THE DEBATE RESUMED. .

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 14289, 27 February 1912, Page 7

THE DEBATE RESUMED. .

LAST NIGHT'S SPEECHES. (special to "the press"). x WELLINGTON, February 26. The debate on' Mr Massey's noconfidence amendment to the Address-in-Roply was resumed in the* House this evening. All-the galleries were, aaYusual, qujto full, there being n specially largo, attendance of women. Many people who had com© on tho chance of hearing the debate could not get into tho Chamber, and _ largo, number listened outside the windows to catch what they could of the speeches. The Hon. T. Mackenzie, who resumed tbe debate, said that the Opposition in th's debate had ignored tho Governor's Speech, calling it an insult. Was it an insult to' tho workers to tako the duty off tobacco and to make all the other - concessions outlined in tho Speech? Th© real reason why they ignored th© Speech was because they could not digest it; it was like steel filings to them. Ho twitted Mr Ma_sey with having changed the terms upon which he would grant the freehold to tho Crown tenants. Mr Massey had hit below the belt in reproaching the Government with the fact thai some sons of farmers hod gone abroad in search of holdings. The Government should bo given credit for this condition, for the men who had gone wet© tho sons of those who had done exceedingly well in this country. But for th : s their sons could not hay© gone abroad to seek largo areas and wider territories than wero open to them here. Mr lUackenzie challenged a statement by tho member for Wellington North that investors wore being discouraged in this country, and ho contended that New Zealand offered ample scope for investments. The forecast of th© chairman of directors or the Bank of Now Zealand that the Dominion would havo to face a period of low prices had not been justified. An attempt had been made through the length and breadth of New Zealand to assassinate politically tho leader of tho House (Sir Joseph Ward). Some of 'his opponents had already mado their furnaces so hot that they had .singed themselves. Nothing- was moro regrettable in th© political life of Nex

