SIR CHARLES STATHAM

Evening Star, Issue 20958, 24 November 1931, Page 6

SIR CHARLES STATHAM

ADDRESS AT HI ACAN DREW’S BAY POSITION OF THE SPEAKER Sir Charles Statham, the Independent candidate for Dunedin Central, last night addressed a meeting of electors at Maeandrew's Bay. and was accorded an excellent hearing. Mr A. M'Hutchon was chairman. The Chairman, as. president of the district Householders and Ratepayers’ Association, extended a welcome to Lady and Sir Charles Statham. He said’ he thought they all recognised that Sir Charles had been a worthy re-, presentative of the district in Parliament during the last three years and had served its best interests. They all knew that Sir Charles had been instrumental in obtaining a grant for the new school. Sir Charles was appealing for renewed confidence, and the speaker was sure those present would accord him a good hearing. , . , At the outset Sir Charles explained that he did not come before them to make a lighting speech, but to have the pleasure of meeting his constituents and (dying them some account of his stewardship as Speaker of the House and representative of Dunedin Central. THE SPEAKERSHIP. He dealt first with the question of the Speakership, and explained that immediately a member of the House was elected to the Chair he had to leave all party ties and all political feelings behind him. Thenceforth he must keep himself scrupulously clear of anything in the nature of party politics and political controversies. Thenceforth he must be the friend of every member of the House, He must fulfil all the exacting duties of his office with the strictest fairness and impartiality. Ho must administer the parliamentary laws and Standing Orders without fear or favour. He became the guardian of all the rights and privileges of the House and of every member of the House, and in his hands lay the task of upholding the order and dignity of the proceedings of Parliament. He vyished to take this opportunity of thanking the members of all parties in the House, without any exception, for the loyal manner in which they had upheld the authority of the Chair. During all the years he had been Speaker not one member had been “ named 11 or suspended, and although there had been" times when partv feelings had run high there had not been one case of real disorder. The Speaker’s work was not confined merely to presiding over the sittings of the House, and Sir Charles mentioned some of the many other important duties which devolved upon him and which demanded his close and unflagging attention He went on to say that in view of the fact that the Speaker should not take anv part in party politics and that he should at all times observe the strictest impartiality, it Jiaci become the established custom m England for the Speaker of the House of Commons to be returned unopposed bv his constituency. It was considered unfair and ungenerous to put him in the position of having to contest an election with tied hands. He admitted that this salutary rule had not been observed in the past in New Zealand, or, as far as ho knew, in Australia. In his own case lie had already had to contest two elections since his first election to the chair in 1923. Ho felt the handicap of having to contest his seat with his hands tied in the way he had mentioned, but it was a free country and if other did not have what he believed to bo a proper conception of the position he could not help it. lie was at least doing his part towards establishing in the dominion the tradition and custom followed in England, and which were founded on common sense and courtesy and British justice and fairplay. . Sir Charles went on to say he believed he had enjoyed the confidence of members generally, and he had endeavoured to perform his duties with scrupulous fairness. Although he felt diffident about mentioning it, every section of the House had again and again paid tributes to his work, to Ins ability, and to his fairness He had accepted these tributes in the spirit in wiiich he believed they had been offered. To have done otherwise would have been to accuse some of his brother members oi insincerity. How, then, could he at a General Election cast away ins impartiality, as he might ~irow off his robes ol office, and ilmg nmself into the vortex ol political controversies;- He infinitely preferred to come before them with his hands tied He would play the game as he saw it, and refused to be drawn into any political strife which would be incompatible with the high office he had held during the past nine years, and which he hoped shortly to hold again. If the electors of Dunedin Central thought fit to return him again as their i ember, as he believed they would, and he was duly re-elected Speaker, it was almost unnecessary for him to assure them that he would show no feeling whatsoever against the party which had thought fit to oppose him at this election. REPRESENTING THE CONSTITUENCY. Sir Charles said that practically the only argument used against his candidature was that the Speaker could not represent his constituency. Would that argument be used under all circumstances P Probably circumstances would alter cases. If, for example, the Labour Party were returned with a large majority, and decided to elect one of its own members as Speakers, would it immediately be said of him that he no longer represented his constituency? When at the Horne elections quite recently the Speaker of the House of Commons (the lit. Hon. Captain Fitaroy) was returned unopposed, could it be suggested that his constituents or anv section of them considered that he did not represent them On the contrary, he believed they were proud to be represented by the Speaker. Although the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives was a small one compared with the great office of Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Charles was deeply sensible of the high honour of holding it, and had always felt that his native city, and particularly his own constituency of Dunedin Central, shared in that honour. He would remind his hearers that . the Speaker might be described as the most elected person in the dominion. He was first elected to Parliament by bis constituents, and then elected to the chair by the representatives of all the other constituencies. Sir Charles said he would like to ask where the electorate had suffered through being represented by the Speaker. He certainly did not vote on divisions, but the fact that during the last nine years he had had to give only one casting vote, and that on a- division for the adjournment of the House at the end of the session, uliicli was never taken seriously, in a house of seventy-nino members (excluding the Speaker) the l-?9th voting power lie would have had had ho not been in the chair would not have made the least difference. He did not take part in the debates, but lie had been long enough in Parliament to know that ninety-nine times nt of one hundred representations properly made

