PARLIAMENT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 15 September 1928, Page 6

PARLIAMENT

DISCUSSION ON ESTIMATES SALE OF STAMPS. I WITHDRAWAL OF LICENSES. I (By Telegraph— Pres? Association., WELLINGTON, Sept. 14. The House oi Representati\ es went into Committee oi Supply to-day to further consider the Estimates. The rotes for the Department ox Industries ana Commerce (£3i,t>so), the Treasury (£o8,OS(5) and the Land and income Tax Department (£62,258) were passed without discussion. On the Stamp Duties vote of £94,158 Mr. J. A. Lee asked why the Government had decided to issue no further licenses to sell stamps. He said it was a great public convenience. The Hon. W. Downie Stewart said it had been found that the granting of commission on stamps was too costly. He understood there would be no objection to people selling stamps, but no commission would be allowed. He agreed it was a puolic convenience and lie thought the additional business it brought stores and others would induce them to sell stamps without commission. Mr. E. J. Howard said that only 1 per cent, commission was allowed, on cue sale of stamps and it entailed no risk to the Government, i'eopie had co pay lor stamps when they obtained them ~ and actually they were lending money to the Government till the stamps were sold. He contended that \ per cent, commission would not be as costly as the overhead expense incurred by the Government in selling stamps. Mr. H. E. Holland asked why a man in ins constituency had to provide a bond or £fod before lie was permitted to sell stamps. Mr. (Stewart said tbe position relatiiicr to the sale of stamps was under re- ‘ view, he was under the impression | that it was considered that the sale of | stamps of small denomination was uneconomic and tiie departments concerned, while considering thei granting of a limited number ox permits to meet the public convenience, would no longer be able to allow commission. He added that one of the objections to the granting of permits was that large nrms obtained such licenses only for the pinpose of being allowed commission on the stamps bought for their own use. The' vote was then passed. On the Customs vote or tk118,573, Mr. M. J. to a v age protested against the £9OO rebate of duty on certain machinery granted what he termed a "powerful Reform journal,” on the ground that such machinery could not' be economically produced within the umpire. He named the firm which lie contended could procure' British maciimery of the type. Mr. Stewart said that the subject had been investigated and the very firm which Mr. Savage quoted was one vvhioh in a large number of cases had imported such machinery from out-I side the Empire. It evidently considered importing Empire machinery of the type uneconomic. Mr. H. E. Holland said the whole position Was that the firms wanted to same money by sacrificing the interests of British industry. Alter a lengthy discussion Mr. Savage moved an amendment that the customs estimate be reduced by £5 as an indication that the committee disapproved of the rebate granted. On a division the amendment was defeated by 39 to 14 and the vote was agreed to.

EDUCATION VOTE. The committee then took into consideration the Education vote of £3, ut>0,462. Mr. J. A. Lee complained th at only £lO had been voted for the purchase of New Zealand ensigns lor 'use in schools, of which only Rl was spent. “Twenty shillings’ worth oi patrioiism” was what he called it. The Minister said Mr. Lee’s views on patriotism were quite rexresliing, and he had no doubt every member oi the House would rejoice at this sinner who iiad repented, ion* there was a time when he seemed to have quite other views. The fact was that recently tlie department had purchased a number ot ensigns in order that they might have them in hand, but it was very seldom indeed they were asked for a free flag as most schools bought their own.

Mr. P. Fraser complained that the size of school classes were still too large, and he hoped the Minister would strive to have them reduced as fast as possible. He also gave a, “great measure of praise” to tbe correspondence schools carried on by the Education Department. He had examined the work done by those schools in the interests of tlie children in the hackblocks and the results' were most satisfactory. He also complimented the department on the appointment of Mr. Douglas Tayler as head of the musical branch. Mr. T. M. Wilford said he knew of no better uplift in life than the work don© by the kindergarten schools. Anyone tired with the ceaseless round of things who visited one of these kindergartens and saw what was being done would get a fresh gleam of hope. in reply tlie Minister said the system of exchange of teachers with other parts of the Empire was doing good because it broadened the minds of the teachers, although he understood the teachers found there was not much they could learn from other parts in the practice of their profession. Mr. P. Fraser commented on the absence of teachers’ right of appeal against non-appointment, and moved that the vote be reduced by £5 as an indication that this right should be given. Oil a division tbe amendment was defeated by 29 to 12. The Leader of the Opposition drew attention to the fact that while children travelling three miles to school received some concession, those travelling more or less than three miles receiled no such concession. By way of illustration of the latter case he quoted an instance of a family living near Wellington, the parent of which was paying 15s per quarter per child for three children and would shortly have to pay for the fourth. He suggested that in a case of that- kind some relief should be given. The Prim© Minister intervened and said it was most unusual and improper for one member to ask for facilities for people in another member’s district. It was not done.

The Leader of th© Opposition hotly retorted that as Leader of the Opposition he w*as entitled to quote ais an illustration any information he had regarding any part of the Dominion. Whenever he had information regarding another member’s district he always passed it on, but it was his duty to ventilate the grievances of the people all over New Zealand. Evidently the Prime Minister did not understand what he had been saying, and he made a bad miss in his attempt to catch him put. ■

The Prime Minister said if he had misunderstool Mr. Holland’s intention he regretted it. He was under the impression that Mr. Holland was asking for some facility in another member’s district. To use a case as an illustration was different. The vote was then passed. On the Department of Labour vote of £60,295, Mr. M. J. Savage said there were 800 unemployed in Auckland, and he wanted to know what the Minister was going: to do about it. , The Minister said he would set in- • quiries afoot and see what could be done.

The vote was passed. The National Provident Fund vote of £35,447 was also passed. AFFAIRS IN SAMOA. On the External Affairs vote of £39,743, the Leader of the Opposition pointed out that taxation in Samoa had fallen by £14,403. He wanted to know why. He also complained that the whole of the Government printing in Samoa was given to the Samoa Times office, when there was another printing office in Apia, and why, when 400 Chinese were repatriated, 464 new coolies were indentured. He understood the policy was to get rid of the Chinese instead of increasing them. He suggested some conciliatory arrangement should be made with Samoan people so that the mandate could be administered in such a way that all parties would work together amicably. Mr. Coates, as Minister of External Affairs, said the control of the Gov-, ernment in Samoa was entirely in the hands of the administrator. He was to use his judgment entirely as to what lie was to do. '. For that reason he supposed that if the printing was done at the office of the Samoa Times it always had been done there, and he had no desire to dictate to tli© Administrator in such a matter. There were those in Samoa who were opposed to the normal state of Government as it existed; but in his opinion there had been a definite improvement and he thought the Government would he able to collect all the outstanding taxation. In regard to the coolies, Mr. Coates said it was not the policy of the Government to keep Chinese in Samoa for a longer period than six years. Ln 1914 there were 3500 Chinese in Samoa, in 1922 there were 946, and m J 92?. there were 935.

Mr. M. J. Savage raised the question of the cause of the failure of the refrigerating machinery on tli© ship Maui Poniare. Mr. Coates said that the cause was not yet clear, but two experts, as well as .the ordinary engineers, had gone with her on the present trip and it was not expected there would be a recurrence of the trouble. The vote was passed. The Native LantT Settlement vote of £5105, the Native Trust (£13,541), Public Trust Office (£242,593), and the Discharged Soldier Settlement Account (£3000) were all passed without discussion.

Progress was then reported and the House rose at 10.15 p.m., till 2.30 P*m. on Tuesday.