MAIDEN SPEECH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 282, 27 November 1940, Page 9

MAIDEN SPEECH.

WAIPAWA'S MEMBER.

SOLDIERS AND LAND.

*** TelegrsphParliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day,

Delivering his maiden speech in the House of Representatives, about two hours after he wa* sworn in, Mr. Harker (National, Waipawa) spoke on the Small Farm* Amendment Bill. He commenced by critkising the title of the measure, declaring that it was because the Opposition desired a comprehensive and effective piece of legislation for the settlement of returned soldiers that they opposed the bill in its present form. In many respects it was a snare and a delusion. The tenure provisions were attacked by Mr. Barker. They violated the very principle of security, he said. Was it any wonder that tiie Returned Soldiere' Association had demanded the right to acquit e the freehold? "My objection to the bill is based in the desire to see a measure that will permanently rehabilitate our returned soldiere and encourage them to build up security for themselves and their families,'' he said. Would the Government be prepared to accept the reuuni'mcndatioiis of the returned soldiers ? he asked. Returned Soldiers. The Minister of Lands, Mr. Langstone: The Returned Soldiers' Association is in favour of the bill. We met them on Saturday.

Mr. Harker: They are in favour of certain principles contained in the bill, but only those principles, together with the right to acquire the freehold.

He said that the returned soldiers wanted a special bill, about which they could 'be heard and which should not 1* rushed through the House in the dying stages of the seseion. It was only by giving the right to freehold that the main principle of land settlement could be achieved. One of the previous difficulties was that the areas of land -were too email, and there was nothing in this bill to indicate that there would not be any repetition of that. Farming wae a science, he continued, and had the framem of the bill had any practical knowledge it would not have come before the House in it* present form. He suggested that the bill should be replaced by an amendment to the Discharged Soliders' Settlement Act and that the Returned Soldiers' Association and other interested parties should have the opportunity to examine it thoroughly.