PARLIAMENT.

Mataura Ensign, 2 July 1914, Page 3

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL,

PER UNITED ritF.SS ASSOCIATION, WELLINGTON, July 1 The Council mofc at 2.30 p.m.

ADDRESS-IX-REPLY.

Hon. W. Earnshavv congratulated tlie Government upon the Governor's speech. There were things in it witli ■which ho disagreed, tout it 'was wortliy of the Government which had made good its promises. Hon. H. F. Wigra.m (Canterbury) expressed his approval of the defence scheme, but did not approve of a local navy. ' He suggested "an alteration in the death duties to encourage men to out up their estates among a larger .number of their relatives*.

Hon. J. Duthie (Wellington) endorsed the .speech. Tho people were never so prosperous and happy. 'The cost of living, lie .said, was regulatedi by the supply and demand. Hon. J. i?arr (Oantei J oury) briefly replied 1 and the address was agreed to."

ADJOURNMENT

Hon. F. IT. D. Bell (Leader >eif ,tho Council) proposed that the Council' should continue business on Thursday, and possibly Friday, when he would decide if a lengthy adjournment was necessary.

The Council adjourned at IJO p.in

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The House met at '2.30 p.m BIBLE-IN-SCHOOLS.

Mr J. A. Hanan (Invereargill) as.'tetf tho Minister for Education (Hon. Jar-.

Allen), if he would refer the Religion.; Instruction in Schools Bill to he Education Committee, in order that evidence might bo taken on the petitions presented against the Bill. " Hon. Jas. Allen replied- that he w is prepared to send t'ho Bill tp the .particular committee to which petitions were referred. ■

FIRST READINGS

The Gaming Act Amendment (Mr C. ■Hunter, Waipawa), the Victoria College Amendment (Hon. Jas. Allen), and the, Licensing .Amendment- dllt. Hnn. ■W, F. llassey) Bills were introduced and read a first time.

ADDKESS-IN.-EEPLY.

Mr T, M. Wilford (Huh) continuing the tleibate on. the Address-in-Keply, admitted (that tlio Dominion was prosl- - and tracing Hie probable efforts oif the. opening of tlic Panama. Canal predicted an era of even greater prosperity. we had over experienced. A notable omission from the .sippetill of the Minister for Defence was a straight-

out declaration that lie wav ucft in favor of a- local .ntivv.' lVi'«)iiallv lie 'IIr

Willford) regarded the local navy scheme as one of the. maddest ever promulgated. Our d'anger lay in the direction of Japan, and so-'loii« as the agreement ibetwec'n Britain and Jaipar> held rroocl .we, need not fear an invasion, but the moment that agreement lapsed we would he at the mercy of a yellow race. A local navy was no solu-

tion of the danger, hut there could '}h> no doubt that this was the policy of the. Government and tho people should clearly recognise the fact. Unless this was so what was the use ci

