PARLIAMENT

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20977, 4 October 1933, Page 10

PARLIAMENT

.^DRESS-IN-KEPLY DEBATE, -, / C £!HE TWO AMENDMENTS y. u 'DIVISIONS EXPECTED TO-DAY OE TO-MORROW SWrom Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, October 3. There were fortunately one or two light touches to relieve a very solid day's debating in the House of Representatives to-day. As usual, Mr D. McDougall (C, Mataura) provided a good deal of fun in some remarks which he made about the Government's part in the Lyttelton by-election, while Mr Clyde Carr (Lab., Timaru), after asking the leave of the House to speak a parable, was at some pains to compare the Government of New Zealand with an ancient motor-car, wobbling from side to side of the road on four flat tyres. "What we need is a new engine called Socialism, run by drivers and engineers who believe in Socialism," explained Mr Carr. The Government found two strong supporters in Mr A. E. Ansell (Chalmers) and Mr W. A. Bodkin (Central Otago), the former making a reply to charges which Mrs E. R. McCombs (Lab., Lyttelton) laid against the Government for neglect of unemployed women* girls, and youths, while Mr Bodkin dealt extensively with the possibilities of the gold mining industry in Central Otago. Mr F. Langstone (Lab., Waimarino) and Mr R. Semple (Lab., Wellington East) were the only other speakers on the fifth day of the debate. A suggestion has been made that when the House reaches a division on the two amendments to the Ad-dress-in-Reply motion which are now before it the Government may vote to retain the amendment of the leader of the Opposition, Mr H. E. Holland, and thereby throw out the further amendment specifically criticising its exchange policy which has been proposed by Mr R. A. Wright (Ind., Wellington Suburbs). When the divisions are taken, the first motion before the House will be for the omission of the Opposition amendment, and should the Government decide to retain this amendment in the meantime Mr Wright's amendment would automatically lapse. When the question lay between the Labour amendment and the motion, the Government members would still be free to vote for the motion. It is anticipated that the first divisions will be reached to-morrow or on Thursday. The first business before the House this afternoon was the introduction of several private members' bills, including the proposal of Mr R. McKeen (Lab., Wellington South) to extend the time and duration of davlight saving. There was a long discussion on the Workers Compensation Amendment Bill, sponsored by Mr H. E. Holland, and it was late in the afternoon "before the Address-in-Reply debate was reached.

BILLS READ' A FiESI TIME HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELKGBAM.) WELLINGTON, October 3. : In the House of Representatives thii afternoon, Mr J. O'Brien (Lab., Westland) gave notice of intention to introduce an Invalid Pensions Bill. Mr E. T. Tirikatene (Southern Maori) was granted six days' leave cJ

absence on account of sickness in his family, and Mr W. Nash (Lab., Hutt) was granted seven days' leave of absence on account of public business. The following bills were introduced and read a first time:—Summer Time (Mr R. McKeen), National Credits and Currency (Mr H. G. R. Mason), Or-ders-in-Council Confirmation (Mi Clyde Carr), Wellington City Empowering and Special Rates Consolidation Amendment (Mr C. H. Chapman), Wellington City Milk Supply Amendment (Mr P. Fraser), Licensing Amendment (Mr F. Langstone), Workers' Compensation Amendment (leader of the Opposition, Mr H. E. Holland) . Introducing the Summer Time Bill, Mr McKeen (Lab., Wellington South) said the object of the measure was to extend summer time to one hour and to extend its application by one month to the third Sunday in-April. Summer time had been a wonderful benefit to New Zealand, and he thought the Government should take up the measure and pass it as a fitting tribute, to the late Sir Thomas Sidey. Introducing the Orders-in-Council Confirmation Bill, Mr Carr (Lab., Timaru) said it was similar to the measure he had introduced last year. It set out that any Order-in-Council deemed by one or both Houses of Parliament to exceed the purpose of any act, should be subject to confirmation by Parliament. Provision was made for an opportunity to be afforded to members to state whether any Order-in-Council 'was deemed to require confirmation. He thought everybody recognised that Orders-in-Council were necessary In the administration of a number of acts; but he considered that provision should be made for safeguarding the rights of Parliament and the people. The bill would give opportunity for the confirmation or otherwise of any Order-in-Council that might foe made in the process of ad-! ministration of any act. Introducing the Licensing .Amendment Bill, Mr Langstone (Lab., Waimarino) * said that at present newspapers published .within no-license or proclaimed areas wero not permitted •io print liquor advertisements, whereas there was no restriction on the circulation within such areas of newspapers published outside the areas and containing liquor advertisements. This was unfair, and ho urged that newspapers within those areas should be allowed to publish liquor advertisements.

