POLITICAL NOTES.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1917, Page 2

POLITICAL NOTES.

THE PENSIONS BILL. I, (From our Parliamentary Reporter) Wellington, Oct. 13. The War Pensions Bill was passed in the Legislative Council this afternoon.' A note that has not been heard in the Lower House was sounded during the debate. The Hon. A. T. Maginnity, who had the support of other speakers, said he thought there was a tendency to say too. much about the self-sacrifice, of the soldiers. The men were fighting for themselves and for their own children as much as for any other section of the community, and they were serving because the call to war had come in the time of their manhood's prime.- It had .bean the fortune of other generations to [have to fight for the race. DEFENCE FINANCE. ' Sir James Allen made some reference to Defence finance in the Hoilse this afternoon. The effect of his remarks was that the expenditure of Mb Department had been checked very carefully throughout the war and that he would welcome any sort of investigation. He denied that his ''Department -Nad made wrong estimates or had allowed the expenditure to get out of hand. , GENERAL FINANCIAL SITUATION. Sir Joseph Ward had something to say about the general financial situation. Comparing the returns for the six months ended September 30, 1917, with the corresponding period of 1018 he said that the expenditure showed an increase of £100,559 and the revenue a decrease of £299,7)89. Customs revenue had fallen from £1,944,253 to £1,591,391, and railway revenue from £2,209;8H to £2,055,81*. But on the other hand the fin-ancial-resources of the Dominion at the end of September were much greater than in September 1916. The cash investments for revenue purposes were £U,038,848, as compared with £2,258,801 a year ago. The Minister added that we could not expect to have anything approaching the revenue of last year, but there was not going to bo a deficit. There was no intention of raising charges in any department in anticipation of »• doiicit, but there might be adjustments of staffs.