DAY IN PARLIAMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 4, 5 July 1939, Page 10

DAY IN PARLIAMENT

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE

So that he can take full advantage of the evening broadcast, the Leader of the Opposition (the Hon. Adam Hamilton) will present the case for the Opposition in the House of Representatives this evening by way of reply to the mover and seconder of the motion covering the Address in Reply. He is to be followed by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage), so that between them the two leaders should provide the high lights of this debate.

The mover of the motion, Mr. E. M. Macfarlane (Government, Christchurch South), and the seconder, Mr. C. W. Boswell (Government, Bay of Islands) both made their maiden speeches in the House, and in accordance with the usual custom, both wore full evening dress. In a speech that lasted fifty minutes, Mr. Macfarlane covered a good deal of ground, and, speaking confidently, adduced argument in justification of the Government's actions and claimed that it had behind it the people of the Dominion in greater force than ever. Mr. Boswell's speech as seconder of Mr. Macfarlane's motion lasted an hour and a half, and had a strong rural flavour about it. He singled out the new member for Tauranga, Mi\ F. W. Doidge (National) for special mention, for the latter's suggestion that the Government should take six of the best business men in the Dominion into the Cabinet. This, he declared, would strike at the roots of democratic government.

The afternoon sitting of the House was brief and featureless, business being confined to a few petitions and notices of questions. The Prime Minister n> le his first appearance in his appointed place in the House, after An attack of influenza and, with the Hon. Sir Apirana Ngata, was sworn in by the Speaker.

The House rose at 9.50 p.m. until 7.30 this evening, the afternoon sitting being dispensed with entirely.