A STONEWALL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 64, Issue 148, 3 April 1944, Page 3

A STONEWALL

LOCAL ELECTIONS AND POLLS. HOUSE SITS FOR 33) HOURS. END OF COUNTRY QUOTA SEEN. (P A.) WELLINGTON, April 1. The longest Parliamentary debate for a number of years was interrupted at midnight when the House of Representatives had just reached the committee stage on the Local Elections and Polls Amendment Bill. Assembling at 2.30 p.m. on Friday, the House sat for 33) hours with adjournments only for meals, which reduced the actual debating time to 25 hours. The prediction of one Opposition speaker at a late hour on Saturday was that the House would require three to five days next week to finish the committee stages. Approximately 10 hours of debating time was devoted to preliminaries before the actual second reading debate got under way early this morning. The House will reassemble at 10.30 a.m. on Monday.

A feature of the debate was the claim by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland), who spoke late to-night, that the Bill was the first step' of a gigantic attack by the Government on the basis of Parliamentary representation enjoyed by farmers. The Leader of the Opposition added that the public wanted to know why the Opposition was taking such' a serious view of the measure. The reason was that there was much more behind the Bill than appeared on the surface. It was the first step in an attack on Parliamentary representation. At the last election there was a big slide away from the Government In particular, tens of thousands of farmers turned from the Government .to the Opposition. The Government became alarmed and determined to alter the rules, as if altering the rules could help it at the next election! Fanning Basic Industry. Mr Holland said farming was the basic industry of the country. Half of our standard of living depended on the exporting of primary produce. Our whole economy was built on the foun dation of the primary industry. Anything which chiselled away that foundation did a grave injustice. This Bill was part of a gigantic attack on Parliamentary representation, taking away from, farmers the representation they now enjoyed. In counties, rates Were levied on_a particular -assetland —to provide for county expenditure. The view was taken that those paying rates had the right to elect those spending the money. “We hold our view strongly, and we are determined to fight with all vigour for our opinions. Our tactics, which have been employed so successfully so far, were also used when the Bill was before the Local Bills Committee,” Mr Holland said. Seventy-six' per cent, of the Bill had been amended. They claimed that it should he further amended. “We are not against universal suffrage for country districts. We. would support some scheme by which those residing permanently in country districts would have the right to vote and offer themselves for election to local bodies, but while the ratepayers in a confined group have to pay the money they have the right to find the representatives.”

The National Party would-agree to universal franchise being extended to country districts provided there was universal responsibility as well, The Opposition would support the Government on such a system. Servicemen returning from the war would have freehold land, and he wanted the tenants of State houses to have the right to acquire the freehold of their properties. Feeling Stirred Up. Mr Holland declared practically the whole of the County Councils were up in arms against the Bill. The feelingsuch as that stirred up by the Bill and the method of its introduction had not been seen for many years. The evidence of three national organisations which had given evidence had been overwhelming and unanimous. Metaphorically- speaking, the doors of the committee room had been locked and the key thrown away. The committee had completed its deliberations and made its report to the House against the will of the Opposition, who were therefore prepared to sit. in the House night after night until they had ,exhousted every remedy in their power to see that the people who desired to make representations had that right restored to them.

An absurd provision of the Bill was that giving certain employees of a local body the right to stand for election, but locking the door against others, excluding those best qualified to stand for election. The Bill sought to impose an injustice on the primary producer which Parliament had no right to approve. Mr Holland urged that the moment when the second front was being opened and Britain was calling for more food production was not the time tq undermine the morale of those responsible for increased production. Mr Chapman had told them that the present Bill was nothing to what they would have to put up with later on. He was evidently indicating that the next step would be the removal of the country quota. “We are going to fight so that the privileges country people enjoy shall not be disturbed,” declared Mr Holland.