PARLIAMENT

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 October 1944, Page 2

PARLIAMENT

STATE FORESTRY.

WELLINGTON, Oct. 24. Need for harmony between the State Forest Service and private sawmilling interests to ensure the maximum supply of timber for urgent housing needs was stressed by several speakers on debating the estimates of the State Forest Service in the House this afternoon. There were a number of empty seats in the chamber. Several members were absent in connection with the Awarua byelection. Some Opposition members alleged that the Forestry Department was taking up a hostile attitude towards millers for the purpose of paving the ways towards State control ofthe. timber industry. Mr. Bowden (Nat., Wellington West), on the other hand, paid a tribute to the way in which the Forestry Department had cared for forests.' He thought this was not a time to insist on changed methods for the milling of exotics. The Department should not insist on installation ot any new plant, which would reduce waste, because such plant was not readily available at present. . Mr. Langstone (Govt., Waimarino) stressed the need for ordered milling in the interests of future requireIVir.' Nash said he could not see why the Department and millers should find difficulties. The common aim was to get sufficient timber out to meet present requirements, and ne thought they should be able to do that and to introduce timber saving methods as machinery became available. It should be possible to find a way fair to millers whereby the maximum amount of timber could be produced. The vote was passed. POST AND TELEGRAPH The Post and Telegraph Amendment Bill was considered. The Post-master-General (Mr. Webb) moving the second reading, referred to the way in which Post and Telegraph officials had co-operated to overcome difficulties with the result that theie were few matters that needed attention, and these would be disposed ol by the Tribunal provided for in tne Bill. The Department had suggested that such a Tribunal should be set up only as a last resort. If the Tribunal were not a success, he would have no hesitation in making it a mandatory one, as was the case with the Railways Tribunal. But he was confident that there would be very few things to go to the Tribunal, and what did go would be considered by the best brains in the service. Mr. Bodkin expressed a hope that the scheme would function to the satisfaction of the Department, which, he said, was doing outstanding work. Personally he was not optimistic, bedcause he could only judge the matter on the way in which it would be received in private industry, and he knew if any industry were asked to give up the Arbitration Court in favour of such a tribunal, it would not agree. He urged the need for greater consideration of the status of Post and Telegraph officers. Mr. Fraser said he was satisfied that everyone would agree on the excellence of the service given by the Post and Telegraph officers. He assured the House that the different branches of the Public Service had been consulted as to what form of Tribunal they wanted, and the Post and Telegraph had asked for what’the Bill proposed. He considered tfie proposals were a very useful experiment in that they not only dealt with wages and conditions in the service, but also with the improvement of the service.

Mr. Mackley said the Government delayed bringing down this Bill as it did the Bill providing for the Railways Tribunal, until stabilisation regulations had been promulgated, thereby largely discounting the effectiveness of recommendations the Tri-' bunal might make. Mr. Macklev said the Bill made worse an already tangled skein of administration, and there was no assurance from the Government that it would carry out the Tribunal’s recommendations. In view of an apparent substantial rift in the Association itself on the matter the Government should refer further action on the Bill until representatives of the full membership could meet and clarify the Association's attitude. Mr. Webb, answering a question by Mr. Mackley, said the remuneration of members of the Tribunal would be on the same basis as that for any other Tribunal set up for a similar purpose. MINISTERIAL TRIPS. When the House resumed at 7.30, urgency was taken for the passage of the Supplementary Estimates, and these were disposed of with considerable despatch. A comment by Mr. Kidd (Nat. Waikato) on Ministerial visits abroad drew a sharp rebuke from Mr. Fraser. Speaking to a vote of £442 for the balance of general expenses of the Prime Minister’s visit to England in 1941, and a vote of £32 for the balance of expenses of the Prime Minister’s visit to Australia to attend the Pacific conference, Mr. Kidd said Mr. Fraser, with his globe-trotting trips, was proving a fairly expensive Minister. Mr. Fraser said that Mr. Kidd’s remarks showed the mental calibre of a road board member. When a Member got into the House, it was extremely paltry for him to discuss in-ter-Dominion affairs in such a way. “I am sorry the honourable member exposes the paucity of his mind and outlook by such comment,” said Mr. Fraser. “Did Mr. Kidd object to his attendance at the Canberra Conference or the Prime Ministers conference in the performance of his duty to the Dominion?

Mr. Kidd: Did the Right Honourable the Primo Minister when in the Opposition never object to Ministers going abroad? Mr. Fraser: I cannot recollect doing so, but if I did, it would have been very silly of me. The honourable gentlemen opposite are very good political resurrectionists. Mr. Fraser said no Minister of the Labour Government went abroad unnecessarily, and as to expenses incurred, there was nothing to apologise for. Mr. Bodkin (Nat., Central Otago), said the Opposition recognised that Ministers must go abroad, and. their expenses must be paid. He objected to hypocrisy. If any Cabinet Minister was seeking a penitent stool, he need only refer to his own speeches when in Opposition. r rh e vote was passed.

The House took until ILIS to complete the passing of the Supplementary Estimates, when the Appropriation Bill, embodying the main and supplementary Estimates in legislai five form, was introduced, put through all stages without discussion ' and passed, the House rising at 11.35 p.m.