THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume II, Issue 59, 22 February 1912, Page 5

THE POLITICAL CRISIS.

-NO CONFIDENCE DEBATE | CONTINUED i I HON. J. A. MILLAR READY TO RESIGN. (PER PRESS ASSOCIATION.) I I XXMlimrnn. Feb. 2i. The Hon. J. A. NiiHar. MmGu-r of Railways. c»mt im;< d the debate on the no-contifieiK-e motion. lie said the country would hate b«-cn | brought into a 1 >veli -rate :: tie* ' in power in i-C >1 l.eu men aR| i| to continue adrmniits attains. He rm-Mle. u d Hie right- ( they had then to get any <!•.■-< nt e-; gislation passed. He a-kcd wiint I the Opposition meant when tm.J said they had dean hands. When the Lender of the Oppo-i. i >:i iit-r. to Oamaru he eave utterance :■> statements whicK could not be stnntiated. The Government hi; been charged with being cuirupt. but the charges were nebubrn-. There »as nothing specific about them. Ihe Hine charges hail no been proved, despite the fact tha. those formulating then: h.id had ac cess to all files. Air. Massey. "XX e had not. ’ Mr. Millar: "You did.” Air. Massey: "They were not al. : there. ’’ i Mr. Millar: Do yor. imrly that; departmental ofneets had removed (loi-jnirat- fr< m tiu- files st:b-. imtted That sort of tiling was hit-) ting below the belt. Wry had no’ I definite U 1 KU tl'H'S bud! lU<tlH k clpCllll-' i the Govimment 1 if the present ; policy of the Opposition >’.<:• pursue.i j no decent man w.-tiid r; mam mj public life. Mr. Millar, cmitim-imr. j cited figures of the voting < f various ! members of the Opposition with re- I gard to settle:”-, old age --or.•• I and other Liberal measures pointing out the occasion on which they to:rd against the measures c* refrained from voting. The position snow ed that the men then in power ha I a better discrimination ;:s to what was for the benefit of the country than th? Lu:;, gentlemen on t j:c other side. He wanted the House to judge the men by their actionrand not by their words. The Jr.ni’ten then proceed,, d to explain air’ j defend the raise <«f the inert ns-*J ■ borro wing ami expenditure wi; i< h th Opposition, hr saiii. put m tin hd; of indictment a- "reck'-'-.- fxnrnuiturc.” Figures were quoted to shew that a large percentage cf the borrowed money wrs r>:cduetive. and be complained <>i the unir.ir attitude of the Oppcsiticn in it- metb.ct.s o! criticising loan- without taking int-j account how the money was utilised. He asked if that was unduly boricwring and squandering. Referring tc the charge of n-.-.-i-taxaticn. he ask td what could the Government do without the sanction rf Parbamcm : Referring to the Dreadnought, he said not one penny had been expended until it was sanctioned by Paiiit inent. The criaiiial < ifrr was st-rl Home with a s’.att mi nt limt m.thing would be done until -t was-anetion-ed by Parliament. He proceeded io defend the civ-1 si ,vice from the charges alleged against it. and declared that taxation had been taken off the workers. Ho conclude d by saying that the Liberal party had an unequalled record since it took office in 1891. Ho maintain! d that the party had to be credited With good work tending to the prosperi'y cf the country despite the opposition cf the other side. If his rcsignatio; ■would be of service t<; the partv h* was prepared to retire. He had no desire to retain office unless it v. < ri to the advantage of the party. PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRACY LOST SIGHT OF. Air. Herdman said it did not matter what the pit-enr Government done in the pi-t. the present was the time to judge. The Government had not grappled with their trusteeship as they should have done, and were not worthy of the confidence of the Hou- ’. U :th regard to "back do v’ he would refer members to toe Governors Speech, which was punctuated with back-downs. Tire people had declared that they did rmt want the present Government. The Local Government Bill hail been included in the Governor’s Speech, but it had been dragged from the Government. He objected to the rapid borrowing polity pursued by the present Government. Civil Si iwtee reform was, necessary, as was reform in the management cf the railways. Again, Native matters Lad nor been attend-1 ed to as they should have been, and | the expenditure of public money: needed ventilation, and this was not j forthcoming. Political influence in 1 the public service was the curse ofi the country, anil stamped out thebetter class in the service. The Go-, vernment was responsible for the Ar- i bitration Act. and it was useless : in I fact, it had widened the null’ be-! tween the employer and the rm-, ployee. The cxet -sive boirowing of the present Administration w::..teaching the people of the country to be extravagant. They should bitaught to live on their own resources i and not cultivate extravagant-e con-] sequent upon the ex.-e-sive borrow-‘ ing. The Minister in charge <•’ the railways wa> very able, but h- i-mid not be expected to efficiently m in . age the department, having had. no railway training. Under the Liberal, Government the country had graduaMplost sight of of the fundamental principles of democracy. There was an industrial unrest in New Z- -liana, and the people were afraid t.: invest money in the country. AIR. G. W. RUSSELL’S HOPES. Mr. G. AV. Russeii said Mr. Allen had been caught napping time and again, ami if the Opposition came into power they would never appoint him Minister of Finance. Had the Liberal party displayed one half of the energy displayed by the Opposition i* would have b.'en returned with a substantial majority. He claimed that the party which occupied the Treasury benches would have to go on with the progressive poliit of recent y r ars. He hoped the result of the division would be a cont-nuance of the Liberal party. The House adjourned at 11.20.

GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF RAILWAYMEN. ! AN EVIL OF THE SYSTEM i DISCLOSED ! Stratford. Feb. 22. A meeting of the Stratford branch |of the Amalgamated Society of Rnil- | way Servants resolved that consid- ! ering the attitude of tiie Reform party against Labour, the meeting i requests Air. Vc-itcii to support the Liberal Government on the No-Con- : fidence motion before the House. IBy so doing the meeting considers i he will be studying the best intertsts of the railway servants. They also resolved to recommend other I branches t<> take similar action. ! OPPOSITION PARTY i CONFIDENT. ■ .ATTITUDE OF MINISTERS. ■ [BY TELECR.irU— J.-ECI.VL.I (Own Correspondent). Wellington. Feb. 22. It seems to be generally understood in the lobbies at the present moment that the Opposition are confident of victory when the division is taken on Air. Alassey’s no-confi-dence motion. I It is understood that several other ■ Mini-iers are ready to announce t their intention of retiring if the i party so desires.