OPPOSITION CHALLENGE

Evening Star, Issue 17394, 2 July 1920, Page 7

OPPOSITION CHALLENGE

LIBERAL LEADER'S REASONS. Faoit Oue Parliamentabv Rbpobtee. WELLINGTON, July 2.' *" - In moving his resolution of no-confidence in the Government the Hon. VV. D. S. Mac Donald, Leader of the Opposition, took mildly critical line, covering only two outstanding points—Eleckual Reform ■ and Land Settlement. His speech evi--1 denty was more intended to put the House on-side than to slashingly criticise the Government. This was recognised in ■ the Ministerial rejoinder, the Hon. D. H. Guthrie,' who followed, devoting only a few minutes to a reply of the critical portions of the Oppositionist's speech. The Leader of the Opposition, remarked upon the possibility of viewing" the Governor's Speech from different angles.. The ' proposer of the motion regarded it as optimistic, but he (Mr Mac Donald) considered it highly pessimistic, bordering on tragedy. His action in moving a no-con-fidence motion had been criticised, but he strongly held to the opinion previously expressed that so far as the Liberal Party were concerned, they liad no intention to ' harass or , embarrass the Government. But this was the opening of the new Parliament. There were a large number of new members in the House. He regretted the absence of some old colleagues, and felt that the absence of Sir Joseph Ward during a time of great difficulty and - trouble in finance was no cause for rejoicing. If he absorbed the wisdom of the Conservative Press he must tal;e the Reform' dope, sit silent, and acquiesce in everything put forward. An Opposition had a duty to. watch legislation, and to act as a Court of Appeal for dissatisfied people injured by the legislation. He was not disposed to agree with the rosy views of the seconder of the Address-ifi-Renlv 'Mr Jones) regarding the high prices of land, for he regarded this with serious misgivings. Since the General Election there had not been a full Cabinet, thou'sh much was said about the necessity of getting to work. It vras difficult even to-day to discover who neld various portfolios/ It was not in the best interests of the country that Cabinet was not fully manned. It seemed as if the Prime Minister had subordinated the interests of the country. The Prime Mini-ter had been congratulated on his ability in handling the Labor troubles, b'-t he doubted his success. Whv bad Mr Massey cast a slur on a colleague by taking the Railway portfolio from Sir. William Herries? Mr Massey: Because he handed it over. —One-man Government.— Mr Mac Donald went on to suggest that some of the railway troubles might have been avoided had Mr Herries continued ' to hold the portfolio. The Prime Minister had declared to an Auckland deputation, who suggested that he was overworked, that if he was given half a dozen secretaries he could run the whole show. He appeared to be obsessed with the idea that he was the only man who could run the country. We don't expect any victory over the Reform side, but we don't show members' position so far as

—Electoral Reform—- £) concerned. This is my chief reason for Sieving the motion. Kr Massev- What do you want? Mr Mac Donald: "I want the Prime Minister to set up a Parliamentary Committee or Royal Commission this session to go into the whole question of electoral reform, and bring down a report so as to enable the whole question to be dealt with next session." The speaker proceeded to analyse the last election voting, declaring that Reform won 17 seats on a minority vote, and should have really secured only 29 seats, and the other, parties 47 seats if-a less obsolete system of election had been adopted. Despite the Reform promise in 1912 to provide something better than a first-past-the-post mode of election, nothing had been done. He was not asking for Proportional Representation, as the Prime Minister knew it, but there were methods of Proportional Representation which brought about fair results. —Land Policy Wanted.— The Minister-of Lands in settling sol- ■"-' diers was hampered" by lack of policy. The large landowners were going to" hang on to their estates unless forced to sell. A large number of men'found it impossible to get land. The Government should classify landless soldiers in different' districts, and classify the laTge estates, then • demand (of landowners a * proportionate area to.the requirements of each district. They should be forced to sell. He knew owners of large estates in the Bay of Plenty t» be honest, who were loyaTmen, and if the matter was put to them they would sell at a reasonable price. When a soldier settled on a section the Government should build him a house immediately. When 'Mr Mac Donald referred to a number of estates over 60,000 acres the Prime Minister interpolated "There are none so large now." _ "You don't know the tricks' of holding them," retorted Ms Mac Donald, who assured the" House he knew of estates ud to 100,000 acres. The holder of one o'f these large estates had the temerity during the election to send him at one of his .meetings an unsigned question demanding to know why there was no soldier settlement .In that district. Thi* man now had not offered a single acre for the purpose, and he got his answer. The-subdivision of large estates was one nf the greatest-questions before the country. —Minor Matters.— He hoped the Government would set up a Commission to investigate the currency .question. This was necessary to satisfy the people, who had a strong sense of discontent over inflated currency. The shipping question also required attention. When he was in the National Government he urged the purchase of State colliers for the use of the Railway Department. They could easily keep them running to Australia. The opening up of a new mine at Point Elizabeth was authorised a year ago to bring in fresh supplies. The Public Works Department was told to go on straight. The first sod was turned only the other day. It was a V vT3v lm P° rtant . to complete various

