COST OF HOUSES FOR MINISTERS

Press, Volume XCII, Issue 27734, 11 August 1955, Page 14

COST OF HOUSES FOR MINISTERS

Opposition Seeks Information t BRISK DEBATE IN HOUSE (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON. August 10. “Never cast dirt into the fountain from which one may have „to drink some day,” was a quotation used by thfe Prime Minister (Mr Holland) when, in a brigk debate in the House of Representatives today, he chided the Opposition for criticising the purchase of Ministerial homes. When Mr Holland said that the Opposition Was only pulling down the institution of Parliament when the Government, carrying out its obligations to its Ministers, was charged with doing something undesirable, underhand, and unworthy, Mr J; Mathison (Opposition? Avon) interjected: “You are only 10 years too late with your advice.” Mr Holland said that he acknowledged most readily that there had been criticism from his party in the past. He regretted it, and he had not made it at any time. The Press Association report of the debate says that an allegation that £45 had been paid for one chair for a Ministerial residence in Wellington was made by Mr P. N. Holloway (Opposition. Heretaunga) when written Ministerial replies to members’ questions were being discussed. pfr Holloway said there was a great deal of speculation in Wellington over the cost of furnishings for Ministerial residences, and it was impossible to prevent speculation when persons saw and heard from others what furnishings were being ordered, or were told in shops what had been bought. Later in the discussion, Mr Holland said that the Opposition’s criticism of the purchase of. Ministerial houses by the Government.-Vdoeg not do the Institution of Parliament any good.” The Government was obliged to provide Ministers with a furnished house —“that has been the practice in the past”—and he felt if a man had given up his time to the Government he should be allowed to live in Wellington in at least as good conditions as he had lived in at his KSme. The Prime Minister said that the Minister of Finance (Mr J. T. Watts) and his five children were living in a house that was a disgrace. It was 90 years old. and was overrun with rats. He reminded members of the Opposition that they might themselves be Ministers one day. Mr Nash’s Views The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nash) said that no-one would question the right of the Government to provide houses with reasonable comfort for its Ministers, but it was still the duty of the Opposition to bring to the attention of the House and the country any oases of extravagance. The Labour Government had been subjected to bitter attacks, which ought not to have come from the side which condemned everything that Labour did. No Minister, he said, should have to live in a type of house the Prime Minister had described. If members thought that public money was being wrongly spent, they had the right to say so in the House, said Mr Nash, but the Prime Minister ought not to be so concerned about criticism when his own side had condemned Labour. The Prime Minister was chiding Opposition members for doing what Government members had previously done, but there was no point in hiding what it cost to house a Minister. Mr Speaker said that the question did not ask for that information. Jt asked on what page of the Estimates sums spent in purchasing and furnishing homes for Ministers could be found. Mr Nash: And the information is not there. It’s an all-inclusive sum. J don’t see why it should not be stated clearly what the houses cost. It is better for the exact facts to be known.