PARLIAMENT IN SESSION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2501, 30 June 1915, Page 5

PARLIAMENT IN SESSION

THE WAR LOAN BILL AUTHORITY FOR £10,000,000 ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE CONCLUDED IN ONE EVENING

The LegislaTlve Council met at, 2.30 p.m. The Hon. H. F. WIGRAM introduced the Church Property Trust (Canterbury) Act 1879 Amendment Bill. ~ The Bill was read a first time. The Hon. CAPTAIN BAILLIE was granted leave of absence for four days, on account of illness. THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY MOVED BY HON. G. CARSON. The Hon. GILBERT CARSON moved the' Adclress-in-Reply to His Excellency's Speech, 'lhe address, he said, had been clear and marveJlously restrained. considering that it dealt almost wholly with the war. Our minds were centred among our dead, and at such a time the ordinary trivialities of debate were unthinkable. The prevalent feeling in his own mind was one of proud elation that the spirit of our race was not dead. Our enemies thought that it was dead and buried down deep, and we ourselves were sometimes pessimistic. But when the call came it was not so. Germany thought with contempt of _ our country, Germany thought she could slap the Mother Country in the face, and that her sons would take it lying down. That was one of the mistakes Germany made. Germany thought that England would ■not fight; if the Kaiser had believed that England would have fought he would have left her to a later date. Our own people in their Motherland never understood that the spirit of the Homeland extended to the Dominions. It was in the blood, and wherever a Briton understood the need of the Old Land lie answered the call. We believed that we could not be beaten, and Wo were satisfied. Tlie only thing was that we were slow to understand the need: The British spirit was undying; It' was that which sent our boys to South Africa to fight, and was sending them. to-day. He could not beljev'e that there would be any body of men in ■ tho Old. Land who would not answer the call when the need was felt. That action of our boys at the Dardanelles reminded him of the charge of the Light Brigade, and had shown to the world that the blood of thoso days (vas in the veins of to-day. That call led 5 the mounted men to leave their horses in Egypt and go to fight on foot.. It showed that nothing would stop them. The Gall Answered. The Spoech had been mild and gentle. Those who looked behind it realised that there had been responsibilities well met. Tho Speech referred to both races, and he commented on the fact that the Maoris were also willing to fight—to answer the call. It must have been a revelation to Germany when she saw that every tribe and race England touched had imbibed her spirit, and was ready to 'answer the call. (Hear, hear.) He was clad to see the reference to a Sill to provide for the maintenance of wounded and the dependents of the killed, and he was sure all would be glad of the opportunity to pay a portion of the cost. He commended the action of the conntry in responding to the appeal of His Excellency to provide the Hospital Ship. It was not so much for what was done, but for tho spirit shown. It enabled the girls to show they had the same spirit as tlie boys. (Hear, hear.) He had heard talk of laggards, but he did not believe there were many laggards. There were lads who had spent a bad quarter of an hour, when their responsibilities kept them, and they did not know where their duty lay. It was in time of disaster especially that the desire to go was evinced, We Had not many laggards. Even the light-hearted, boys in the 6treet if they knew of the need to go would be willing. But there was the fact that all that, wanted could not go, and some had_ to wait for months. That affected recruiting. They appealed to the young and the ardent, and when they came forward and were told "not to-day, you have got to wait," they got disheartened. These were things that were difficult to overcome, but it explained the reason why soma held back. We wanted to send more men. What mattered it what other countries did. But he understood' if more were ready there was not equipment, and what was the use-of sending them without equipment. He then formally mov?d the Address-in-Reply. No "Town Pump Politics." The Hon. R. MOORE seconded the 'Address-in-Reply. The Speech, he said, was perhaps the most important thai had ever been presented to Parliament. Most of them expected it at this time, and he believed tlie desire was that no local or domestic politics should ,be dealt with at this stage. Without trespassing upon party politics ho said that the Government had stripped themselves of patronage and the Leader of the Council had gone one step further iu suggesting that tho Council should have the whole say in the election of a Speaker. He congratulated the Government on the steps they had taken. He sincerely trusted not a ripplo would ruffle the political surface in either House till the Empire's struggle had been brought to a satisfactory conclusion. The people of the Dominion, with very few exceptions, had responded to the call very well, in men, money, and material. That should make those in Parliament blush if they said or did anything to cause strife. It was tho duty of Parliament at this stage_ to set { tfhe interests and life of the nation before everything else. Tlie supply of material and necessary arrangements to be made would take all the time , of Ministers without importing anything of local or "town-pump" politics, into their discussions. The setting up of a Defence Committee, representing all ■ sections, would, he thought, give confidence to the public. The members on the Committee were men of note, in whom confidence could be placed. Much of their work must' necessarily be private, and he hoped the public would :ot criticise too freely. Mistakes if*ht be made, but he hoped t'h'o cri--li ism would not be too severe, and so :i ake their work more difficult.. They r .hould not, he held, by too mueh_ optimism, allow themselves to get lax in their efforts for assisting the nation. They should be in a. position to call on every man to take up the rifle, and they could only do this by universal sorvir*. Every young man should bo compelled to do some training for his country. In New Zw-iand the Territorial system

