THE DAY IN PARLIAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 5, 6 July 1928, Page 8

THE DAY IN PARLIAMENT

The House of Eepresentatives is now in the throes of a-no-confidence debatt,little time being lost by the Leader of the Opposition yesterday afternoon in producing his amendment asking the House to eject the Government for allegedly allowing itself to be influenced by the privately-owned financial institutions insofar as the Post Office Savings Bank and.the State Advances Office are concerned, and for failing to provide adequate financial assistance for farmers and home-builders. ■ The chief speech of the day in reply to Mr. Holland was made by the Minister of Finance (Mr, Stewart), who affirmed that there was no relation between the increase in the State Advances interest and the increase en bank overdrafts. The aspirations of the Labour Party were traversed in humorous fashion by the Minister, who ventured his belief that the party was losing heart in that it was not now claiming that it had some magnificent new programme with which to woo the electors, but was urging that it was the only alternative to the Government. The attack on the Government was taken up from a somewhat different angle by;Mr. Veitch, the Nationalist member for Wangauui, which caused the Minister of Health (Mr. Young) to indulge in mild badinage at the expense of the United Party. The sitting, therefore, resolved itself largely into a sort of general'election campaign in miniature, and gave every evidence that some days must elapse before the flood of oratory ceases, so enabling the House to get to the stage of examining whatever legislative proposals the Government has in store. Six speeches were made in the course of the day, and the debate was adjourned at 11.30 p.m. on the motion of tho Hon. D. Buddo (Kaiapoi). The Address-in-Eeply debate in the Legislative Council was continued by three speakers, the principal topic of discussion there being the trouble in Samoa. Each of the speakers upheld the Government's handling of the Samoan situation.