THE BUDGET DEBATE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 199, 24 July 1941, Page 2

THE BUDGET DEBATE

MANY MATTERS DISCUSSED. TRAINING OF TERRITORIALS. (Press Assn) WELLINGTON, July 23. Continuing the Budget debate intlnHouse of Representatives this »«ernoon, Air J. B. F. Cotterill (Lab-, Wanganui), who was in, the uniform ol a sergeant of the Territorials, dealt es pcciaily with the training of our armed forces, both in the Dominion an<l overseas. The great lesson to be -lea ed from the campaigns in Crete anci i Groce, he said, was tliat the o 1 single shot service ritie was sometlu » of the past, and successlnl infantry in modern warfare must be equipped wi . automatic arms. The sooner our troops overseas and in New Zealand, > were so equipped the sooner tie mo be able to bring this war to a successful conclusion. , Since the outbreak ol the war,, continued, we had been able to br, » into being a very efficient defence force in the Dominion. The system or twelve weeks’ intensive military training for our Territorials, he said, na had surprisingly effective results and many ot these men had probably lea' lied more in that period than the average members of the Expeditionaiy Forces before they left for overseas. It was necessary that the standard should bo maintained, and Air Cotteriil drew attention to the infrequency with which some Territorials attended the regular parades after their period of twelve weeks’ intensive training ha been completed The Minister, he suggested, should take action to mine some penalty for non-attendance at such parades. .. Air W. J. Poison (Nat., Stratford): Would you apply that to the Home Guard? , . Air Cotterill: No. 1 don’t think so Mr Poison: We have great difficulty keeping up attendances at Home Guard parades. . Mr Cotterill: A r es. But look at the enthusiasm displayed by many metnl>ers of the Home Guard. If we could get some of that keenness for attending parades in tlie Territorials, then it would make for more efficiency in the Territorials. Air Cotterill also mentioned the discrepancy in the ages of the two classes of Territorials, men from IS to U) and men from 41 to 45. Afnuv of toe latter age group were not of the type to make successful soldiers, he said, and he thought unit, commanders should he given discretion to return men who would not make successful soldiers to their civil occupations. HOME GUARD UNREST.

Air W. S. Goosman (Nat., Waikato) said lie was quite satisfied tliat it was distasteful to the men overseas to hear of the wrangling which was going on in the House. The Qppo.it.on could not accept responsibility for it was forced upon it by the Government. L the Government w. nted another member of the .War Cabinet from the Opposition why did it not ask the Opposition to nominate the member? The Opposition had made numerous offers to the Government, but the latter’s reply was that the Labour Party was not ready. The only conclusion the Opposition could reach was that tlie Government wanted to get Air Holland into the War Cabinet to shackle him. Air G oosinan also challenged the claim made by the Alinister of Finance in tile Budget that unemployment had been reduced to negligible proportions and cited the borough of Onehunga which, he said, from 193 S to 1941 had received a total of £172,843 from the unemployment funds. Personally, lie thought that the Government had covered up unemployment in the last few years, but it should tell the people how much there was to-day. Dealing with the Home Guard Air Goosman said there was a considerable amount of unrest and dissatisractiou among members regarding equipment *anu other matters. Tie suggested that the Government should appoint someone to discuss with those in charge or the Home Guard tnc various grievances alleged and restore the organisation to the position it should occupy. Speaking of the Government’s housing policy, he said it was apparent that Lite Government wished to have as many people as possible dependent on the buuo, to nave as many as possible wonting lor the (State and urawing their living from it. When the National Party became the Government its policy would be directly vhc opposite, and it would seek to have as many people as possible independent ol tlie btato, owning their own homes and living their own li\es. Air J. Robertson Qaib., Alasterton) said that Opposition members had spoiicn oi the Government s insulation policy and contended that it had been dropped. Il it had not been for insuhvtion where would the farmers of the Dominion bo to-day, he asked. Had it not been for the guaranteed price and a guaranteed mar net, the farmers of New Zealand would be facing about the worst economic crisis in history, lie charged the Opposition with having exploited every possible occasion lor partv purposes the Government’s difficulties arising from war conditions, if that was assisting tlie war eliort one hundred per cent, he would liko to know what more could be done if they wanted to oppose and hinder the war eliort. Air Robertson described the Budget as one to promote home and family life. It was so brilliant that many of the critics had been quite nonplussed. . Replying to an interjection by the Leader ot tlie Opposition, who asked if he thought there would be an election, Air Robertson said lie certainly thought an election would be preferable to a National Government with the honourable member in it. SPEAKER’S RULING. The Alinister of Railways (Hon. R. Semple), speaking in the evening, said he had listened to the Leader of the Opposition’s criticism of the Budget, and it seemed to him that Mr | Holland instead of indicating any weak points in the Government’s financial statement had held out the olive branch. Outside the Hou.-,e, however, Air Holland had held the dagger of the assassin in his hand. Mr Semple then proceeded to quote criti cisms which members of the Opposition had levelled at the Government outside the House. The member for Otago Central also had urged unity but outside the House he had stated that the Alinister of Finance was guiding the country in the direction of Nazism. The Speaker (Hon. W. E. Barnardintervened to state, that although such statements might be made outside the House lie would definitely prevent such attacks being made on members in the chamber. The acting-Prime Alinister (Hon W. Nash), speaking to the point of order, asked if tlie Speaker’s ruling meant that, although anything might bo said outside the House about the Government or a member of the House, it could not bo replied to inside the House

