linked up as we were with tha Bank of New Zealand. The Government would not abandon the system of sinking funds, and lie was confident the loan would bo raised locally. One Arm had offered to lake 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 foi botli public and private economy, in yiei» of the fact that no one could prophesy how long the war would last. Considerable savingß had been made on last year's estimates, and it was not proposed to spend all the vote on this yearV estimates. It might be necessary U make still further savings in the future. Concluding. Sir Joseph Ward pointed out that the National Government tm «b----titled to the support of members in theii proposals. Any reasonable objection would be met if possible, and such alter* ations could be made when Bills tfen in committee.

The House then went into ComnittK of Supply, and passed the first item eg the Estimates without diwsioo.