WAR REGULATIONS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 47, 5 December 1940, Page 3

WAR REGULATIONS

PROTEST BY THE OPPOSITION.

PREMIER’S VIGOROUS DEFENCE.

(Per Press Association)

WELLINGTON, December 4

A discussion on the war regulations occupied the attention of the House to-night, urgency being granted to aliotv the debate to continue after iO.SO p.m. if necessary.

Opening the debate, Mr F. W. Doidge (National, Tauranga) said he appreciated the action of the Prime Minister in giving the House an opportunity to discuss these regulations. More laws were being made by Orders-in-Council than by Parliament to-day, and he was sure that not one member of the House in ten knew one-tenth of the regulations which had been passed. Not even the lawyers themselves know them.

Mr Fraser: They seem, to be quite happy about it. Mr'Doidge continued that they wanted Parliament to say so and not some civil servant. Speaking of the regulations dealing with price control, he said these governed the whole work of the Price Tribunal. He also mentioned the Waterfront Regulations and the Patriotic Purposes Regulations as other important measures in which Parliament had no say. He expressed the opinion that the last-mentioned had throttled patriotic effort. Mr "Fraser: They are the best in operation in any country. Irksome Minor Restrictions. Mr Doidge continued that people were only now beginning to give freely. They would give even more freely if they had complete trust in the Government. He also referred to the regulations providing for the establishment of the Home 'Guard, and said everyone knew of the confusion and chaos which had resulted at the beginning of ‘-110 scheme. !The Minister in charge of the Home Guard had been forced to stump the country to get this organisation on v a proper footing, and Mr Doidge said he must admit that the Minister had made a splendid job of it. There were scores of irksome minor restrictions brought in by regulation, and he mentioned some phases of the petrol restrictions as an instance. Some regulations were justifiable,' for instance, that placing a limit on the sale of liquor to men in uniform; but here the administration could be improved. Stamp dealers had practically been wiped out by a stroke of the pen. Mr Fraser: 4 That position has largely been adjusted now. Mr Doidge also contended that people nowadays often broke laws unwit- • tingly through lack of knowledge of the regulations. Under these regulations every Minister had become a dictator and every head of a department a lord high executioner. Why suppress the journal of Jehovah’s Witnesses? he asked. He could not understand anyone reading it. He concluded that the people were being buried under an avalanche of regulations. The Priine Minister said that Mr Doidge had missed the whole purport of the war regulations. There might be an excellent case against previous Governments for the issue of too many regulations, but that was of academic interest. The counti-y was now at war, and it was necessary that the Government should have certain powers. Mr Doidge: It is under the guise of war that you are doing all these things. Jehovah's Witnesses. Mr Fraser: “I didn’t hear the lion, gentleman making that point in his speech.” The hon, gentleman had failed hopelessly to do anything like that and went on piling up a spurious untenable ease. He had scarcely mentioned the war regulations, continued Mr Fraser, but had mentioned various regulations which the Government had been forced to introduce at the request of, people whose livelihood had been affected. For instance, the raspberry regulations had been mentioned, and these had been brought in expressly at the request of the growers. ‘The lion, gentleman should know “that jf he is to he effective he should know sc mething about his subject,” said Mr Fraser. Whatever Government uas in power during the war period must have authority to make regulations to deal with situations which might arise. Mr W. J. Poison (National, Stratford) : It is not the right to make regulations that we are complaining about but it is the use being made ol them.

Mr Fraser: If it cau be established that they are being wrongly used, then that would he a strong case. Speaking of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mr Fraser said' that in normal times all the Government was concerned about was that there should be no breaches of the peace, but when he came to the war period it was essential that the people should be united and ..that there should be no sectarian dissension. He had taken it upon himself to appeal to the various religious organisations for unity and to avoid anything that would lead to recriminations. We were all in the war whether we were Catholics Protestants, Baptists, Presbyterians or Jehovah’s Witnesses. He did not doubt their sincerity or question their right to worship according to their conscience. Tlie Government had no quarrel with them, and he hoped something would be done by which the organisation could worship like other churches in a normal way and not to do anything against the regulations. A Sacred Trust. Mr Fraser admitted that great powers were given under the W ai Emergency Regulations. They were a sacred trust and were not embarked upon lightly. Adequate reasons woio given for the various regulations and it was better that some slight inconvenience should be caused to thousands of people than, to find a blow struck at some of the country’s vital points. No Government could guarantee that every officer would administer the laws and regulations 100 per cent efficiently, and there might he those who liked

to feel they had power, but anything that was, not right should be brought to tlio notice of the responsible Minister. As the war went on the regulations became appalling in volume, and ho admitted it was impossible for everybody to keep track of them, hut to the average citizen going about his work the laws were not burdensome, neither were the regulations. Speaking of the petrol regulations, Mr Fraser explained the arrangements which had been made with Britain, and said that if people were inconvenienced by not being able to use «tlieir cars for pleasure trips, it was one of the burdens of wartime. It was nothing compared with the sacrifices being made in Britain. Mr Fraser appealed to members to refrain from petty irritating criticism as far as the country’s war effort was concerned, but the Opposition had an opportunity both in secret and in open session to put forward suggestions and criticise anything they considered a weakness in order to help the country to go forward to victory.

Duty of Opposition. . The Lender of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) said the Opposition had a right and duty to express themselves fearlessly and courageously, and no tongue thrashing the Prime' Minister could administer was going to lessen their contribution to debates when they had an opportunity of expressing themselves. Although, the country was at war, Parliament Was still the place wheree the voice of the people was to be expressed, and they would do th.e country a great disservice if they handed, over to the 'Civil. Service a job that was their prerogative and! their duty. Mr (Holland said he would have no hesitation in saying that the regulations the House were discussing had been employed in a; number of directions and on numerous occasions to do things that Parliament itself would not. countenance.

Mr Frascir said that if Mr Holland indicated any particular regulation that had been tabled on which he wished to test the feeling of the House he would be given the opportunity. Mr Holland replied that was a concession and showed the debate was worth while. Continuing, he contended it was not necessary to bring doivn reuglations calling for increased production from dairy farmers. Thousands of workers were prepared' to work extra hours at ordinary rates of pay to help the war effort, but had been, prevented from so doing. The position at- present was absurd, he said, and it was time we> as a people, got on with the job. What the country had to learn or relearn was a simple thing—that our prosperity depended on hard work. The .people of New Zealand were sound at heart and were anxious to help the Empire in its time of need. Praise foir Workers. The Minister of Labour .(the Hon. P. C. Webb) said no regulation affecting labour had been introduced unless it had been thoroughly investigated by the Industrial Emergency Council and there was no committee doing _ a greater national service. Those in industry were doing a magnificent job, and where commodities were short they were.’ working day and night to provide extra commodities. The workers were responding splendidly, but there was a lot more to .be clone. Ho appealed for unity and said the Government wanted to. feel that whatever it did would be for the good of the British. Commonwealth. The debate was continued by Mr J. A. Lee, the Hon. W. L. Martin, Mr M. Williams, Mr W. A. Bodkin, the Hon. F. Langstone and Mr C. G. E. Hacker. The Attorney-General, , the Hon. H. G. R. Mason, briefly replied and v the House rose.