THE BUDGET.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1916, Page 4

THE BUDGET.

DEBATED AFTER Ail. •XO CONFIDENCE.'• TARANAKI TAKES A HAND. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, June 22. It turns out after all. that the more 01 less fortuitous circumstances which landed the House into Committee of Supply on Tuesday evening without tho customary Budget debate only postponed the delivery of the speeches pre* pared for the occasion. In his gratitude for the extraordinary piece of good luek lie imagined had come his way, Mr. Mussey allowed the Committee to report progress after passing the Brit item of the Estimates, and members to take a night off as a mark of the Minister's appreciation of their silence.

When the House met yesterday afternoon, however, Mr. Witty, who was acting as unofficial leader of the non-party Opposition, in the absence of Mr. Wiiiu<u, intercepted the motion for returning to Committee of Supply witli a. speech ... which he criticised the Budget as he had intended to do on the previous evening. He was more than half way through his remarks whin trhe Hon. \V. H. Herries, who happened to' be the senior Minister in the House, rose to a point of order and obtained a ruling from the Speaker requiring the member for Siccarton to confine his remarks to the Estimates. Mr. Witty managed to complete what he had set out to say, and , then Mr. iPearqe put himself and the rest of the members "on side" by moving an amendment to the motion, in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the proposals contained in the Budget, on account of their disregard for the best interests of the country, and especially. for the interests of the producers. This opened the way to the whole flood of pent-up talk, and it flowed forth in a persistent stream till well after midnight.

After the member for Patea had read his amendment, lie was admonished by Mr. Forbes, amidst much laughter, to "be careful," but, obviously not seeing the jest, it was necessary for Mr. Isitt to explain to him that he was challenging the Tight of the Government to occupy the > Treasury benches;, in short, he was moving a vote of of noconfidense in the 'Xational Cabinet. Mr. Pearce had not seen it in that light, and hurriedly disclaimed any intention to embarrass the Ministers. Having set the minds of Mr. Masscy and his colleagues at rest on that point, he proceeded to lecture them in his own characteristic fashion upon their innumerable sins of omission and commission. Apparently, if the motion really had been one of no-confidence, it would hate harmonised with the speaker's own feelings at the moment. His remedy f6r the ills that are inflicting the country in general, and the farmers in particular, would be a tax upon exports In place of a tax upon profit#. Tt was Taranaki's day out, and, very appropriately, Mr. Okev seconded the amendment.' He had no sympathy with many of Mr. Pearce's views—lie "did not like the tax on exports—but he joined with his colleagues in deploring; the down-trodden condition of the farmer", who, he implied, had the greatest difficulty in keeping their beads above water even in the best of times. He would tax amusements and extravagances it he had his way, and, as a rude member interjected, would have a real dull time for the rest of his days.

Mr. Wilkinson, who spoke later on in the evening, after listening to Sir Joseph Ward, addressed himself to the figures of the Budget with all the eas,V confidence of an embryo Minister of Finance, patting Sir Joseph on the back now cud ' agam, rearranging his loan? and ;'O-adjiisting his finance, as if to the .nnnner born. His.chief fear seoiued to be i'nfit. the "'me 1 ! iu»n" would escape their fair share of taxation. fTe would put a duty of :)d a pomul on Wa. it duly of V-d a pomul on sugar, he would think seriously of reducing the income-tux evemptiou to £'2."o. or even to £lt is the misfortune of 'the member for Egmont to have what is known in the House as the "Taranaki manner." in a rather aggravated form; but he ineann well, and his excursions into finance nro not uninteresting.

Captain lline, the remaining Taranaki representative, was not in the House, (probably being better employed in cam])), but it is easy to imagine what he would have said had lie been there. The last insistent dictum he pronounced from his seat a week or so back, was that there were no profits and never would be. And now Sir Joseph Ward proposes to take two millions of them to swell his surplus! The Minister was very patient with his critics. He had listened to their speeches with great interest, and, ha Hoped, with some profit—this with a merry twinkle in his eye—and for their present comfort he could assure t'hem that every proposal in the Budget had been the subject of close investigation and earnest thought by himself and the Cabinet.