Parliament

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, Issue 179, 14 July 1927, Page 6

Parliament

House of Representatives. ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE. MR COATES REPLIES. Wellington, July 13. Resuming the debate on the Ad-dress-in-Reply in the House of Representatives this afternoon, Mr. J. Linklater (Manawatu) said the burning question in his electorate was dairy control. His electors voted largely for it and were bitterly disappointed that unified control had failed. A statement that over £2,000 000 had been lost to the producers was, he thougth, an exaggeration and was part of the hostile propaganda. Control, he thought, could still do good work. It looked as ii the proprietary interests would soon control both the meat and dairy industries, and when that came about the interests of the farmers would suffer. He held that the recent slaughtermen s strike was responsible for some of the farmers’ difficulties, for in spite of the fact that prices were falling the Arbitration Court raised these men’s pay, which was detrimental to fanning interests. He thought the preference clause in Arbitration Court awards should be abolished. The influence of cheap fertilisers on the farming industry was dwelt upon with approval. Mr. Linklater praised the administration of General Richardson in Samoa, The principle of that officer was “Samoa for the Samoans," and on that basis the health and prosperity of the people had vastly improved. New Zealand was fortunate in having a man of General Richardson’s calibre to administer the Samoan territory.

PREMIER’S REPLY. At 3.30 the Prime Minister rose to speak in the debate. He said he was gratified to find how weak the attack of the Opposition had been, while jt was also gratifying to find the Leadei of the Opposition had devoted most of his criticism to a matter which concerned the producers, with which it was quite obvious he was not very closely in touch. He first proceeded to deal with the election pledges of the Reform party and how those pledges had been fulfilled. He claimed that the country had been very well managed. It was true there was a surplus of £587,000. This was not anticipated and was due to over-im-portation. On the other hand, revenue and expenditure had been very carefully estimated and expenditure had been kept well in hand. Next there was the question of scientific agricultural education, in which considerable progress had been made. There was now a scientific research board, which had been active since it had been set up and a lot of valuable work was ahead of it. There had been some slight hitch over the agricultural college in the North Island, but he (Mr. Coates) expected that the good sense of reasonable men would smooth out all difficulties. He hoped to put before Parliament this session proposals which would be acceptable to all parties.

LAND BANKS. The Government had devised legislation giving effect to land banks, which would be helpful to farmers in arranging loans. He ventured to say there had never been a Government which was so thoroughly sympathetic with the primary producers In many districts in America and other parts of the world farmers were far worse off than here. Townplanning had been put into effect as evidence of the Government’s good faith to the towns and 'cities. The Motor Omnibus Bill was passed 'asi session with the best intention and if that measure was capable of ini provement as a result of experience the Government would have to an sider how those anomalies could be removed. He had returned from Ergland fully impressed with the necessity of supporting Britain in estab lishing a naval base at Singapore, but he made no promise in England and did not do anything until he had been able to lay all the facts before his colleagues here. It was urgent and steps had to be taken at once, otherwise he would have preferred to lay the whole matter before Parliament. Parliament would still, however, have an opportunity of expressing an opinion upon it. His Government had favoured the League of Nations and approved its work towards securing world peace. They had set up a Tariff Commission in the interests of the secondary industries, and he hoped that as a result of its deliberations those industries would greatly benefit.

MONEY FOR HOUSES. The housing of the people had not been forgotten. Over £11,000,000 had been advanced for the repayment of mortgages since 1923, and since 1919 there had been provided £25,000,000 for houses. From 1923 to 1927 State advances for all purposes had reached £24,500,000. Some £12,500,000 of this had gone into 16,000 separate loans. The figures spoke for themselves and showed that the Government had placed large sums ol money at the disposal of the department, but it was no use members calling out for more money on the one hand and demanding economy on the other. They also had to consider public credit at Home, and that was why they could not go on borrowing lavishly for all sorts of local purposes. Increased compensation under the Employers’ Liabiliay Act and the Family Allowance Act were mentioned as achievements of the Government. He stressed the value of the latter Act as calculated to improve the lot of our children, contending that as we improve this generation so future generations would be better able to look after selvesMr Coates then referred to dairy control (reported in another column). CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE. In conclusion he deprecated pessimism. Our position was not singular and there was evidence that things were improving the world over. We could look forward to the future with confidence. British industry was reviving under the system of payment by output. British industry was now ns up-to-date as any in the world, and given industrial peace there war; no doubt that Britain would soon be as fully represented on the markets of the world as any 1 other, AU we had to do was to

put our shoulders to the wheel and he had every confidence that under the guidance of the Government the country would soon return to its norma] prosperity. Mr J. Mason (Napier) briefly replied to the debate, claiming that all the points raised by the Opposition had been completely answered by the Government supporters, and at 10.30 the motion which he previously nftved was agreed to on the voices. The Prime Minister intimated that the business to-morrow would be private members’ bills. The House rose at 10.30 p.m. till ’.30 p.m- to-morrow.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. SHOOTING OF CAPTIVE BIRDS. BILL' READ SECOND TIME. Wellington, July 13. The Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m. to-day. Moving the second reading of the Captive Birds Shooting Prohibition Bill the Hon. G. M. Thomson said the measure was the same as the English Act, except that he proposed that the maximum penalty for shooting captive birds be £25 instead of £5O. The bill was read a second time. Sir Thomas Mackenzie said his Animals and Game Protection Amendment Bill required Parliament to fix permanently protected birds and game, instead of it being done by Order-in-Council. The second reading of the bill was carried.

The Council rose at 3.2 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. next Wednesday.