“ONE OF THE BEST”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1938, Page 7

“ONE OF THE BEST”

PRIME MINISTER PRAISES BUDGET PRICES AND THE NATIONAL INCOME. HIGH LEVEL OF PROSPERITY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. “I wish to congratulate the Minister on the presentation of a good business Budget,” said the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon M. J. Savage, when speaking in the Financial Debate in the House of Representatives last night. “My colleague has again given this House and the country a clear and convincing account of his stewardship, and I think the country is to be congratulated on having a Minister of Finance who has the grasp of financial affairs that Mr Nash has.” Mr W. P. Polson (Opposition, Stratford): “He certainly has a grasp of the people’s pockets.” “This is one of the best Budgets ever submitted to a New Zealand Parliament,” the Prime Minister said, “because it is best for the things that mean so much in the everyday life of the community. Apart from the surplus of £BlO,OOO, the financial statement shows a high level of prosperity, because more people than ever before have shared in the better times. Good cheer is the best form of good government.”

“It is said that the increase in the national income is due to increased prices overseas,” the Prime Minister continued. “Admittedly prices overseas have risen, but had it not been for the Labour Government’s policy of re-distributing the national income the aggregate private income today would be very much less. It would have gone into the pockets of the few, as in the past.” The Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon W. E. Parry: “The mortgagees.” DEBT AND EXPANSION. “Public debt charges have increased under Labour on the average by £66,000 a year,” Mr Savage added. “That works out at lOd a head, but look at the work that has been done. How can we expand the nation’s business without spending money? Business people in all lines have to do the same thing.” Mr Polson: “One is investment. The other is squander.” “Just like a manufacturer who is more than compensated for extra expenditure by the increased trade that results from the expansion of his business, the country is' better off, and so are the people,” said Mr Savage. “I can understand the social-credit man’s point of view. He says we should not raise the taxation but use the public credit.”

Mr Broadfoot: “Then why pull their legs about it?”. “I cannot understand the man who says we should neither raise the taxation nor use the public credit,” Mr Savage added. Mr Polson: “Did you not say that before the last election?”

Mr Savage: “No, I said we have never used the public credit as much as we should have. That is the famous phrase again for your benefit.” The Prime Minister said that since March, 1936, the increase in taxation had amounted to about £11,250,000, but in the same time it was estimated that income in the aggregate had gone up by not less than £45,000,000. People therefore still had nearly £34,000,000 left.

SOCIAL SERVICES AND DEFENCE.

“Two main items of increased expenditure in the last two Budgets are social services and defence, and I have no apology to make for either,” Mr Savage said. “In the field of social service we have a glorious record. Education has been increased by nearly £1,000,000, pensions have been doubled to nearly £7,000,000, and the expenditure on health and mental hospitals has been increased by over £500,000.

“We have put free milk in the schools, with more than half the children Covered, we have more teachers in training, we have instituted health and education work among the Maoris and we have established a housing scheme. The people’s welfare is the highest law so far as this Government is concerned. We know no other.” The Prime Minister said that New Zealand had to play its part in the defence of the British Commonwealth, as well as undertaking a much larger measure of its own defence than in the past. Reorganisation and extension of the 1 naval service continued. On the military side the coastal defences were being strengthened, the mechanisation of the army on modern lines was proceeding, and the territorial force was being extended and improved. “The estimates for the army, navy and air force account for £2,000,000,” Mr Savage said, “but in addition £1,000,000 is being provided for landing fields, hangars and equipment. Who can say we are not doing our job? Taking this year’s total from all sources, we have trebled the expenditure on defence since we took office.”