CONTINUATION OF DEBATE

MR BODKIN . CONDEMNS LABOUR'S SCHEMES STATE ENCOURAGEMENT OF GOLD MINING URGED (PBI3S ASSOCIATION 'IEIEQRAJI.) WELLINGTON, October 3. The Address-in-Reply debate was resumed in the House of Representa-; lives this afternoon by Mr W. A. Bodkin (C, Central Otago), who said it would be difficult to stabilise the Dominion's currency if New Zealand endeavoured to adopt a scheme of. inflation, as indicated by the Opposition. The Labour party's schemes of public works, social services, and guaranteed prices would cost £40.000.000 a year. Such a policy would lead the country to ruin in a very short time. There could be no prosperity until there was a settlement of inter-Allied debts, until the creditor nations agreed to accept payment in goods and services, and until there was a stabilised currency and credit system. Continuing, Mr Bodkin said the Government had rallied to the rescue of various industries, but had not appreciated the advantages offered by the gold mining industry. He did not advocate State gold mining, but he considered the Government should prove the fields of Central Otago. Need for Confidence.

Mr Clyde Carr (Lab>, Timaru) said Britain to-day was concentrating on restricting production. She was declining to consider the possibility of 1 increased consumption, as a result of ! increased purchasing power, offering a ; solution of the difficulties. It was an | endeavour to starve our way back to prosperity. Credit—that right of costless creation which should be as free as air to the lungs—had been rarilieci i until the patient was gasping for ! breath. There was a. call for con- ; fidence, but nothing was being supplied to inspire confidence. If the troops in the field were supplied with ammunition, their confidence would return. What was required was a supply of ammunition in the economic sphere. Mr D. McDougall (C, Mataura) congratulated Mrs E. R. McCombs (Lab., Lyttelton) on her victory in the by-election, and said he hoped she would remain in the Houso for many years. He commented on the number of Government members who had addressed meetings during the election campaign, adding: "They can send down all they have got, with all their piffle and blarney; but I hope she will wipe the floor with them." He expressed approval of the point made in Mrs McCombs's speech regarding unemployed girls. He said he had referred to this subject last year, and he urged the Government to subsidise industry to keep shop assistants and others in regular employment. "But when you put the question to the Minister for Labour," he said, "you might just -as well put it to the leg of a table. You would get just as satisfactory an answer." Wheat Purchase Board. Strongly criticising the operations of the Wheat Purchase Board, Mr McDougall stated that it was helping Distributors, Limited, who had, he said, been exploiting New Zealand for 10 or 11 years. At the price the farmer was getting for wheat, flour should not be more than £9 a ton, but it was quoted in Christchurch at £l4 2s. "I am not going to tolerate that, and I am not going to vote for any Government, Labour or Liberal, that will put the screw on the small farmer as they have been doing in this wheat transaction," he said.

Mr F. Langstone (Lab., Waimarino) said the farmers believed they lived on their exports, but that v.-as an utter fallacy. Every country lived on everything it produced. He asked what there was to prevent New Zealand from stabilising her own internal price level on a basis oi! the goods and services of the country. He said that the Government was ruining the country, and the "open cheque" which it had received at the General Election had been torn up. The sooner (he Government realised its position and went to the country, the better it would be for the whole Dominion. Mr A. E. Ansell (C., Chambers) replied to Mrs McCombs's remarks about education. He said that instead of closing the schools to the children of the working class, as she had alleged, the Government had done a great deal to facilitate the educaiton of these children, and to alleviate the position for their parents.

Youth Unemployment. Mr Ansell then referred to Mrs McCombs's remarks about unemployment among youths. He quoted figures showing the numbers placed in employment by the boys' unemployment committees in the four main centres during the last 12 months. Altogether 4458 had been provided with work, while among 2008 registrations awaiting employment there' were included 580 in Christchurch who were in temporary employment. For a comparison, the total might reasonably be reduced to 1428, against 2544 registered as unemployed on September 30 last year. He considered that this was excellent testimony to the energy and enthusiasm of the public-, spirited men who had taken up the work of finding employment for boys. ' Mr R. Semple (Lab., Wellington East) said capitalism had outlived its usefulness, and was now, he believed, on the verge of collapse. There was no need for starvation in a land of plenty. Paper money was valueless unless it had the backing of goods. New Zealand had goods in abundance, and upon these goods, he said, the monetary system should be based. The gold standard had gone for ever. Gold could never serve as a measuring rod. It was a useless commodity. It did not represent the real wealth of the country. The debate was interrupted by the rising of the House at 10.30 till tomorrow afternoon.

DANGEROUS RAILWAY CROSSINGS ELIMINATION BY 'USE OF RELIEF LABOUR I'From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, October 3. The elimination of dangerous railway crossings by the use of unemployed labour was advocated in the House of Representatives to-night by Mr A. E. (C, Chalmers >. After commending the No. 10 building subsidy scheme, Mr Ansell said the present would be an opportune time to put unemployed to work removing dangerous crossings. Nothing had been done in that direction for the last two or three years. About 50 per cent of the cost would be absorbed in wages, whether for the construction of overhead bridges, subways, or deviations. It would not necessarily be a heavy burden on the unemployment fund, because the cost could be shared by the board, the Highways Board, and 4he Railway Department. The responsibility of local bodies in the matter was small enough to be negligible. He emphasised that the elimination of crossings was a work of national importance.