impeding at a high salary, a naval acli vises. ''ho otherwise would have no-L-'iinu He defined the ! sm??<£; °f f "'~.. Wnrd Government, con-p.-inr' : ' funds .remained "ti *he Adi-incc-.-' 'l'":■ ..'i-men* to .meet all .lain l ?, -by sii]:-;:'.'; "erring the surpluses i'r'.v.n oj/eS>r-' i "-i>'li t° another. Mr Wiif' rd f-!i-od'/Jy^i s! V' ! ' . tne methods t!;iif.!ovcd by $J lf '., I'nJ'lic Service Commissioner:-, ifi. -dentil "$ " v i-lf puibllc servant*. He advxvruetrC'he .addition ■of the Legislative ("ivnncii'.t savin;.; that the proposed a_nipninniionis'N v<l|v ''dug 'made -to Mock'future LfcbeiW W'slhtson. Them wa» noMiinrv in rlnH *! JWI ' 7; for the poor man, who .was. ncnul "'"'"ied by the 'Government party e>.;cV ,f •■' elecitioiii times, : The big .it'an '•'■,. ..* i Ann for the Government, am! th , "'■ j '■ias declared'by the class of can ci. V 'it was nominating for the comim* tion. He made a, plea for a | fljtf, and,claimed that use was now'he»hg made by the Government of i.ii.eral legislation to aid its' settlement policy, which was one of the finest r.~ .tiiponies to jts Mtcvlincr character and ~ wmplere answer tovdl their dunum.'! liters when in the fioposi'tkm 'Mr A. Harris: (Wiifcomata) contem.'ed that, the Ward 'Government had' never given any tboul'Jit to the ■need';] of the masses of the pUiple. Tho Mas-' •Sev fjoft;-rj)mpnt bad during its two! years passed iunre. ' jruly JiUtWal mea-l -sures than the Ward party -had 'done iii 20 yeArs. He proceeded 'to enumerate tihese measures and brhndbd the Opposition as comrades in. ; arms with the lied ,V)V wh.o.-e aid t,hey otdv could rtet -bark into office, i Mr A. M. Myers (Auckland East) dealt at length with'-naval' defence matters and confessed that he. was or a

tVffercnfc opinion liian the Leader of tho Opposition. Hewmikl not treat the

defence ouestion aV;a party owe, The po'Romiol for tho'liiw was the -most rnlnnVOo contribution they oonld rpnko. Mo believed that the formation of a lonal navy was <jnuwl. and there was no .reason whv tho youth . of Nov Zealand shciild , not ho ivtiliscd as .naval men; He .wanted to sec each component} part a source «&.f

strength to the Empire. Touching on financial 'matters sneaker traversal. rhuoh of the grqn'nd •prevxnisly covered' b» Sir Joseph Wardi and Hon. James Allen. He objected jo members of i'ho Government sroinir;•about tho country

cbiming that they ,-wwe responsible.for all the prosrrerity aiil aood legislation of the past 20 years. r The Government had not reduced expenditure or borrowing as promised.

REPLIES TO QUESTION ■Replying to questions Ministers said : That strong representations on tho subject of coloring margarine had been made to tlio Home (juvernnumt, but up to the present no' notification of its intention to stop the practice had been received. The, matter was being watched by tho High Commissioner but'owing to tho great influence of (margarine interests on the butter market the subject required careful handling. 'I he danger of tho introduction of I oot-and-mouth d.sease per medium of th.e clothing and effects of immigrant's from a European country was extremely remote, but the High Commissioner's attention would lie ilirocl'ed to it with a view to taking any steps that were pract'cablo to obviate it.

The question of having senior cadet parades in the country in the 1 day t'nie in the form of concentrations instead of evening drills was .now engaging the attention of the Department, The report of the new general manager of railways would be laid on the table as early as practicable. Accord in 2 to tho decision of the (supremo Court, civil servants had a clea.r and unquestionable of appeal under tho Public Service. Act. 1

THE EVENING SESSION

Tho House resumed at- 7.30 p.m. Mr C. JO. Sta.tha.in (Dunedin Central) 'continued: the debate on" tlie Afcfdress-in-Keply, contending that. Sir Joseph Ward: was in error 'when., lie said that the .people hud not 'contributed, one penny towards t'ho cast of the Dreadnought, claiming; that they had clone so thi-uugli the railways and Customhouse-. Tiio Government had fulfilled as many of its pledges as time had penrnitted. He went on to refer to the platform of the Reform Party prior to the. last election, claiming that they ha reformed the finance of the country. Mr R. McCallum (Waira.u) described tho visits made 'by 'Ministers to his district, declaring that £20,000,000 .would not Ibo sufficient to redeem all tho promises made by' the Prime Minister, while Hon. James Allen had insulted tho intelligence of ids constituents by the inaccuracies he ..had/ made in* his speech at Blenheim. His principal reason for not repoiiing confidence, in the, Government watf the 'bungling mannerin w'hich it handled the strike last-year and theincompetence of the Minister for Justice in "dealing with, lawlessness which, arose out• wf tlie .strike. The real object of the- Goveriianont was to .smash a laihor organisation with which it had