Zealand than tho campaign of slander that had been carried on, but when the history of this country came to be written, tho nemo of tic Prime Minister would stand out in clear and strong colours as that of ono who had done great things in the interests of its people. Mr Mackenzie defended the administration of h:s department, descending even to such details as the amount of milk given by a cow per day. Ho Tcproached the member for Waitemata lor saying, what has Labour to thank the Government for? and declared that if Mr Harris looked down the "corndors of time" he would see that wliich would cause him to alter his views. Mr Harris lived in an age when people were apt to forget what had been done for • Labour in the past. AN APPEAL TO LABOUR. Estates must be broken'up, and if tho present graduated tax would not serve to break them up. it must bo increased. A new political era was dawning, and a new political economy was required, under which a neater share' of wealth would be given to the people now i>oorly requited who did so much ■to produce it. Tho man Mho required thecare of the State was the man who was struggling with a family, and the present Government had done what it could to assist people of this description Mr Mackenzie ridiculed tho idea that the Opposition represented a majority of the electors in the Dominion, and , twitted it with having lacked fncTfiy to nominate a candidate for tho ypeakership. If they won in the pending division by one or two votes, what a victory it would be when it was considered "that they had refused' a pair to a sick man who was compelledto go Homo and undergo an operation in Drder to save his life. Defeat compared with such a_ victory would be honour. The Opposition was now seeking to capture some of the occupants of tho cross benches whom they had failed to kill during the election campaign. The very wealth of tho Conservative Pariy dehumanised it. Mr Mackenzie admitted that Mr Massey might be a Liberal, but expressed doubt as to whether his followers would permit him to promoto progressive* legislation. ANOTHER MINISTERIALIST. Tho Opposition gave no indication of any desire to reply to the Minister of Agriculture, and after an appreciable pause, Mr George Laurenson rose with «n apology for continuing tho debate. Ho said as Sir Joseph Ward had announced that ho would vacate his position, tho motion of no-confidenco was really directed not against him, but against the Liberal and progressiva parties. . There was no onen and clean-cut charge against Sir" Joseph Ward and tho other Ministers, but only insinuations, hints, and headshaking, which were n disgrace to thoso from whom they emanated, and tended to drive good but thin-skinned men out of public life. It was charged against tho Government that they borrowed excessively, yet the Opposition voted for tho loans. It was political 1 Jiypocrisy to declare- .against the increase of expenditure by two millions and to suppress tho fact that much of it. was duo to tho activities of the lending .departments,' old age pensions, education, tho post office, etc. (Sir Joseph Ward: Hear, hear 1) When the Liberal Party went on the platform which they had sadly neglected (Ministerial "Hears, hears!), they would place the parties before the people. Mr •Massey,had said that they were taking two millions n year more from the pooplo now than they were in 1906, but very much of.that came from Customs duties, on luxuries, which endorsed the p-eat prosperity, of .tho country, and rrom tho railways and the Post and Telegraph Department. In spit© of concession after concession the Post and Telegraph Department revenue had increased by half a million in firo years. Similar result's wero shown in the Railway Department. The only taxes increased were the land and income taxes. Mr,Laurenson declared that the country was being depopulated by the largo landowners, whom he described as the mainstay of tho Opposition ACCUSATION AGAINST MR HINE. Just before the supper adjournment Mr Lauronson read the following telegram, which ho said reached him this evening:—"Pohakurah. . Laurenson, M.P., Wellington. Irf view of the statement made in th o " House by the Leaders t of the Opposition that they had nothing to do with the wild anil reckless statements and misreprcsenta- . tions made against Sir Joseph Ward during last election,-will you please ask our member, Mr J. B. Hiiie, in the House, why he told us in his address at Tnirty-threo Mife. Siding, tho night before the election, that Sir Josepfi Ward had not given particulars of £120,000 out of tho five million loan,, and how* does ho reconcile the statement with his party's denial. If Mr Hine believes this to be true.he should ask for another enquiry, and prove it, .otherwise he should resign his seat and retire from publip life for making such charges against public men, where no Press reporters are present.—D. Wildermoth. Mr > Laurenson laid the telogram on the table of the House. OTHER SPEAKERS. Mr R. W. Smith (Waimarino) said the dobato was not a waste of time, ■ but was having a good effect on the country, and if the, elections were ' held again next week, tho result ,would bo very different. He complained r-f tho circulation of an anonymous letter in his electorate within three days c f the poll. This, he said, was illegal, ss it;was matter circulated to influence . votes. If his party were beaten on tho ■ coming division, one redeeming feature would bo "that the other side ° would have a chance of looking behind the curtain, and the public would look for tho revelations ,that had been . hinted at, but there would not bo any. Mr Smith then proceeded to summarise* the. measures carried out - by the proBent Government for the assistance of the farmers. Ho declared that tho Reform Party has been inconsistent in its charges advanced against tho Government, and that tho Government hart conferred substantial benefits oh the farmer, whereas the Opposition offered only vaguo promises. .After all that had been said by the Opposition about ; a "taihoa" policy m reference to native lands, they were unabln to £.et n man to raise his head against tho Native Minister at the general election. ■Tho Opposition were trying to steal •'! ; for themselves tho whole of tho legislation that they had fought so hard against year in and year out. . Mr L. M. Isitt said ho had been charged by tho Leader of the Opposition with intentionally misrepresenting him in regard to: a statement in referenco to the depopulation of Canterbury. Some ot the Opposition « papers had emphasised the statement that he had subsequently apologised to Mr Massoy for that statement. On -reference to his ."Hansard" proof, he .found ho did not say ono word that could be honestly interpreted into any statement of tho kind." What he had said was that tho policy enunciated meant depopulating Canterbury. That could not be interpreted into a state-. ■ ment that Mr Massey had intention- . ally advanced such a policy. Mr A. M. Myers (Auckland East) said that ho knew all the members of tho Opposition Party, and in private life they .were all honourable men; nevertheless tho fact remained that for

political reasons they had unconsciously associated themselves with a policy that by no means' reflected credit upon them. Referring to tho statement mado.by Mr Massey earlier in tho evening, he said that nothing tho Leader of tho Opposition had done had tended to elevate public life so much as that frank statement. Referring to Sir Joseph Ward, ho said ho stood out as the most able man in New Zealand. No man in the community had rendered such'yeoman service to the public as Sir Joseph Ward. . He paid a high- compliment to his work in the various conferences he had attended in

the Old' Country, and added that though he was going to resign, no matter what tho result of this division was going to be, yet he felt sure the timo was not far distant when the peoplo would be very pleased and very grateful indeed if ho was again to take an active part in the lif© of this community. He spoke at some length on tho finance, prosperity, and increase of population in tho Dominion. ADJOURNMENT OF THE DEBATE. .\t 11.40 p.m. Mr Glover moved the adjournment of the debate, and this was agreed to. Tho Opposition had preserved a policy *" of masterly silence, and this left tho Government to put up man after man in an attempt to keep the debate going. The proceedings were dreary in the extreme, and the unusual calm was quite n relief after the storm of Friday night. Most people must be getting very tired of the debate, and anxious for a division, but the Government show no disposition to closo down on it,