THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

Evening Star, Issue 14634, 2 August 1911, Page 11

THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

OPENING SPEECHES. [CONDESSED FROM PEESS ASSOCIATION.] LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Trie Hon. J. R. Sinclair, in moving the Address-in-Reply, said that the Imperial Conference was* far the most important gathering so far as the Dominion was concerned. One of the most important questions to consider was thas which made for the urjjiy and safety of the Empire. He laid stress on the importance of this unity. Referring to the attitude of Canada in regard to the proposed reciprocity with the tJnited States, he expressed the opinion that the anomaly of a colony receiving more favored treatment than thp Mother Country was incompatible with the movement for unity. The establishment of some central body to deal with Imperial affair* in which the Dominions were concerned W3S imperatively necessary. He commended the views of Sir J. G. Ward, but said the day for their consummation was not yet. The members of the Imperial Council need not be Prime Ministers of colonies, but they should be appointed because-of their wise knowledge and sound judgment in .colonial affairs. Their opinions would.be- equivalent to the verdict of an ihterimperial jury upon Imperial questions. The question of reciprocity had been entirely ignored by theiei*nt Conference, the reason being that the Mother Country was not in a position to put it into operation: but whether preference was given or withheld, it made no difference to the loyalty of the Dominion to the Mother Country. . The Hon. S. T. Georee remarked that any debate on the Governor's Speech was a pure waste of time. .He would' like to have seen a bold policy brought down for completing our main trunk railway system. He thought it would be wise to raise a loan to complete these lines at the earliest possible moment, awl he would have them all constructed at once. Increased population was also necessary. The fullest consideration should be given to any legislation which might have the effect of restricting the introduction of capital. • The debate was th;n adjourned. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Mr Jennings (Taiunarunui) opened the debate by referring to the honor ronferred on their Speaker. Sii A. R. Guinness, who. by his unfailing courtesy, had won the admiration of everyone in the House. With regard to military training, there was a want of discipline in N,ew Zealand boys of the present day. He, hoped the young men of the future would be proud to belong to the New Zealand Territorials. In connection with the settlement of lands in the Dominion, an astonishing amount of settlement had taken place in the Taiunarunui district, and he claimed that it was a. standing credit to the land settlement policy of the Liberal party. There were only" 825,000 acres of Maori lands left in Taranaki. Most of this land was second class and difficult of access. He was astonished, in the face of this at the statements by the Leader of the Opposition and the-Qp»-position Press. He would have Kkecl to have seen in His Excellency's Speech some reference to the All-Red route, which was' an important matter at the present time. Mr Witty (Riccarton). the seconder, said he wished to congratulate Sir A. Guinness upon receiving the honor of knighthood, and he also wished to congratulate Sir James Carroll, the honor being the more significant inasmuch as it was an honor conferred on the Maori race as well as on :he Acting Prime Minister. A Local Government Bill was badly needed, and would be needed for a long time to come. With regard to the prospects of the farming community, he mentioned the fact that the grub" in the South had made such ravages that feed would he scarce and stock" would be dying in thousands in the season. He was not wholly in favor of the Compulsory , Training Act passed last session, and he was more in-:-lined to encourage, the training of cadets in schfSis. Land settlement should be handled in a judicious mariner, and Maori lands would have to be handled in a careful way if the Maoris, were, to be leiLwith_. any land at all. He wished to congratulate the Prime Minister on the work he j had done in the Old Country. Those I who were constantly prating that the Dominion was not prosperous were not loyal ■ o their country. The Public Debt had, he admitted, increased to a great extent during the past 20 years, but the question was not how much was borrowed, but what was done with the borrowed money. .Forty-two millions of the Public. Debt" had been spent on reproductive and therefore a good investment. He next dealt with what he described as the Opposition "•policy of humbug." The Leader of the Opposition had told the country that every one of the Hine charges had been proved up to the hilt, whereas the only charge proved was one against a poor little Maori. Dealing with the native land policy, he thought the lands were being dealt with too rapidly. The Leader of the Opposition wished to congratulate the Speaker on the honor received from the King. So far as the Speech from the Throne was concerned, he did not propose to discuss it at any length, becatis? it was not worthy of discussion. The present state of affairs in New Zealand and the present cost of living did not ray a. great deal for the administration of the last 20 years The member for Taumarunui was hopelessly wrong when he quoted figures regarding land. There were only 16.762.000 acres of freehold land in New Zealand. With regard to Mr Witty" s statement that only one of the Hine charges was proved, that was not so. Several of the charges had been proved conclusively. As to valuations, he. had had complaints from all over New Zealand of excessive valuation. The difficulty in connection with valuation was that the higher a farmer improved his land the more he was taxed. He would like to suggest that the more land was improved the leiis the owner should be taxed. The Acting Prime Minister had boasted of the amount of land open and about to be opened for closer settlement, yet people were leaving the country because they could not- get land. Near Hokianga 20.C00 acres of native lands were lying idle. With regard to the.Mokau lands. he hoped Sir James Carroll would open khe matter before the debate came to an ;nd. He had the facts of the transaction, and he was going to have an inquiry, and the matter was going to be thoroughly gone into. The 35,000 acres were sold for £25,000 and 25.000 shares in the company. The issued an Order-iii-Council for the land to be sold tor 10s per acre, which was contrary .to the- limitation clause in the Native Land Act. He wanted to know if the Native Minister had notified the Natives that he (the Minister) intended to take the block. The Commission which sat in connection with the leases found that the leases were either void or voidable. The transaction was not satisfactory. The Natives had informed the Government that they were willing to sell at a reasonable figure. He believed the land had been sold for very much less than its value, which could not be satisfactory to the settlers who would go on the land at a future date. The land should have been acquired by the Crown and settled "in the ordinary* way. He sincerely hoped that the inquiry asked for would be opened. An amendment was urgently needed, in his opinion, jit the lawproviding for the complete independence of the judicial bench. With regard to the Coronation, he wanted to know what had happened with regard to the invitations which were supposed to have been forwarded to members of the House. He believed that New Zealand was the only rountry not represented officially by members of Parliament. He wanted informa;ion regarding the Te Akau and Webster rases, which were to have been dealt with in England. Compulsory insurance against sickness and non-employment was a most important matter. It had been tried in Germany, and was working very satisfactorily. A" month should be devoted to such" a measure, and it should not be homed. The heads of the friendly societies should be consulted by the Government in connection with the matter, Mr •Maesey concluded by unreservedly witharawiistr .a statement made in the heat of debate last session on the Uine matter, in .wliicii he-reflected,.-or; >lr T, Iv. Tsjlor.

