MEASURE PASSED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 200, 1 June 1940, Page 3

MEASURE PASSED

THE EMERGENCY POWERS BILL. END OF TWO DAYS’ DEBATE. THE PROPOSED WAR COUNCIL. (Per Press Association). WELLINGTONfi, May 31. The House of Representatives met at 10.30 a.m. when urgency was granted the passing of the Emergency Regulations Amendment Bill. Continuing his speech in the second reading debate on the Bill, Mr S. G. Holland (National, Christchurch North) said that five months after the outbreak of the war there were more men on public works than there had been the month before the war. The previous evening the Minister of Finance had said there would be no profiteering during this war, but, asked Mr Holland, when was the Government going to apply this decision to watersiders and others and others who, were being paid high rates in overtime for work which was vitally essential in the Dominion’s war effort? He suggested that many men at present on public works be transferred to more productive work.

The Hon, D. G. Sullivan said that a large proportion of the men engaged in public works were bringing into production lands that had hitherto lain idle. With regard to the formation of a War Council, it was the Government’s intention that this body should have full executive powers so far as New Zealand’s war effort was concerned. The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (Natibnal, Kaipara) contended that the country was waiting for a clear, a definite lead, and it was Parliament’s duty to get busy and mobilise the country for a united war effort. Surely, he said, if members from both sides of the House were fighting side by side on the battlefield it was the duty of the members who remained behind to get together and make a united effort. ” The Hon. R. Semple said that talking should be reduced to the minimum and work increased to the maximum. Discussing the Public Works position, he said the Government was working to transfer men to productive works. Irrigation work would not be cut down, because that meant increased production.

Mr W. S. Goosman (National, Waikato) said he considered the crying need at the present time was for men to help in the ordinary routine work on farms. If the Government went about things in the right way it could have the ungrudging compliance of the whole of the people. Mr E. P- Meachen (Labour, Marlborough), referring to the question of conscription, said he was one of those who considered it shotild not be passed before it was necessary. So long as we could fill our camps with men who entered them in the right spirit the better it would be for all concerned. Waterside Control. Mr A. E. Jull (National, Waipawa) suggested that the reason why the session was so long delayed was because the Government had to consult the Labour Conference. He criticised the Government’s waterside control policy. There was no effective control over the organisations which were an essential part of the country’s life, he said. It was a case of Rafferty’s Rules, and these were. times when efficiency was needed and the people were looking for a lead." They were not getting it. The Rev. Clyde Carr (Labour, Timaru) said he supported the Bill but opposed the arguments in favour of a Coalition Government. The Government had given an assurance that the powers in the Bill would be exercised as required, and only when required, and he hoped conscription would never be required. \Vith regard to the question of a Coalition, he said the Government’s supporters were as opposed to it as were the Opposition supporters in favour of it. The Opposition had always stood for the principle of “let the poor pay.” This had been demonstrated in the last war and during the slump. What help could the Goveniment expect from the Opposition with a policy so diametrically opposed to its own policy. Party rancour should he eliminated during the war period and the Opposition should abandon its talk of a Coalition and assist the Government in the task it was undertaking. Mr H. G. Dickie (National, Patea) said the Opposition was not asking for a Coalition Government but for a National Government. The Labour Government could not claim to represent every section of the community. The farming section of the country was not strongly represented in the Government and those sitting on the Treasury Benches had little knowledge of the primary producing industry. He claimed that fewer men were doing development work to the land to-day than were employed five months ago. The hulk of the people were behind the proposal for a National Government and did not want a handpicked lot of men administering New Zealand affairs jnen who did not represent the people. Men on Public Works. The Hon. P. C. Webb said that members of the Opposition had appealed to the Government to reduce the number of men on public works, but if only one-tenth of the requests ior new loads always being received by the Government were acceded to the numbei of men on public works would have to be doubled. He strongly defended the Government’s attitude with regard to the waterside labour question, saying that the average earnings of a waterside labour were only on a par with those of an average tradesman and were less than those of a machinist. The waterfront commissioners recently appointed by the Government were doing very valuable work, and the Waterfront Commission was working now in conjunction with the companies and the watersiders themselves in the direction of solving one of the most difficult problems with which this country had been faced. The Government’s task was to try to get ships in and out of the ports of the Dominion

as rapidly as possible, and to this end the contract system for waterside work was being introduced which, it was believed, would revolutionise work on the waterfront of this country. Mr W. J. Poison (National, Stratford) said the Opposition had done its best in the eight months of the war to assist the Government in the voluntary system of recruitment, and the iact that almost 50,000 men had already volunteered showed that their efforts had been successful. In doing this the Opposition had subordinated its very strong views on the subject toward co-ordinated effort with the Government, but he considered the Government had failed to grasp the need for doing more in this direction until it was too late. The election result in Auckland West had not been an endorsement of the Government’s war policy, as had beejj contended hv some members of the Government, and he considered that if a. War Council were set up by the present Administration it would prove a clumsy and unwieldy addition to the already numerous boards and councils already in being. It was, moreover, an undemocratic principle. Mr A. H. Nordmeyer (Labour, Oamairu) said the British precedent did not apply because the British Government had nearly run its course. The' New Zealand Government had the right to carry on in war because it had been elected about the time of the Munich crisis, when the people knew that war was still probable. They should have a, War Council, but not a Coalition. The Hon. J. G. Cobbe ( National, Manawatu) said he regarded it as the duty of the Opposition not to take part in the War Council which they considered would not carry out the country’s war effort efficiently. Mr E. B. Gordon (National, Rangitikei) said he considered that (Parliament should have been called together in February so that it would have had plenty of time to make the necessary arrangements for the prosecution of the war effort instead of being called together at the eleventh hour as it, were, . because a state of emergency existed. . Mr Fraser’s Reply. The Prime Minister, replying, said that the question of the formation of a War Council had been under consideration long before there had been any demand for National Government. Personally, he thought that a War Council would work and hei referred to the important place the War Council had had in Britain during the last war. The suggestion had not been put forward in New Zealand as a coun-ter-suggestion to the formation of - a National Government, and there would be no delay in implementing the decisions of the War Council. The Government still wished to secure the cooperation of the Opposition in the War Council.

The Bill passed: its second reading without a division and was put through its committee stages in eight minutes, given its third reading and passed. The Prime Minister thanked the House for the promptitude with which it had dealt with the measure. Before, the House rose at 5.35 p.m., Mr Fraser intimated that the secret session would commence on Wednesday at 2.30 p.m. He also said that the suggestion that the Dominion should offer to receive wa t v widows and orphans was under consideration, and the Government was in touch with tlie British Government in the matter./ Tributes to deceased legislators will be paid on, Tuesday.

BRIEF DEBATE IN COUNCIL. WELLINGTON, May 31. The Emergency Regulations Amendment Bill legislature came before the Council as soon as it was passed by the House, and was passed after a brief debate, in which the speakers agreed that it was necessary in this time of emergency. When the measure was put to the Council the Hon. M. Briggs (Wellington) said “No,” but therei was no question of a vote.