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STATE PARLIAMENT.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
General Debate Concluded.
? The Legislative Council met yesterday at
4.30 p.m. '
ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.
MrT JIACFARLANE, resuming, the de
bate on tFe, Address-iti-Reply, saiS-that; he
sympathised with the cases.made out by
the representatives of the .mining districts
and of the North-West, -with regard to
future developmental 'possibilities. The
Loan Council, he thought, ehould insist
upon a 8tr,ujt balancing, of budgets. Taxa
tion was tHe:.6nly alternative to continued
borrowing; but, . if it 'were generally ap
plied, he -would not object to it.
It was time the views of Mr. W. A.
Shields were given attention, as applied to
the Hills water scheme, and he appre
ciated the merits, of the river reclamation
scheme. A redistribution scheme apply
ing to Legislative Council provinces was
called for.. Qft the subject of dairying, be
was pleased Awith' the results, of .the zone
competitions iin butterfat production, but
was of opinion that the stabilised-price
per lb. should be increased' from 1/ to
1/3. Results had shown that opportunities
would bo available for dairy farmers, pro
vided that tbe,-advice of the Agricultural
)epartmen't ivias* followed. ;
?The CHIEF 'SECRETARY (Mr. Drew;
replied to -points raised during the de
bate. He' '&iid 'that Mr. Baxter's
reference to the local- products ^cam
paign, whichv was initiated '? by the
Minister .for* Employment (Mr. Ken
neally) was astonishing, and his statement
that they could not hope that people
would buy an unsuitable article, simply be
cause it was made in 'the State, suggested
that' the locally-produced article' was of
inferior -quality. .
Mr. Baxter: Certainly not.
Mr. Drew said that the experience of
Mr. Kehneally. was/exactly the reverse, and
ie intended vigorously to. continue _ hifi
campaign.^ Further;; the Economic Coun
cil-which- was formed by the' Government
was. doing valuable'.work. It represented'
every shade of poHtical thought -ajP
tendered gratuitous , service to the state.
The-figures of the Government Statis
tician showed that thelocal products cam
p'aigri'was making itself, felt. Taking as a
-ase the index figure 'of; 100 for employ
ment in factories in 1926-30, the^figure fell
to 77 in 193031.' ' In May 'last year the
figure was 80.- In. May this year the figure
increased to 93,' and today the index figure
was only eight points below that of the
peak year; 192?^, . '^ . ' , '. ' '
. v' '.--. ' Emeraency ; Tax.
ji-tv'ith -regard: t»: ther'financial' emergency
iaxMfc wasi;rue-that '.the Government esti
mated £400,000 for a full' year's receipts
and for the nine months of last year
£300.000. From this figure, however, must
be- deducted £28,000 received at the 4id.
rate under the previous year's tax, and
£50 000 due, the Commissioner ot laxa
tion informed him, to the increased pros
perity of taxpayers. -
Apart from the removal of the algae
nuisance, the river reclamation would, he.
claimed, create a great and permanent
asset for the' State. He then gave infor
mation in ^connexion with the Govern
ment prospecting scheme. The expenai
ture to the end of last June was, he said,
£49,306, £6,018 bf which was ,for equip?
ment, etc. Refunds amounted to £4.154,
and gold won through the scheme totalled
about £50,000. In reply to Mr. Thom
son he could state that the men employed
at Frankland River had been reduced to
a minimum, and It was intended to trans
fer the whole; of. them to more useful
work, clearing :pccupied '?holdings' in the
South-West. --. . -; ? '?'?', ' ' . ?
.; Railways and North-West.
Commenting, on Mr. Hamersley's
criticism of the railway administration,
and his complaints about the increased
number of men employed during the past
year or so, MrljDrew reminded members
that he had toldthein last year that the
Government was involved in heavy expen
diture through the repair of a large
accumulation -of .rolling stock, including
locomotives, which..: toad become defective
andbad'been pub'out of action, and that
other, 'work h^cPfc&'fbe under taken in order
to -m'aTccrtthe ^railways 'safe; The majority
of 'additfohaT'staff employed consisted of
casuals, and when: .arrears of -worfc were
overtaken, then.* ~, services''' would be 'dis-
pensea witn. „/ _
Ur.' Hdlines, the Chief Secretary con
sidered, was not quite right in saying that
the North got very little from the Govern
ment. During the period' of the previous
Collier Administration, there was spent in
the-' North £146,855 oh harbour works,
£12)407 on water supplies, £25,843 on
buildings and £103,585 .on roads and
bridges— a total of £288,690. In 1930,
£51200 was' allocated by the Collier Gov
ernment,' which was spent by* the Mitchell
Government, and £6,800 allocated by
the* Mitchell Government ? itself, while
(£25,000 'had been set aside by
the' .'Hi present Government.: for ex
penditure on roads ('in; the ?? North-West.
At present ' the Beadon' jetty was being
re-built. 'Mr. Holmes wanted the Poin
Sampson, jetty f&built, too. And he wished
borrowing to be cut down simultaneously.
He could not have it both waysi It was
impossible for the Government .to spend
large sums of money on big undertakings
if its financial resources were restricted.
. Mr.. Drew denied that the teachers had
been .unfairly discriminated against with
regard to the incidence of the emergency
tax. ' Pilotage, exemptions, he went on, had
been mistakenly granted, over a period,
owing -to the Commonwealth- registration
of certain vessels having been withdrawn,
but the Harbour Trust . denied that the
pilotage dues were exploited for taxation
purposes. He referred also to unemploy
ment' and the timber industry. (Reported
elsewhere.)'
' ' The motion for the adoption of the
Address-in-Reply was asreed to.
.,.' - ;'.~ FIRST READINGS. ,
The following measures were received
from the Legislative Assembly' and read a
first time: — -Forests Act' Amendment Bill,
Mortgagees' Rights Restriction Act Cori^
tinuation Bill, Reduction of. Rents Act
Continuation Bill, Supreme Court Sittings'
Amendment Bill.
-; MR. GRAY'S SEAT.
f'MR. SEDDON moved the motion, stand
ing,in,.his name on the notice paper, chal
lenging the; efficacy of the free pardon
granted to Mr. Gray for his offence under
the .Electoral' Act. (Reported elsewhere.)
£? :o'!?.- Adjournment.
&t 8.30v .p.m.' the House adjourned to
430 pjn. on' Tuesday next.
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