PARLIAMENT Labour Federation And Volunteer Firemen

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 September 1947, Page 5

PARLIAMENT Labour Federation And Volunteer Firemen

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, This Day. iDespite the fact that a suggestion to join the union was rejected by 2281 votes in a Do-mihion-wide ballot, the national executive of the Federation of Labour had ruled that all firemen should be Unionised, said Mr E. B. Corbett (Opposition, Egmont), in the House of Representatives this morning, when in association with Mr E. P, Aderman (Opposition, New Plymouth) he asked the Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr Parry, to take such action as was necessary to prevent compulsion from being applied to volunteer fire brigade employees to join the Firemen’s Union.

When the House passed, on to a discussion of the Estimates, urgency was taken. , x . ■ Mr F. W. Doidge (Opposition, Tauranga), referring to the Prime Minister’s Department, said that previous Prime Ministers had been able to carry on with a comparatively modest staff and vote, but at present that department had a staff of 185. 86 of whom were on the Prime Minister's own -administrative staff. Mr Doidge criticised the activities of the information section of the department and asked the Prime Minister to reply to the charge made by Sir Apirana Ngata, that the scurrilous attacks made on him during the last general election were issued from the “stink factory” in Wellington. , Mr Fraser said the member tor Tauranga had no right to attack public servants. He repudiated tne charge against the members of the information section and said that none of them would stoop to malign anyone or stoop to scurrility. The information section would serve another just as well as they served this Government. The growth of the Prime Minister’s department was inevitable, and no one was employed whose standard of service was not very high. Mr F. Langstone (Government, Roskill) urged the increased production of documentary films about the New Zealand way of life. The .national Film Unit had demonstrated its great ability in productions oi this type and, in view of the likely curtailment of imports of American films, there should be scope tor the wider exhibition of well-made documentaries made in this country. Mr G. H. O.j Wilson (Govt, Palmerston North) said the National Film Unit could do more if it had the equipment and technicians. The film unit showed people what was happening in the country and it was good to see New Zealand advertised to ourselves and to the world. It was a pity, however, that there was not more co-ordination between departments handling publicity. . Mr Fraser said he would look into the question of co-ordinating publicity matters. Defending the activities of the Film Unit and the Publicity Studios, he said the Government was trustee for the people and was entitled to tell the people what it was doing. Mr W. A. Sheat (Oppn, Patea) complained that films made by the Film Unit yyer.e _ lent .to the Labour Party for ifieetings. Mr Fraser: I understand' the National Party has also borrowed them. „ . , . Mr Sheat.said. the...use .of instructional films by any group was in order, but he objected to the use oi public money to make films which could' be used for party propaganda.

A Former Inspector Mr R. G. 'Gerard (Oppn., Ashburton) inquired whether the former Government inspector of motorvehicles, who used to occupy a room in Parliament buildings, was still on the payroll of the Prime Minister s Department. Mr Sheat: He tried to occupy the front bench over there. Mr Gerard asked if this person had been suspended and, if so, whether that had anything to do with his political activities? “Is he m liquidation, or, just like the Minister to Moscow, lying low?” asked Mr Gerard..

Discussion at this stage was extremely animated and was punctuated by members’ frequent resort to points of order. Mr J. R. Hanan (Opposition, Invercargill) said' that advertisements which were published last year shortly before the General Election,

and which had the effect of boosting Labour’s'administration, carried at the foot the vrords, “Issued by the New Zealand Government.” Mr Hanan asked if these advertisements were paid for by the National Publicity Studios. He considered they were a prostitution of- Parliamentary democracy and he was sure that, if the Prime Minister had been aware of the implication and the effects of those advertisements,. he would have stopped their publication at that time.

Mr M. Moohan (Government, Petone) said all the Labour Party’s advertising “was prepared- and paid for by the party’s head office without any assistance from any Governrfient department, and it was carrying political venom too far to suggest that public funds were used for party purposes. Proprietary Questioned

Mr T. L. Macdonald (Opposition, Wallace) praised as did other members, the work of the Publicity Studios and the Film Unit, but questioned the propriety of such activities being conducted under the wing of a Prime Minister. There must always be, he said, a tendency for publicity mediums to be used in difficult times for propaganda purposes.

The Other Side

Mr J. J. Maher (Opposition) said the national film unit had produced a very fine film on housing, but why was not the other side of the housing picture shown? “Why not show the houses in the Hutt Valley that sparrows are building in?” he asked. “Why not show the Wanganella when she was prostrate on the rocks? Why not show , the Wanganella on her deathbed in the Wellington harbour?” (Laughter). Mr Maher asked why people were not shown the empty bunkers in the railway yards and stores filled with goods which .could not be removed because of the lack of transport.

The vote was passed without further discussion. Mr Doidge, discussing the vote for the Department of External Affairs, said the Opposition had a perfect right to persist in trying to obtain information concerning the Moscow Legation, which was an expensive item. m . Referring to the office and official residence of the High Commissioner in London, Mr Doidge said they were inadequate, but there was an item of £3854 on the Estimates_ for a new car for the High Commissioner. No one would begrudge him a new car. 9 “Not even a Rolls Royce would cost that,” said Mr Doidge. Mr Fraser: It is a Rolls Royce. Mr Doidge said it was obviously a luxury car which should be left for Britain to export. The High Commissioner was a man of simple tastes, who probably would not feel at ease riding' in a £4OOO car. He suggested that the car had been ordered to take the Prime Minister to the Royal wedding. (Government laughter). Mr Fraser, replying briefly, said it was desired to get a good car that would last. Mr Hanan said it was unquestionable that, much good work was done by the legations, but it was difficult to find any evidence that any good was being achieved by the Moscow Legation. He considered that the sum of £2OO on the estimates for publicity purposes in Russia was a “mere bagatelle.” The rent of the office in Moscow had been increased and he thought that’some information on stabilisation should be sent to Moscow. Mr Fraser, answering questions about the expenditure on New Zealand’s representation at international conferences, said he candidly felt there had been too many such conferences recently and he earnestly hoped the number would be reduced. The cost of attending international gatherings just now was almost unbelievable, as the charges in centies such as London, New York and Paris were fantastic. Mr Algie: The Minister of Finance is looking worried. . Mr Fraser: He has cause to. it is a world gone haywire as far as charges are concerned. New Zealand, he added, wished to cut down her expenditure in this direction, but it 1 was difficult to do so without appearing unsympathetic. The matter could be discussed by the External Affairs Committee at its first meeting next week. The House adjourned for lunch at one o’clock.