THE SECOND WEEK.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15862, 27 February 1912, Page 7

THE SECOND WEEK.

NO-CONFIDENCE DEBATE <588?TINUED. MINISTERIAL CONTRIBUT?&yS. [From Our WELLINGTON, February 26. The debate on the no-confidence motion of the leader of the Opposition (Mr W. F. Massey) was continued at ■*. 7.30 to-night before overcrowded galleries filled in tho expectation of tjl? . division which was to settle tlie fate of parties. The Hon T. Mackenzie, Minister of Agriculture, took up the debate from whore it had ceased on Friday. He lightly prefaced his address with a humorous reference to tho tangled quotation of an Opposition follower that Mr Massey was the Moses who was going to lead the Israelites from the wilderness into the promised land. He remarked that if Mr Massey got no nearer the promised land than Moss# bo would be a sadly disappointed man, Mr Mackenzie pleaded for a more sporft. - ing conduct of political warfare. Mr Massey claimed that h# never hit below the belt, but he must have been thinking of the garter when he spoke. Mr Mackenzie dealt forcibly with several of the public questions of the day, but he was most earnest in his defence of - tlie Agricultural Department against Opposition slanders. He dealt with some of the varied activities of the' Department, its experimental fwmrf and its improvement of waste lands and poor country in all parts of the dominion. If Mr Massey wished to hold the Minister up to ridicule, let him pitch into the Minister instead of trying to discourage the good men vrho "ipre carrying out the good work of the Department. He admitted the surface had not been scratched of all that could be done in agricultural development, ‘ but one of tho most difficult things to 'induce members to settle down to waa tho consideration of the material prosperity of the country. Mr Mackenzie - addressed himself eloquently to tho w U -iirk ian an Opposition member: vvhat has Labour to thank the Government, for?” He traced the growth 9* r M JOur an< ? legislation under aal l i re S’ mo - The country now’ was.' at the close of one political era and the dawn of another. The age of privilege, if not doomed, was largely past, and tile political economy based on a limited'franchise was passing. The prosperuy or the country would bo ensured 2 * °? r<sslon P ll sound .economic lines, ' extending to those engaged in the indl?stnes every advantage consistent with the distribution of their products j in the ultimate markets. Xn conclusrnn.Mr Mackenzie upbraided the Opposition on its endeavours to get into power by evading a trial of strength on the election of Speaker, and refusing J 0 give a sick .man a pair. He warned tlie Labour members that they would be used by the Opposition and then cast aside, for Mr Massey’s supporters would not permit him to go as far for tbt\ uplift of the workers as the Liberal Party had gone. (Applause.) MR LAURENSON PERSUASIVE. Mr G. Laurenson (Lviteltou) argued that tlie Independent members ’ who were pledged to “turn Ward out” might vote with the Liberal Partv on the division and still respect +-holr pledges, inasmuch as Sir Joseph Ward had announced his intention of resigning. What wmre the ostensible reasons for turning the Government out? There was a mass of indirect ohargas and insinuations which would lead tc tho demoralisation of Parliament if.not checked, but not one case of corruption! had been proved against tlie Government in twenty-one" years. The ostensible charges were excessive-borrowing, but the man was a political humbug who, like Opposition members, denounced borrowing outside Parliament and supported it inside. Mr Laurenson. analysed the finances of tlie dominion, and remarked that if the Liberal Party took the much-neglacted platform it would fully justify itself in the eyes of the public. Mr Smith, in the homely language.of a sawmilling district, charged the Opposition witu trying to got a job on stolen testimonials, and later suggested that the Reform, barque carried a limited number of lifebelts, which would not be served out to Labour mombersL

Mr A. M. Myers (Auckland East) oarried the debate haltingly till midnight, when it was adjourned.