POLITICAL COLOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 51, 28 August 1926, Page 10

POLITICAL COLOUR

AND ELECTORATES' NEEDS

CHARGES OF DISCRIMINATION

PUBLIC WORKS DEBATE,

When the Public: Works Debate opened in the House of Representatives at 10.30 o'clbck; this morning, the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. H. E. Holland) referred to .'the ■matter of discrimination against electorates not represented .by Government members. That should npt, be.'.

Mr. Holland said.that if it was true that the Government deliberately withheld moneys , from an electorate because of'the political; colour of the representative, ; every* fair-minded member in the House had.a'aerious.case against the. Government.- Mr., Holland said that in the .course.'of, the last election Reform, .propaganda"had been made by Reform Party, supporters that if the Reform .candidate was,returned there would be,aimuch greater chance of Government moneys-being' spent in the electorate. : ""I, "want a definite answer from' the -i Government* in this matter,'' said Mr. Holland Jwith. emphasis. '' This is- not myc charge,"; but :'a definite charge made;'- by the: Government supporters."

1 Pomare: "What do you say about it!": : ' -■''..'

"I ask ..what;the honourable gentleman knows about it,'. 1 said Mr. Holland, who went on. to quote from "The Northlander" .to the effect that Colonel Bell,; as Government.nominee, had the ear; of the 'Prime<Minister, and would get moire.for the;people he represented than any-other'candidate. Mr. Holland referred to cases in which he alleged discrimination: had been made. Despite promises., to,.vote sums of money for. railway construction works in Opposition . members * electoratesworks which.it-had. admitted were amongst the ,most4mportant in the Dominion—rthe ''Government had voted nothing, .while large sums had been allocated, to ("other.' railway works, and the amounts."had?,been,,overspent. . If the Goyerriment had'an effective answer to -ithe fch'arge■•it." could, make, it by fulfilling;, promises j made > to ■ electorates not represented :'by Government members.. ; ;: •> .: .. i■ , • ; : ' . Mr. K..J-P.; Hudson . (Motueka) said that ,the .- progress ,:6f %the Inangahua line-had been> anything ibut satisfactory. His 1 efforts jand-those'of Mr. Atmore were .being .hidden from the public view. ■'■■:' 'i' K." ...';■•.

' 'WHERE ABE THE MINISTERS?''

- '' Where f are the . Ministers ?'' interjected, Mr.: H:.Atmore (Nelson), indicating i the .-,• depleted state of the . Ministerial benches. .-,• •

Mr. G. W. Forbes: (Leader of the National iParty):-'.'.They-are having a Cabinet meeting tojput' more money on for your railway." ", (Laughter.) Mr. Hudson, said he-trusted the Government ' would: realise the urgency of the matter from the; point of view of the people in his electorate. It was most serious. •

I "I think if .Colonel Bell was in a commanding position' in the last Parliament he is not in that position now, " said Mr. Forbes: "At the last Parliament Prime. Ministers' waited on his doorstep, now he waits on the doorstep for the Prime Minister. The boot is on the other.foot." The Colonel, however, was-a,bit'of a poet, and should be allowed some -poetic^license in regard to Public ;Works. (Laughter.) jMr. Forbes,said.that,he,could not say he could make, any complaint so far as his own electorate was concerned— at any rate ; not in-regard to public works.. He would like to see an improvement in the motor services betweehthe rail-heads in his district, and hoped :'that. soniething would be done about. the survey for the South Island Main Trunk railway. He alluded to the Napier-Gisborne, railway,, and said it did not :»ppear-that'.much was being done 1 there.; •' \ ■-■■ -"■-.■

Mr. Lysnar: "That is so; they are not doing a; damn thing.'' (Laughter.) NO POLITICAL INFLIJENCiE. The Prime Minister (tho Eight Hon. J. G. Coates) replied to the points raised by: Mr. Holland, He said the matter rwasbrought\up by Mr. Holland last session and the speaker had then given it a denial. During the election he ihad stated! t|>ait 'he would use every possible, endeavour"to eliminate in every. sense all political influence in ;the. allocation'of public moneys. "So firmly .am I 1 convinced that if political influence ds[likely to, have .any effect on the allocation of public moneys," said sMr. Cpates,v" that ;I'say the sooner we adopt some ■; other-, system 1 of allocating public moneys, the -better." Mr. Holland: "So the Reform Party's statement was absolutely false?" . Mr.-Coates'replied that it was a stretch 1 of the imagination to say that because some country paper had made a statement of; the kind alluded to that it was an-official-'statement made on behalf. of athe '■ Reform .Party. Mr. Holland:, "I. referred to political propaganda, in my electorate." The Prime Minister said that if such propaganda \was used he was not acquainted with it. "I'give a flat denial to it,'.';.proceeded Mr. Coates, "and ask the Houses to believe that as far as it is humanly, possible the endeavour is to avoid "political influence altogether.".., .

