MONEY SAVED?

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20920, 27 September 1939, Page 9

MONEY SAVED?

VOTES ALREADY PASSED INFORMATION SOUGHT NEED FOR ECONOMY (By Telegraph.—Special to Times) WELLINGTON, Tuesday “The weakness in the Minister’s proposals is that he has not informed the House of any savings that can be made,” said the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. A. Hamilton, when the War Expenses Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives to-night. Mr Hamilton criticised the lack of information concerning the amount of money the Government expected to save from expenditure alreadyapproved by Parliament, and suggested that the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, should be able to save more than sufficient to offset the deficit of approximately £4,000.000 in this year’s war expenditure. “It is very difficult for one to grasp the significance of all the proposals on their introduction,” said Mr Hamilton. “The Minister is asking for authority to borrow £10,000,000, when he anticipates a deficit of about £4,000,000 to be made up this year on account of war expenditure. “We have passed a terrific quantity of money this year,. but when the Minister asks us for a lot more for defence we would at least expect that he would be able to indicate some expected savings from the expenditure of £75,289,000 already approved. This represents an increase of £8,797,000 over last year. “To come along for another £6,500,000 for war expenditure without using some of the money already passed looks as if it were only half the story,” continued Mr Hamilton. “Even if the Minister can economise only to make up the £4,000,000 out of the £75,000,000, I should say he is not as careful as he might be. “The Minister’s proposals for extra taxation will be carried willingly by the people, but only if the Government makes a supreme effort to be careful of expenditure in other directions,” said Mr Hamilton. “A certain amount of waste is inevitable in war expenditure, but we have to see that there is no waste elsewhere.”

Public Works Money

The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (Opposition—Kaipara) sought information as to the amount of the unexpended portion of the public works vote that would be made available for expenditure on defence. “The Government has stated that it proposes to transfer from votes already passed such sums as it thinks fit for other purposes,” said Mr Coates. “Does the Government contemplate paying for the preparation of training grounds out of the existing public works vote? To what extent is public works money to be transferred to the War Expenses Account?” Mr Nash: If men are transferred from public works the expenditure on these works will show a corresponding decrease. All the work associated with defence, even if carried out by the Public Works Department, will be charged to the War Expenses Account. Scope Not Great The Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, said that the scope for the employment of non-skilled men on aerodromes at present under construction was not very great, neither could many men be taken off public works for engagement on the training camps, for the three of them would all be completed in about three weeks. The Burnham camp would be finished next Saturday. However, it might be possible to transfer men from public works to industries engaged in the production of foodstuffs.