PARTY POLITICS

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 9, 5 October 1933, Page 10

PARTY POLITICS

Events of Three Years Ago

Recalled

LABOUR AND UNITED Party politics of three years ago were prominently before the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, when an interjection by Mr. K. S. Williams (Govt., Bay of Plenty) led Mr. A. J. Stallworthy (Ind., Eden) to recall the time when be held office as Minister of Health in the United Government. Mr.' Stallworthy had joined with Labour speakers in urging the Government to adopt the Invalid Pensions Bill, when Mr. Williams interrupted him with the question why he had not taken up the Bill during his own term of office. Mr. Stallworthy said he had had only a brief term in 1929 and 1930. The Reform Party had promised to amend the pensions law in this direction as far back as 1911.

The Minister of Finance, Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates: But you admit you had your chance? Mr. Stallworthy: I must say that during the short period I was in office we did not get much support from his Majesty’s Opposition. Mr. Coates: But you had the support of the Labour Party. Mr. Stallworthy said ij; was true that on occasions when they wanted to do anything progressive at all they had to fall back on the Labour Party. That was a very candid expression of opinion, but he believed that candour was one of the greatest assets in life. He went on to refer to the circumstances in which he had taken office. “I held what might be called a humanitarian office in the Government at a time when there was an aftermath of bad administration,” said Mr. Stallworthy, amid laughter. Promise in Manifesto.

The Reform Party hade made the promise in its election manifesto of 1911. It was nothing short of a crime for a political party to make a promise like that and. then not to fulfil it. That sort of thing should not be tolerated under constitutional government. Since Mr. Coates was now Minister of Finance he had an opportunity to redeem his promise, and Mr. Stallworthy offered to help him redeem it. Mr. H. S. S. Kyle (Govt., Riccartou) asked why . the Bill had not been promoted during the regime of the United Party, which had been kept in power by the Labour Party. It was then that the Labour Party had its opportunity to press for invalidity pensions. Mr. Kyle recalled that Mr. H. Atmore (Ind., Nelson), another supporter of the Bill, had been a member of the Government at the same time as Mr. Stallworthy. Mr. S. G._ Smith (Govt., New Plymouth) said he had been a member of the same. Government as Mr. Stallworthy, but he had never once heard him advocate invalidity pensions. “His inclusion in the Cabinet was not due to his advocacy of humanitarian legislation; it. was entirely geographical,” said Mr. Smith. Previous Introduction. By this time the original subject of the debate had apparently been forgotten. Mr. R. Semple (Lab.. "Wellington East) claimed that the Bill had been introduced while the United Party was in office, supporting his claim by a reference to Hansard. Mr. H. G. Dickie (Govt.. Patea) : But you had fallen out with them then. Mr. Semple: We didn't, fall out. We just differed on policies that didn't fit. The Labour Party was between the devil and the deep sea. It had to choose between two parties with very little separating them, and the little that did separate them prompted us to help one of them sometimes. When they ceased to do the right thing we left. We were never associated with the United Party or any other piebald outfit. The honourable gentleman, by the way, might spend some little time telling us about the broken promises of the United Party. The Minister of Pensions, Hon. J. G. Cobbe, stated that he happened to have been a member of the Government at the same time'as Mr, Stallworthy, and he had not the slightest recollection of the member for Eden having ever made any reference to Invalidity pensions. Mr. Stallworthy: The honourable gentleman is losing his memory. RELIEF PAYMENTS The Stand-down Period A request that instructions be issued to the controlling authorities to pay the full amount of relief pay to all men who were from time to time stood down from work during transfer from one district to another, was made by Mr. A. S. Richards (Lab., Roskill), in an urgent question to the Minister of Employment, Hon. A. Hamilton, in the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr. Richards said in several cases recently men had been told to prepare to return to the city and await further instructions to proceed to other work. In the meantime they had to exist on small ration allowances, which was obviously very unfair. The Minister regretted it was not possible to give effect to Mr. Richards’s wishes. He said it was not always possible to find work immediately for men when they were transferred back to the cities. Moreover, a point that could not be overlooked was that they might just have left a full-time job.