no sympathy and- did m«t understand, It had reipeatedly declared that one of the best reasons for ai change in, Government was that the Wai'dl' Ministry hampered the workers; The Opposition regretted l the strike because it injured the worker a more than the capitalists and: that was just the difference 'between the two parties. The' Government was worrying alxmt the ptirse-stiiiiigs while

the Opposition, warf anxious for tine hap* pines* of the: people. There were many

reason,* for voting for l>Jio amendniiiuit, Among t'he>m ho enumerated; the. fact that there \\iusi no reference in the .Speech: from the. Throne to the adjustment of taxation or the imposition of a higher graduated tax. There was also the ahaJidonnient of the second ballot and the jerrymandering of electoratea. He woiilcl tiupport the amendment.

Mr G. Hunter (Wai,pawa.) saiid that the people on the 'lanjd had' confidence in the adm.in.istration, as the ©sport figures showed. He quoted figures to show that- the Gnverirmont hml carried

out its promises to pii.Jh on land settlement and the,'land tax had induced cutting up estates. He looked for proposals to reduce the cost of living. Good rc-su'/ts had. come f rom the appointment of the Agricultural Board. Mr G. Foribes: (Huruiwui) held that the Government tru> not adapting an honorable course ijj \\siiig the-ser-vices' of men tyh'q. disftlg'ai;ded" their pledg.es. N<t cases of land aggregation had been dealt with and if the valuation to tlhe,' secret valuation, list w'as known he t>ttO\iaht< >'t 'WMukl '.>? found tji|\t Ijirjjp elates wore evading the graduated -tax,' In concluding, Mr iA»-bes urged that the time 'had or- :-.!■ -r'l when 1-aygp htnclhuklers 1 must 'iiiove . .'|i •:> iMiiko rown- for closer settlement, j Tii ; > i-ouid only Ice d'ono by the apI plication, of the .graduated tax. J' Mr W, A. Veitch (Wangamui) d's-T-Nigived i\ iih the statement in_t!he (JGyri'.- ',!»•'.■? S-pceeh that labor fO r !t]H K 1 n « ~ v for. ipvudVijt workers.' lJrosj';;,'.\v was among the, landowners and W lr Vnnoiig the masses. Th.p< lS>'l}><w ; h ~', ,",.tiied r.o proposals whatgYey 1.. u Vjl n,f th<: wg!-k«rsv fcoiitiiming; Mr 'j'-'itct' >;| i'! i"!iW was ft dim hope of a im-o'mV 1 -' 1 ' i if i den] with the cost of living ! 1-uV i« " ir ' : * t'liftt no indication of ; J'],',. (J:>\. ;nnH-nt's intention had been- ' x couvbination of the Liberal i !vnd fV'''' l ' '''ii'tien was hinted at, \>\it j ■>•■■"'' • \ '" r 'l' h justified tp .-i-' i:-.' : \ e ''.-: i.-l iiyw of'i Government I v'iii-i-*i' \\¥ u '-''-! ''i-iko the constitution of a "i'lAor !| ,r '- v l>o:--si-blo? Ho was favor--1-5)- J <> -I"'"' 1 a '-o'ubination, hut he.ha.dii'i'hV i;i.n[-l b;- i '" A ' : and it '.vasi his duty ; t(. ;- \ ;1 '":i,filiation "which- would I 'bnn\i .v>)\ l i ; L'M ,: <t government,

RDJOr».\iM-KNT. T'l! .; ''" '■'■ ">- iid.in-uniMl on tlic motion •■ •'■ ' ' '■■'& (Waikato), awl tlio ■■ ■■•» '■•'■■ ■'< -55 P-ni'.