Mr. J. Bitchener .. (Waitakij: "The boot is on .the other;foot."

"That brings up, another important question," replied Mr. Coates,.''because I have had many complaints from members of Parliament, on the Reform side of the House;'that the Opposition were getting very, much;more lenient and better Ireatment than-they were getting themseljtes.; That;complaint was made prior to , the Ilast election and it has been made- since,' and I have said that I canriot-say'howat will work out."

In regard to the ; Westpprt-Inangahua railway, Mr. Coatcs-. admitted that he was frankly disappointed that greater progress had not, been made, but the difficulty-had been to map out the programme clearly on that line. They had found themselves involved in so much capital expenditure for which they were not getting any return, and in totalling up interest costs it ' became a question whether they should delay completion of certain ■ gaps 'or ■ start other works. In his opinion the Westport-Inangahua railway was one of the important works to be done.from many points of view. He considered that it was of importance that engineering • surveys should always be completed, as experience had shown that where insistence had been . made on proper engineering surveys being placed before the Department thousands and thousands of pounds could be saved. It was essential that the cost per mile of railway construction should be brought down to ajroid a heavy charge being placed on the taxpayers. In view of the heavy cost of construction, he considered that it would bo better to wait twelve .months before . starting some works, rather than put a number of men on before, a proper engineering survey was completed, and thus not bo in a position of knowing where the route would 'be.':■;. '

Mr. Holland: "Why haa the survey been delayed?" '

Mr. Coates repliod r that the survey of tho Westport-Inangahua line had been in progress for. about two years, but the Government was subject to have other surveys made,. and consequently men .were diverted. A DENIAL. Colonel Allen Bell. (Bay of Islands) said the Leader of ..the Opposition know quite well that. he , (the speaker) did

not subscribe to tho quotation Mr. Holland had made from "The Northlander/' He declared that he had nothing whatever to do with the publication of the statement.

Mr. Holland: "I didn't see any pub lie repudiation of it."

The speaker said he had given the charge an absolute denial on the pub-' lie platform. From what Mr. Hdlland knew of him, said Colonel Bell, he knew that he did not subscribe to a policy of such a kind. No one could say he had ever tried to make use of his position to secure an undue advantage for his electorate. He was aware that years ago moneys were distributed according to votes. He had heard a Minister of the Crown state twenty years ago that he would spend tho money where the Government got the votes, but happily that state of affairs had gone by the board.

Mr. W. E. Parry, (Auckland Central) complained that the Government had not put the Kauri Gum Act into operation in the North. That was serious for the gum-diggers.

"I.am afraid that argument is rather ingenious, but rather far-fetched," declared Mr.- Speaker, in ruling Mr. o Parry out of order. ' ■

Overcrowding :in mental- hospitals was; a subject raised by Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central).' Tho matter, he said, was serious and tragic, and at Porirua, although some work had been done, patients were sleeping in the' corridors. Why had the money Parliament voted-not been spent? He would like to.know whether, sufficient accom: modation was likely to be provided. Last year £77,000 had been voted, and only £38,000 expended. This year only £22,500 was voted. = ' ■

"We had to see we aid not incur a liability we could not deal with when our railways were completed," continued .Mr. Coates. '.'My remarks apply to some of tlie North Island lines, particularly the North Auckland line. We had capital involved there to the extent of millions of money. It was just a question whether the line should not be completed. as early as possible because the commitment was made in hard, cash." The point they had had to consider was how soon they could begin to earn interest and what settlement and development was likely to follow. In his judgment the question of capital involved had; been the deciding factor in the policy laid down. He did not see why an Opposition member ■should not get,the same consideration as-a Government member:in the matter of public expenditure.

