QUESTIONS ASKED IN THE HOUSE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13888, 12 November 1910, Page 9

QUESTIONS ASKED IN THE HOUSE.

A HEATED DISCUSSION". (special to "the prkss.") WELLINGTON, November 11. The anouncement in the Press cablegrams to-day that Now Zealand is raising a £5.000.000 loan in London at l>3l. and that existing thrco nnfl a halfs have fallen to l>7 came as a great surprise, and has caused a good deal of discussion. The committal of the New Zealand Loans Amendment Bill in the House of Representatives to-night was taken advantage of !>y Mr Massey (Leader of the Opposition) to ask the Prime Minister to give the House and the country a statement on the subject.

Sir Joseph Ward -warmly interjected: •I am rather surprised that you should a.sk such a question. If I felt it proper to make such a statement I would have done so."

Mr Massey went on to say that ho was asking the question, and it was for Sir Joseph to say whether ho felt inclined to answer it. He hoped lie would answer the question.

Sir Joseph said that ho was not going to discuss an important financial transaction publicly at the present time for the Leader of the Opposition or anybody else, except to say that so far as the financial matters in connection with this country were concerned, they were being well and properly attended to. He was responsible in the matter, and ho would let the House and the country know at the proper time. Mr Herries asked it members were to understand that tho Premier refused to give any information to the Houac about a matter which was common talk in the public Press.

(Sir Joseph: It is not common talk; you are asking mc to do something that would be improper.

Mr Herries: Perhaps the information should not have been given to the Press ?

Sir Joseph: I did not give it. Mr Herries said it must be common talk in London. A prospectus must have been issued by the Government. The peoplo here were entitled to know as much as tho peoplo at Home knew. If the Premier did not choose to answer, of course, they could not make him. It would be n slur on Parliament, which was supposed to control tho monetary transactions of this countrj , . Tho Premier declared that he was not going to allow a statement of the kind to go unnoticed. The slur was on thoso members who asked that he should be put in the position at this end of the/world of disclosing confidential matters.

Mr Herries: It can't be confidential if it is in the uaners.

Sir Joseph: I am r.ot responsible for what appears in the papers. lam responsible for the duties of the position which I hold. lam not going, at the instigation of tho Leader of the Opposition, or anyone else, to discuss the financial operations of this country in London at the present moment: but 1 will, as I have said, do so at tho proper time.

Mr J. Allen (Bruce) pointed out that the Premier, was not asked to disclose any confidential matter. He was simply asked whether the cable was correct or incorrect; whether any transaction was going on or not. If the information should go out.to the people in London it should be available to tho representatives of tho people in New Zealand.

Sir Joseph: I say that at the proper time, and in. the ordinary course of things, I will toll tho House anything and everything about the subject. I am not, in consequence of tho cable, going to make a statement before the proper time. From the noint of view of the country, the financial arrangements aro in every way satisfactory. Mr Fraser (Wakatipu) said it was very evident from what the Prime Minister had said that lie wa.s conducting operations for the floating of a loan in London. Tho House had given him authority to borrow, and it was, he held, quite a natural question for the Leader of the Opposition to ask whether the information was correct or not. He did not see any necessity for any heat on the part of the Prime Minister. They wero not asking him to disclose any private or confidential transactions that had taken place. "I," added Mr Fraser, "am quite satisfied, from his reply, that he is nogotiat ing a loan. There is no doubt of that, and when the Public Works Statement comes down we shall no doubt ho told about it.

Sir Joseph Ward said ho wished once more to tell the Committee that as r ar as ho was personally concerned he iad no earthly object in not telling every thinp: about what was going on in London or elsewhere regarding the colony, but he recognised his responsibility in connection with important financial transactions.

Almost immediately after the incident had closed, Mr J. Allen (Bruce) moved when tho House was in committee on tho New Zealand Loans Amendment that a new clause bo added to the Bill as follows:—"Particulars of tho terms upon which loans aro floated, together with all costs and expenses of raising same, shall be laid before Parliament within twelve months of the floating of the. same."

Mr Allen snid Parliament was entitled to the particulars mentioned in his amendment.

Sir Joseph "Ward: If the hon. gentleman thinks he is going to lead mc by the ear he is mistaken.

Mr Allen: I am going to move, this clause at any rate, and tho House can decide. Mr Allen complained that the House could not got information until four years after the loans wore raised. Returns had Wen asked for, and they had been consistently blocked. The House was entitled to those particulars, which would not interfere with financial arrangements. Mr Massey said he had asked a simple, courteous and direct question, whirh should hare been answered, and could have been answered in three words.. The question was simply whether the Treasurer had placed a loan of five millions on the London marker.

Sir Joseph Ward: That was not the question. Mr Massey : I read the cable, and I asked you to explain it. After further discussion, Sir Joseph said that Mr Allen did wrong in trying to have an amendment of that nature put in a Bill. He had always uiforrned the House as t<v the financial position of the country. No other Treasurer had given the House so much detail in this regard. It did not matter what the House did: so far as the Government was concerned everything was above board. The amendment could only lie regarded as a piece oi offensiveness. Mr Allen: I am surprised. Sir Joseph Ward: Political offensiv.'--nes.<s is what I mean. Mr Allen (Bruce) said that the question was a simple one. Should the people know the detail of. * lo&n twelve months after it was raised, n

numbers thought so. they should sup-,-pvirt his proposal. He did not know why the Pri:no Minister did not accept it ' It would appear that hewas chary jt3 accept any proposal from the Opposition. In various .statutes it was proj videil that dotails under the measure. ! should be given to Parliament at stated ! times. i Upon a division the _clauso was re- ! jecU'd hv -i-j voles to '_'". Mr Herdnmi then moved a new i clause to the >.'iT.:■<•[ that all dotails ot i loans should be supplied to Parliament I within two yean," oi the date ot ! flotation. The clause was rejected In- -U votes to 25.