was a good one, but something more was wanted. Although the Dominions were working in this direction they wanted something of the same sort in the heart of the Empire. Referring to the cable message that the Maoris were going to the front, he said he was sure they would give as good an account of themselves when they met the enemy as the Europeans had done. He was perfectly certain that whatever.action, however generous it might be, to provide for pensions to those wounded and dependents of those killed, Would receive tike -unanimous approval of the country. We did not want those who fought for our. country to have to stand at street corners and beg for a living. However many there might be the country was wealthy enough to provide for them. The war tax would raise some discussion, but he hoped sufficient would be raised by it to meet their needs. Question of Exploitation. The Hon. J. T. PAUL said that tho part of tho Message that most interested him was the reference to Acts of last session, and necessary amendment. He referred to the question of food prices. He had a presentment that the difficulty in the Old Country would touch food prices. He thought one of most necessary things st» a time of crisis like the present was to accept the facts as they were. Was not it an amazing thing that while we were Mistress of the Seas, and the Ministers in England were threatening those raising the prices, that prices in Germany were lower? We continually saw Great Britain threatening to take over national supplies. Dealing with our own position, he said that it was undesirable that the cost of living was increasing. It seemed to him that it was almost, criminal folly to allow unfair exploitation in food prices, and he suggested seriously that the only way open for the average wage-earner was to insist upon an increase in wages if the- price of food rose. He thought the producers of the country should bear a portion of - the loss. No exploitation should be allowed of the food prices. The fact, that-there was no industrial trouble was an omission from the Speech, and there was also no mention of the great generosity of the people to all manner of relief funds. The comparatively poorer people who were making the double sacrifice were entitled to the greater credit.

Members: Hear, hear. Continuing; Mr. Paul believed that many of the big businesses in this country were not' suffering at all. Their profits were as large as at any time in their .history. The banks, for instance —what warrant was there for the Bank of New Zealand coming out of this year, with a record profit? Tile Hon. Sir Francis Bell: Their capital has been increased.

Tlie Hon. Mr. Paul suggested that 15 per cent, was an extravagant dividend to pay at this time. He thought the concern might be doing ' more at this time. He went on to refer to the Colonial . Sugar Company, and criticised their profits for the year. ' He took exception to the wholesale libelling of the workers in' the cablegrams from England; this was a time for sacrifice, but it was not a time for sacrifice on the part of one section only. Ho defended the action of the workers in wanting more wages when tho employers were getting war profits. The Hon. A. T. MAGINNITY spoke on the question of pensions to thoso who fought for the country, and suggested that no pension should be less than £2 per week. That might seem a big sum, but we should consider what the men at the front were saving us, a-nd what it would mean if we woke up some morning to find ourselves under German instead of English rule. Ho asked that those who had risked their lives for this country should be treated with every liberality. A Debauch of Freedom. The Hon. J. BARE said that the Empire would find many problems to faco after the war. Germany had found an industrially disorganised nation in Britain, and that would be a problem to face in all parts of the Empire. Now the spirit was awakening again in the Empire—the spirit that had enabled our forefathers to fight for freedom. He questioned whether we had not been suffering from an 'absolute debauch of freedom. He pitied those who had been opposed to the New Zealand Defence Act, and he pitied also those who through tho commercialism of the past ages had become so besotted with that commercialism that they could not realise to-day that they had to give up profits and realise that all that was done had to be done for the Empire. . Tho "shirker" element, he held, was very small in this country, as well as in other parts of the Empire. So far as monopolies were concerned here, he did not know of one that could be. so called, and commodities were cheaper than in any other part of the British Empire. It had been quoted that foodstuffs were cheaper in Germany, but did the honourable member who quoted tho statement realise that the doors of export were shut in that country? The greatest problem, however, that might occupy the minds of the Empire in the future was the question of the entire abolition of the wage system. That was not so theoretical now as it was years ago, and many of the foremost men woro seriously considering the question. Tlie Address-in-Reply was agreed to.

SUSPENSION OF DISQUALIFICATION. The Suspension of Disqualification During AVar Bill ivas introduced from the House of Representatives. Oil the second reading stage the Hon. Sir Francis Bell said that he had seen it stated that the Bill was made retrospective to apply to Captain Bell, who went to Samoa. That was not so, because Captain Bell did not take his seat again, and was not in tho service of New Zealand now. It was really made retrospective to apply to Dr. Rangihiroa, who had gono away in the service of the country. In Committee minor amendments were made, and the Leader of the Council explained that intentionally 110 provision had been made for the termination of the Act. It must ho left 011 the Statute Book till the time came, to repeal it. The Bill was read a third time and passed The Council rose at 8.45 p.m. till 2.30 jj.ra. on Friday.