With respect, to 'the mental hospitals, Mr.:Coates said that the country should thank Sir Maui Pomare for the mental hospitals policy he had laid down when he was Minister of Health. That programme had been put in hand, an.d he agreed that it was a matter of public necessity that.it should be carried out. The programme was a complete one, and, although it would bo another matter as to whethor it would be sufficient at the end of the time it did involve a great expenditure. Land was being purchased for extensions and negotiations were in train. " CONST ANT CHANGES IN MINISTERS." One of his greatest troubles, declared Mr. J. Horn (Wakatipu) was the constant changes ■in Ministers/ No sooner was he getting one Minister acquainted with the needs of his electorate than another stepped into his shoes. Wakatipu had suffered under the frequent changes.

Mr. J. Mason (Napier) congratulated the Government on its Public Works policy., during the last few years. He urged that as far as possible all public offices should be concentrated under one roof. Mr. Mason went on to refer to the work that had been carried out by the Main Highways Board, the operations of which body had resulted in an. immense saving to users of the roads. Referring to .afforestation, he said that the Government should encourago English capital coming into the country to assisj; in the work. Mr. G. E. Sykes (Masterton) devoted his time to a review of the position in regard to the Eimutaka deviation, reading . extracts '. from Public Works Statements of previous years. The question was still a burning one in the Wairarapa district, and he was confident^ that the new Minister would see to it that the work was carried out. The result of inaction was that a great amount of the passenger traffic went by road. '....■ '

There was not the slightest doubt, declared Mr. F. N. Bartram (Grey Lynn) that lack of votes on the Estimates was being made the subject of attack upon opponents of the Government. During the last General Election it had been deliberately stated from door to door, by Eeform supporters, that Grey Lynn would never get a post office so long as it was represented by a Labour member. Voices: "Shame." "NOT OU& METHODS." The Hon. W. Nosworthy: "Those are not our methods. Just understand that." "I'don't say >they are the methods of any respectable member of this House," said Mr. Bartram, "but I do say that is the sort of thing we have to fight." , :

"What proof-have you?" Mr. Noswprthy inquired indignantly. Mr. Bartram: "Any amount of proof." i. Mr. Nosworthy: "Well, bring it." Mr. Speaker: "Order! Order!" , "It is beautiful," observed Mr. Bartram, "to see the glint in the eye of the Minister now and again, Mr. Speaker." ~ Mr. J. B. Hamilton (Awarua) said he did not think. that the system of allocating money for public works worked out quite fairly, although ho was not complaining about the methods of the Minister. Public money should be distributed more, evenly amongst the various provinces of New Zealand.

Referring to the expenditure of Highway Board's funds, Mr. W. A. Veitch (Wanganui) said that many districts were, contributing large sums of money to the board, and were receiving very little in return. He thought there should be a more equitable system of deciding the contributions which districts should make, it h^d not been his experience that members were not all treated alike in respect to votes. Indeed, a Minister who was a party to such a thing should-be in a penitentiary. At this stage (1 p.m.) the House adjourned until 2 p.m".

After the ' luncheon, adjournment, Mr. F. F. Hockly (Rotorua) defended the present methods of allocating moneys to counties and considered that tho changed policy inaugurated by Mr. Coates was admirable. Everything was done on clearly defined lines. Mr. J. R. Hamilton: "What are the clearly defined lines?"

Mr. Hockly: "Tho system has been in operation for the last four or five years, and if any member does not know what those lines are he is not up to date."

Mr. Hamilton: "That i^ not an answer to my question."

The suggestion in tho Public Works Statement that afforestation work was suitable for dealing with the unemployment problem was commended by Mr. Hockly, who congratulated tho Hon. K. S. Williams for making it. It would bo an excellent idea of afforestation work could be carried out on the bare hills around Wellington, which at present were an eyesore. . Mr. AY. Hi Field (Otaki) urged thai the Tawa Flat deviation should be put in hand. They relied on tho statement made by Mr. Goates some little, time ago that tho work would be completed within four years. Those people who were getting on in years hoped to live

long enough to sco the work finished. The people of Wellington were also anxious to see the new, railway station erected. Regarding tho elimination of railway crossings, Mr. Field said he thought that the local bodies might bo relieved of some.portion of the present heavy expense in the erection of overhead bridges. He hoped also that a new Courthouse would be erected at Upper Hutt.

(Proceeding.) »