to the Government of the day, whatever Government it might be, had far more likelihood of having some effect than any amount of talk on the floor of the House. Again in his capacity as member for the district lie had actively attended to the wants and requests of his constituents, and anything brought before him by the humblest constituent had, and would always have, his close personal attention. The fact of his being Speaker did not diminish, hut rather increased. Ins influence on behalf of his constituents. HIS ONLY PROMISE. Sir Charles went on to say that as he believed he would be duly returned to ' Parliament, and reelected to the chair, he could not, for the reasons he had given, take part in any political controversy. He therefore proposed to repeat the promise he had made to the electors at the last election, which was as follows: 1 am fighting this election on the assumption that 1 will be re-elected to the Speakership. If, through any unforeseen contingency, I should not be re-elected to that office, or, being re-elected, relinquish it, 1 will resign my seat and submit myself again to the electors. The electors would then have the opportunity of hearing me speak untrammelled by the restrictions imposed on me at the present time by my inability to express my views on party politics. Finally, Sir Charles reminded his audience that as Speaker he was the servant of the whole House, and not oi the Government, or any other political party. He had no connection whatsoever with any other political parties oi groups in the House. His duty was to give fair play to all and to do his best to see that the business of the House was conducted in a mannei worthy of the fair name of New Zealand. THE FINANCIAL POSITION. Sir Charles proceeded to give a strictly impartial review of the financial position of the dominion. He said that in doing so he did not want to give praise or . blame to the Government or anyone else. He pointed out that the depression through which wo were passing was not peculiar to New Zealand, which had suffered very largely because the price of our primary products had gone down so much. Figures wore quoted by the speaker to show the decrease in the prices of primary products and the drop in the Customs revenue. He had always stood for a universal pensions scheme or universal superannuation scheme, and had spoken of it and put his case before members. Under such a scheme everyone would have to contribute, and there would be a subsidy by the State. At the present time, however, it was useless to talk about spending when it would take the Government all its time to pay ordinary interest and standing charges. He sincerely hoped there would be no diminution in the amount of pensions. Probably still more taxation would be imposed, and they would have to stand it, but he believed most of them would not mind if the money were properly applied. Sir Charles referred to the large amount of public debt that had to be met within the next seven years. It did not mean that all the money had to be found, but the loans had to be rearranged. He believed, however, that things would improve. Ho believed they would find that, as things improved at Home and as the people there obtained more purchasing power, the prices of our primary products would rise and times here would become better. In conclusion, Sir Charles stated that, if he did not go into the chair or for any reason ho left the chair, ho would give his word that he would resign his seat and come before them again as a candidate, put up a fighting speech, tell them what he thought of everybody and everything, and ask them to decide. (Applause.) QUESTIONS. Sir Charles was asked what would guide him in giving his casting vote if the House were equally divided on a matter. He said that, if it were the case of a Government staying in power or going out on the casting vote of the Speaker, the-Speaker always cast his vote in favour of the Government, whatever it was. It was a Oonstiturule that the Government should not he put out on the casting vote of the Speaker. Sir Charles was asked how he would vote if the House were equally divided on a Hill which provided for the abolition of the Arbitration Act. He replied that he would vote against the Bill in such a case, for the reason that a Bill like that ought not to be carried merely on the casting vote of the Speaker. In conclusion, Sir Charles stated A vote of thanks and confidence was accorded Sir Charles. t