The Speaker replied that he could not allow statements gravely reflecting on members although made outside the House to be repeated in the House. Such statements could be replied to outside the House. Mr Nash asked what procedure would be adopted in the case of statements that might tend to disintegrate

the Government. The Speaker said the proper course in dealing with such statements would be for a member to introduce the matter in the form of a substantive motion. The Attorney-General (Hon. R. G It. Mason) suggested that the true meaning of the rule of the House on which the Speaker was basing his ruling was that statements made outside the House should not bo allowed to he made inside the chamber in order to convey grave suggestions that might have been made outside. This view was supported by Messrs W. A. Bodkin (Nat., Otago Central) and ¥. W. Schramm (Lab., Auckland East), but Mr Semple said lie had no other course than to adopt the Speaker’s rilling. Continuing, Mr Semple \aid lie was of opinion tnat the people of the Dominion should know of the wicked things that had been said and he would take some other opportunity in the future of telling them. Mr J. A. Lee (Dem. Lab., Grey Lynn) : Only last week 1 was likened to Hitler by members of the Labour Party. Mr Semple: I am sorry about that. No one has any right to liken any man to that bloodthirsty monster. Mr Semple referred to a recent address made by the member for Tauranga (Mr Doidge) who had quoted an unknown soldier as saying that the New Zealand troops could not shoot in Greece or Crete He did not think Mr Doidge intentionally intended to cast a slur but he had done so unintentionally. The Minister recalled that the First Echelon had been in Egypt for months before it was moved into the danger zone and -during that time had underzone a period of intensive training. The Second Echelon had been in England for nine months and what had they been doing thereF he asked. Personally, he disagreed with Brigadier .Hargest’s politics, hut he took off his hat to him as a soldier. He was one of the gamest men who had ever lived in New Zealand. "Would ho have allowed his men to sit in England doing nothing? GOOD SHOOTING. Mr Semple continued that on many occasions he had visited the men in camps in New Zealand and watched them shooting and he had never seen better shooting. The Minister then quoted a broadcast by Mr Geoffrey Cox, a Rhodes Scholar and war correspondent from the Middle East, in which he said he knew for a fact that aim ; nst the Germans in a straightout scrap with equal weapons the New Zealanders “had it on” the Germans every time. The New Zealanders had been taught to shoot more accurately than the Germans had, said Mr Cox". The Minister also referred to a report from the Middle East headquarters which referred to the remarkable rifle shooting of the New Zealand troops.