BUDGET DEBATE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 July 1940, Page 4

BUDGET DEBATE

MR HAMILTON DEMANDS CIVIL ECONOMIES PREMIER’S REPLY SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS INVITED. AMENDMENT MOVED BY MR LEE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. ' The financial debate was opened in the House of Representatives last night by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Hamilton. The Budget, he said, professed to recognise the need foi’ economy, but did not practice it. The country pas paying dearly today for the extravagant spending of the past years, which had made things harder than they would otherwise have been: A reduction by half in the expenditure on public works was advocated by Mr Hamilton, who contended that the borrowing of £15,000,000 for this purpose would add greatly to the difficulty of obtaining capital for production. Mr Hamilton was followed by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, who said it was satisfactory to know that what criticism there had been of the Budget had been directed at the civil side of it and not at the war expenditure. The Leader of the Opposition had not indicated where votes could be cut. Mr Fraser, who defended the Government’s public works policy, said that irrigation, afforestation, and river erosion protection works were absolutely sound and could not be described as wasteful expenditure. The only other speaker in the debate was Mr Lee (Democratic Labour, Grey Lynn), who was interrupted by the adjournment at 10.30 p.m. An amendment was moved by Mr Lee to the effect that the Budget proposals were not acceptable in their present form on the grounds that: — (1) They make no provision for the use of public credit to increase New Zealand’s internal production. (2) They increase the burden of internal debt, which will constitute a crushing liability on the people after the war. (3) The system of finance outlined in the Fnancial Statement is not calculated to enable the rehabilitation of the soldiers after the war at the standard which is their right, and (4) They will reduce, without adding to the country's war effort, the consumption of food and other necessaries of life in thousands of New Zealand homes.

The debate is being continued in the House this afternoon.