The -withdrawal was received with applause bv the House.

"The Minister of Education said he was very pleased to hear the lieader of the Opposition withdraw the statement. He joined in congratulations to the Speaker on the honor conferred upon him. , Dealing with land matters, Mr Fowlds said the total acreage of rural lands was 18,591,563, and there were 46,068 owners of these lands. In addition to this land, which was freehold, there were 3,000,000 acres of Maori land leased to Europeans and 45,000 acres in cultiviftion by the Maoris. There were 8.000,000 acres of European freehold lands not in cultivation. When mountain tops and useless lands were deducted from the total area of land there were only 2,000.000 acres left unoccupied. There was five times as much land held by Europeans as the whole lot held by Natives. He did not wish to go into the matter of the Mokau land case at any length. When it was gone into he was certain the Government would come out with credit. Mr Massey had referred to the slave-driving tactics of last year, and hoped they would not be repeated this year. Mr Massey had to remember that he did not control Parliament. The Leader of the House decided that certain legislation had to be put through, and that legislation was passed. He congratulated some of Mr Massey's followers on being converted to the idea of proportional representation. Sir J. G. Findlay went Home as a colleague of Sir J. G. Ward< to attend the Imperial Conference, and he was also to 1 attend to the matter of the Webster claim so far as he could without staying over some 12 months to await the slow movements of the English legal machinery. The debate was then adjourned, and the House rose at 0.25 a.m.