•COMPENSATION PAYMENTS '

DISABLED RELIEF WORKERS EFFORT TO ARRANGE MORE LIBERAL SCALE [From Our Parliamentary Reporter,.! WELLINGTON, October 3. An announcement that the Government was making investigations with a view to giving more liberal compensation to relef workers in the event of accidents, particularly those resulting in total disablement, was made by the Minister for Employment, the Hon. A. Hamilton, in the House of Representatives to-day. The subject was raised when the leader of the Opposition, Mr H. E. Holland, brought forward his Workers' Compensation Bill, which followed the lines of similar measures sponsored by him in previous sessions.

Mr Holland explained that the bill was designed to assist those engaged on relief work or in other intermittent employment. For ascertaining the compensation payable to workers, the average earnings, he contended, should be deemed to be not less than a full week's earnings at the daily rate at which he was paid by the employer in whose service he • was injured, whether in fact he had worked a full week or not. Provision to that effect already applied to waterside workers. The bill contained a proviso that the v/eekly compensation should not exceed £4. Mr Holland appealed to the Government to take up the bill, and in this request he was supported by Mr W. E. Parry (Lab., Auckland Central), Mr A. M. Samuel (C, Thames), Mr J. A. Lee (Lab., Grey Lynn), Mr A. J. Stallworthy (Ind., Eden), Mr R. Semple (Lab., Wellington East), Mr A. S. Richards '.Lab., Roskill), and Mr E. J. Howard (Lab., Christchurch South). The last-named mentioned that the Christchurch City Council carried its own accident insurance fund, and he suggested that the Unemployment Board might do the same. An amount equal to & percent, of wages was set aside for that purpose, and had proved to be more than ample. Minister's Kcply. Asked to state the Government's view on the bill, Mr Hamilton said he had not seen a copy of the bill yet. The whole question of compensation was intricate and highly technical. The Unemployment Board had actually taken over its own insurance, as suggested by Mr Howard.

Mr Howard: How much are you setting aside? The Minister: Wc keep it in the Unemployment Fund. Mr Samuel: That is a pretty blipshod way. The Minister: It is quite safe in the State fund. Mr Langstone - How much have you paid out 9 The Minister: We are paying out according to law. 1 admit that there are some difficulties, and that some injustices—some very grave ones, perhaps—have occurred, but the compensation has to be based on the wages earned, and if anyone can find a better basis, I would like him to let me know. Mr Senipie: But you have told us that the allowances to the unemployed are not wages. The Minister: They are earnings for the time being, and the compensation is based pn that. I am quite prepared to say that we are investigating the position, to see if we can give better compensation than the law now permits, particularly for total disablement. We base the compensation on the law as it' exists. Mr Holland: Not the law as it is written, but as it is interpreted. The Miniater said he had had several conferences with the head of the State Fire Office regarding the question. "Some Injustice." Mr Hamilton said it seemed to him personally that some injustice was being done, and he wanted to pay out more liberally for total disablement. However, it was not wise for a Minister to say he was looking into the question, as some members interpreted that as a promise that something would be done.

Mr Semple: You have been looking intj it for a long time. The Minister: I cannot go any further at this stage. Later I hope to inform members what has been paid out. Mr Parry: Make it the same as for wharf labourers. The Minister: That is costing the industry nearly 20 per cent, of the wages cost. We have to be careful not to make the cost too heavy, for we have to consider the Unemployment Fund in relation to others who have to get relief from it. A REPLY TO MRS MCCOMBS CHARGES FOR SCHOOL EXAMINATIONS STATEMENTS QUESTIONED BY MR ANSELL [From Our Parliamentary Reporter.] WELLINGTON, October 3.

The first Government member to reply to Mrs E. R. McCombs (Lab., Lyttelton) was Mr A. E. Ansell (Chalmers), who questioned in the House of Representatives to-night her statements concerning the charges for certain school examinations. Mr Ansell said it would be misrepresentation to say that every child who sat for the proficiency examination would be compelled to pay a fee. The levy of such a fee had been recommended by the National Expenditure Commission; but the Government had rejected it. Mrs McCombs: My facts came from teachers this year. Mr Ansell: I have a better authority than teachers for the statements I am making. When an examination is held in the ordinary course, a child may sit free of cost. A charge of five shillings is made only in special cases. Mrs McCombs: It is imposed this year. It is insisted on. There has been a nominal fee for some time; but 5s is insisted on this year. Mr Ansell said that although the cost of junior and senior free place examinations was £I3OO annually, the Min'ster had decided recently to waive the fees in favour of the children of relief workers. That concession had been ignored in Mrs McCombs's statement. Moreover, the Education Department encouraged children to return to school if they could not find employment. At present, there were more than 700 children enrolled in Standard VII. of the primary schools, until they could And work.' Liberal treatment had also been extended to children in ; secondary , schools who failed to qualify for senior or junior free places.