PARLIAMENT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 9 July 1924, Page 5

PARLIAMENT

NO CONFIDENCE MOTION, . STATE ADVANCES. REPLY TO CRITICISM. (BY TELEGRAPH—PB.RBS ASSOCIATION A■ - WELLINGTON, july/S. The debate on the Address-in-Replv was continued in the; Hohse this afternoon. ■ ‘ ! Mr. S. G. Smith (Taranaki) declared that the inefficiency and inaction of the. Government haclhad'the effect of weaning hundreds and thousands-of iarmers from the Reform Party' j A claim was made for Reform that it included humanitarian legislation in its record of office-, but there were, thousands of people in New Zealand who knew nothing of the fights-that had to .be fought in the past tq’ ! gfet humanitarian legislation oh the Statute Book. Mr. Bitchener had said the,(civil service was staffed with many duds. That- was hbt Mr. Smith’s opinion. G; ■ , • Mr. Bitchener: “I did not say that.” Mr." Smith : “I accept ■ your denial. ’’ Mr. Smith said he was.not of the opinion as some were that the Meat Board had been ai success.i -He'would Tike-to: hear Mr. Lynsar (ther-Referm'member for Gisborne) on the ;’subject. ■ It had been said by" Mr.;- Bitchener that the Dairy Producers’ . Board , would be equally successful., but so far -it had done Tittle more than collect a- levy to pay the expeuses of .a .delegatj,OHv... ,Ho_ did not, think: the; producers'' “board would be able to help the dairy farmers-to-day, becauseakfce bdard 'T\-aS- bhilt. on': wrong lines. - Hoyever, he hoped some good would come of ..t-h'e board, f if tliere had been a, sect i'o'h of ' the 1 thill - muni tv fooled by the Government- it was the farming - class. He. protested kagainst the attempt to* lower the pensions bill-of the couivtry 'by forcing sol- r dfers to go to centres for examination ‘ by doctors. • " - - -T v ' Mr.- Massey, in,'reply .toyeriiicism pt . the Advances Departntentj said the .Act put upon the Statute Book last year, was the most' liberal measure' ever " passed by Parliament, He did not take any credit for what was done under iU - immediately after it began to- operate? because lie was out of thejepuntry, but more hacl been lent ip oife lhoilth than ; had previously been lent in twelve' months.' ’ * From August year,. whep. - tire Act first- came- ’into operation, up to the end of the financial : year eightthousand persons had been assisted with loans, which , was a- most satisfac- - toiv record.; - . ' N; ;

. He congratulated .the .mqver'.anfl.-jtjie,, seconder of the address - upon.idle 1 speech e s they had deliveredbut Ife wis unable ,to extend a similar compliment ' to the Opposition. : Especially was tms.the case-with the leader 1 s speech, which : was the same old oration which he had trotted opt all over the country -since the last election; It was devoid of a. single bright word or original ide.a.apd; . failed to rouse any enthusiasm.- The fault lay with Mr. AVilford himself, for the people of. the Dominion could not • forget his public record froin the days, of hi 9 soft pedal onward. Leaving the Opposition, My. Massey proceeded to .defenfi the Government against the' charges'that'the Government had bought land for soldiers fromtheir own. friends at excessively High prices. He offered to have the closest enquiry into any-specific charge of .this . character which .anyone chose to make!. . The fact was that most of the land purchased was selected by the soldiers themselves and bought by- the .Land Purchase Department upder :Mr. Ritchie, and no member of the Government- ever interfered in any way with" the transaction. :• Discussing the taxation-commission, he contended that, thougbuthe'.Govern- A ment had set up a commission the Government was not bound to accept;'its. recommendations, but all the same he hoped that the report supplied would be very helpful. He charged Mr. Wilford with, misrepresenting,the .financial ppsi-i tion of the Dominion in his public speeches, heaping upon the Government the whole blame for. the; rapid, increase, in public expenditure, nevey-;reminding •„ the public that we had., just come through a. great war, which piled up heavy expenditure' in* -all -dirtections,'- including pensions .fdr' soldiers*.; Nor,did... he tell t-he public that, at-the first ..favourable -moment the "Coveninient”had : reduced taxatioiY, 'apidtnifing'Tn' : all" io : " £1.563,590. Tie quoted from .an. Australian paper’s appreciation of the Government's financial.. administration.._a-s the only GoverfiriieV)t_' rif v the'"Pacific which had beeir' able "fe ’ fediice: ltaxation. He hoped before They ended to be able to propose still further reductions in taxation. ' The Government" has been • charged with “filching” funds ‘from the Advances Department. There was no such thing as “filching.” Temporary investments were made , "in other cle-.. partments with surplus funds from the Advances Department, but. Everything was done under statutory authority and was perfectly in order-, but they - hqd Row reached a point when, not a penny was owing to the Advances’Depaft'ment;'

Discussing the alleged anefeasqs .in railway freights and fares, Mr. Massey elucidated the position of the rates on timber and dairy prodhcey explaining ' why the rates had gone up, the prin- - cipal reason being extra working costs arising from the bonuses awarded, to the men during the war. He had hoped soon to be able to reduce railway fares •' and freights, because lie realised they were too high, but only, the other.evening the Opposition had voted to in-' crease overhead charges and that was just the sort of thing that would prevent the reductions he and the Minister . for Railways hoped to bring about. Coming to the question of ''lmperial, preference, he read a cablegram he sent - to the British Prime Minister setting out New Zealand’s view in view of the hope that it might influence Mr. MacDonald’s mind. Unfortunately it had not done so, but he, was still hopeful that preference would he given effect to. The prospects were better, now , than ever they wore. ' He defended - himself against, the charges of interfering in the British elections. ..All he, .. bad ever said, in England was that’ be hoped there would lie less -paity and ■ more patriotism. .In Belfast he told / the people, plainly what the industrial position of Britain was, while in Canada he spoke as a British citizen "to British' citizens, which lie had a perfect right to do, ami as he had been doing for years, although the Manchester Guardian. which was quite, out: of date, had evidently only awakened to the fact. Mr. IT. E. Holland. (Leafier of the Labour Party) said it. was a pity the. House could not have agreed upon coming to an immediate vote on Mr. Wil-’ ford’s amendment, .because' everyone. :, knew exactly what the result would be. The vote on th.c Imprest- Supply Bill settled that-; the Government majority would be the eternal three. Coming to the' Liberal amendment, he said it consisted of so many planks in the Labour platform that the party, which was always consistent, would vote for it-. The debate was adjourned and theHouse rose at-10-30 p.m. till. 2.30 p.m.. to-morrow.