short lines for opening tip new coal mines. ;*tr Mac Donald concluded by moving his motion of no-confidence. MINISTERIAL REPLY. ...T I }®^ o ?- D - H. Guthrie undertook the Ministerial reply, contending that the Governor s Speech was not pessimistic, but simply gave the necessary note of warning over tiie financial position. Thanks to , Imperial purchases through the war, New Zealand would face its extra war burden of £105,000,000 with confidence, and provide for future developments. New' Zealand was anxious to do everything for ite soldiars, but he wished the Honse to realise that there were other requests for land lettiemerrt. He had applications from men with large families for sections of land, but oonld only offer what the soldiers declined to take up. Answering a suggestion thai the Government had no t tempted to subdivide 'large estates, the Minister of Lands said he had circularised large _ holders, getting 150 replies. The experience of returned soldiers' settlements showed that the percentage of failures would be much smaller than was anticipated. He gave details of soldier settlements to date, as previously published, *nd stated that 691,141 acres were being prepared for settlement, including 17,000 fccrw email holdings. . It was anticipated that during July and August 22,157 acres of ordinary holdings and 105 small sections would be available for soldiers' selection. Experience showed that the Repatriation Department must encourage, building new .home* instead of purchasing houses, because the letter did not ease the housing pressure. Government's expenditure on repatriation totalled £19,066,368. There had been no stoppage of advances, but only tapering off until Parliament granted further resources Coming to the no-con-Bdence motion, Mr Guthrie asked what Electoral Reform was wanted. It was a peculiar thing that in all countries which had tried Proportional Representation it had failed tp give complete satisfaction. The question of Electoral Reform had not . ■ been directly before the Cabinet, bat he .wits quite satisfied. , The- Liberal Leader: Of course. The Prime Minister: Wo have good jeaeon to be.

OTHER SPEAKERS. I Mr Sidey (Dunedin, Sooth) expressed the opinioq that the Speech was extremely bald in regard to details of proposed legislation dealing with land matters. The Government had made no attempt to overpome the great increase in values, either by extra taxation or by putting the compulsory purchase clauses in operation. Aggregation had been going on, and the Government had not attempted, to prevent it. Indeed, by allowing the lease-in-per-petuity holders to acquire the freehold they had removed the safeguards against it.. Regarding the house shortage, there should have been organisation of the whole building industry, so that concentration might nave been given to building* which were most necessary. He' advocated an increased preference for British imports against those from the United States, pointing out that American imports had never been so great in proportion to Britain's. He deplored the failure to recognise the urgency in the necessity for a Customs tariff revision, and dealt with requirements in the way of improved •roads. Mr E. Newman (Manawatu) said that upon the occasion of a no-confidence motion the country had the right to expect some charges of incapacity and mismanagement brought 3gainst the Government, but nothing of the sort ha'd been done. The Opposition had not the slightest chance of defeating the Government, and they knew it; therefore the tactics of the Opposition were a mere waste of time, which, he strongly deprecated. He contended that the Government could not possibly control all the factors which contributed to the high Cost of Living, but he claimed if it bad not been for the Board of Trade there would have been much more profiteering than at present existed. Mr R. M'Oallum (Wairau) repudiated ■the suggestion that the tactics of the Opposition were a waste of time. They had a ri?ht to discuss the public affairs of the and to show why it was that the Government were disentitled to hold office. The greatest evil from which the country was suffering at present was the inflated values of land, in which more profiteering was going on than in any other department Land values were increasing, at the rate of £IOO every five minutes, and for this the Government-were to blame, because land valuations had not been brought up to date. Some of these valuations were 23 years old. Mr W. D. Lysnar (Gisborne) moved the adjournment of the debate, and the House rose at 9.30 p.m.