Address-in-Reply Debate Continues in House

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 58, 10 March 1943, Page 5

Address-in-Reply Debate Continues in House

Wide Variety of Subjects Discussed Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Mar. 9. Continuing tho Address-in-Reply debate in the House to-day, the Minister of Education (Hon. H. G. R. Mason), referring to the recent criticism of the Minister in Charge ot Broadcasting, (Hon. D. Wilson), said members knew Mr. Wilson was most tolerant and patient. He was not at ah the sort of man liable to put himself in the position of being accused of any ot the sentiments or passions which some of his critics alleged animated him. Mr. Lee asked if the Minister would give the reason for action in tho Scrimgeour case. That had not yet been made plain. Mr. Mason continued that there had been some disposition to sacrifice the interests of children under war conditions, but he did not sympathise with such policy and he thought it would have been better if so many teachers had not been allowed to enter the Armed Forces. Mr. Mason also mentioned that despite contentions to the contrary, statistics showed that there haa not been any increase in child delinquency so far during this war in New Zealand, and this was a remarkable fact which spoke well for teachers and parents. Social Security Dealing with the operation or the Social Security scheme, the Minister ol Health (Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer) said that despite the provision of pensions, hospital, maternity and pharmaceutical benefits, the Social Security scheme at the cost of a shilling in the £ financed all these things and required only £3,600,000 from the Consolidated Fund, a much smaller sum than was the caseprior to the introduction of the scheme. He predicted that there should be a surplus in the fund at the close of the financial year. Excluding war pensions and veterans’ allowances, it had been necessary to find £5,158,000 from the Consolidated Fund during the year prior to thfe introduction of the Social Security scheme for tho purposes now covered by the scheme, so that the contribution of £3,600,000 made to-day from the Consolidated Fund was certainly much less than was the case formerly.

Speaking on the matter of hospital rating, Mr. Nordmeyer described the system of a State subsidy for hospitals which, ho said, was virtually on a pound for pound basis. When the Social Security scheme came into operation, a hospital board received six shillings per occupied bed against three shillings formerly. There had been an upward trend in hospital boards’ demands on ratepayers long before the Social Security scheme came into operation. Discussing the demand that local ratepayers be relieved, he pointed out that while the suggestion had been made that Social Security payments should be increased for hospital purposes—and that was a proposal to which the Government would never agree—local ratepayers would not be relieved in their capacity as taxpayers because they would have to find the money from the Consolidated Fund. Mr. Kyle, speaking of the Scrimgeour case, expressed the opinion that the Minister in Charge of Broadcasting had been deliberately let down. No aoubt Mr. Scrimgeour’s suspension was at the behest of Cabinet because no Minister would have ordered such a move without placing the matter before Cabinet. He also criticised the Government for having a Minister of the Crown in the Legislative Council. Mr. Wilson, he said, was not an elected representative of the people. Various Government members, said Mr. Kyle, had tried to defend the operation of the Internal Marketing Division, but he was sure that when they went before the electors and wives and families had an opportunity of voting, the Government would find the people were very displeased with the activities of the Department which, he contended, was one of the great factors in the increase in the price of the products it was handling.

Mr. H. G. Dickie contended that it was nonsense to say as the Minister of Supply had stated that the cost of living in New Zealand had risen only 13 per cent. One saw on every side, evidence of waste. Take, for instance, manpower. We had the spectacle of C. 3 men in military camps and grade 1 men in funkholes in the Government service. It seemed to him that the present system of grading men and calling them up was lamentably unfair and not in the interests of the country. There were too many men with largo numbers of dependents in the camps at the present time. Work on Wharves and in Mines The Minister of Labour (Hon. P. C. Webb) stated that time lost in individual labour disputes in New Zealand was less than that in New Soutn Wales, Canada, Great Britain or America. The co-operative contract system on the waterfront was working very smoothly and the men were giving splendid results. In the coal miles, too, a very satisfactory method had been evolved of settling disputes. Under this system, Labour officials met employers and in most cases the disputes were settled immediately, thus obviating the necessity of bringing the matter before the courts. In the Waikato, he said, the co-operative contract system in the mines had been responsible for greatly increased production. Mr. Holland: How many stopwork meetings have there been!

Mr. Webb stated that there had been several since Christmas, but he had received undertakings from the miners at every mine he had been able to visit, giving a pledge not to hold stopwork meetings unless the matter in dispute was first referred to the management. Miners all over the country, he said, were establishing record after recora. In fact he thought they were working too hard, but that did not mean that he wished them to ease up in the present time of emergency. Defence of Manpower Policy Defending the Government’s manpower policy, the Minister of Public. Works asked who could have said twelve months ago that the Japanese would not descend on New Caledonia and that Auckland would not be in danger of bombing from land-basea planes. At the time when dangers were imminent, the Government was accusea of not doing enough, but to-day because the position had improved somewhat

the Government’s critics were saying it had done too much and taken too many men into the defence forces. The danger was not entirely past, he said. If the Government reduced the defences and tho people were imperilled, it would be to blame. The Minister of Transport (Hon. J. O’Brien) said the Leader of the Opposition had twitted him because he had joined the Ministry and said he had apparently forgotten his former associates, namely the Trades Unions and Police Department in that he had prevented the latter from publishing an article in the Police Gazette in favour of increased wages. Did the Leader of the Opposition remember how his party had prevented certain articles appearing in the Post and Telegraph Department’s journal, “Katipo,” asked the Minister. Mr. O’Brien praised the Government’s war effort which, he said, compared more than favourably with that of any country in the world. Land for Soldiers A plea that the Rehabilitation Board should purchase good class properties where the area held was more than was necessary for the requirements of the owner of such land and his family, was made by Mr. E. L. Cullen. Such land, he said, could be used for the settlement of returned soldiers. There were not many properties of this nature available, but still there were a few. Tbs price paid should be a reasonable one. Some of the areas owned by the Crown could also be made available for the same purpose and there were other*properties which would have to be taken through the courts. As chairman of the Lands’ Committee of the Rehabilitation Board, he said he had approached one large landowner, who had refused to sell one acre. The properties purchased, said Mr. Cullen, should be bought at a reasonable value —the productive value not a fictitious market value. He would also suggest that where properties were being offered for sale, they should first be offered to the Rehabilitation Board for the settlement of our returned boys. If the Government retained the prairie value of the land and the lease-holder received the equity ou all the improvements, it would be the best class of tenure the soldier could possibly buy. The cry of giving soldiers the freehold in preference to the leasehold was only a bogey. Successful land settlement could be undertaken if a good class of land were purchased, if soldiers were given reasonable assistance and if the Crown would write off amounts above the productive value, the Crown to bear the loss. J.'ke House rose at 10.3 P