POLITICAL DISSERTATIONS.

Northern Advocate, 15 August 1919, Page 3

POLITICAL DISSERTATIONS.

Mr Rishworth advanced "The New Zealand Parliament," commenting that new conditions demanded new measures, tending to true peace and not that of a caricature kind. Patriotic men were wanted in Parliament, not self-seekers, but those desirous of uplifting the country generally. The curse of the party system should be abolished; it had been weighed and found wanting. The housing problem was one of the most pressing questions, and must be grappled with, for unless the people' were decently housed, decent citizens could not be expected. If the representatives were decent men they could not go far wrong, no matter what their shade of politics.

'Mr F. Mander, M.P. for Marsden, made allusion in his preliminary remarks to the several disabilities under which the brigade had been placed for so long. He was amongst those who regretted that the same old, inadequate building was still all that the brigade possessed as a fire station, though he thought that matter would have been rectified before now but for the war's intervention. The brigade was a great acquisition to the town and deserving of all the eulogy that could be bestowed upon it, and the building was certainly out of all keeping with the high standard of the men. There should be better accommodation for the men who sacrificed home comforts to sleep at the station. It was no credit to the Fire Board that the men had to buy their own radiator to warm the bedrooms and meeting room. The insurance companies were saved incalculably heavy payments by the fact of the brigade's existence and should be correspondingly grateful in the way of pioper provision for all the men. Touching superficially on the political aspect, Mr Mander said he had heard a remark at the Education Conference in Auckland that all members of Parliament "ought to hang together." There were no doubt those in the Marsden electorate who thought it "time that the old chapv was got rid of." Possibly there was some truth in the thought, and if that came about when the next elecion test was made—well, he couH take a beating like a good sport; though he had done everything within his power to help his constituents individually and collectively. He deprecated fault-finding on every hand, at a time when everyone should rather help to set any wrong things right. No doubt there were certain things current in the dominion that required rectifying, though there was some gratification in the knowledge that New Zealand had not suffered extremely, as was the case with most other countries during the war. His sympathy wa3 with the moderate Labour section "every time," but he entirely disapproved of anything Bolshevist.

Regarding the cost of living, Mr Mander specified several lines in drapery, etc., which were considerably cheaper for the retail pu than were the sane goods at Lome. Nevertheless, the; f; were many disparities here that had never been properly sifted, and to that end he thought there should be a thoroughly organised Ministry of Trade which would keep track of all commodities right from the manufacturer to the retail counter. How married people with children managed to pull through under present conditions he could not conceive, and undoubtedly their lot should be ameliorated.

The New Zealand repatriation legislation, he contended, was the be?t in the world, but the great flaw hitherto had been in the bad adminis-

tration, especially the settling of returned soldiers on the land. Thera were now clear tokens, however, that a better state of affairs had come about with the establishment of the new Land Board, as very few complaints were heard. Some of the land areas which the Government had acquired were worthless—at Wayby and a large portion of the Streamlands area, for instance —and he had told both the Land Board and the Minister that he would not put his worst enemy on these places.

In order to g-et the best service for the dominion, he was strongly of opinion that the two moderate parties in the House should co-or-dinate. If the coallition d/issolved next session, neither of the leading parties would get back with an effective working majority.

Parliament's duty was to see that each individual in [the community got justice. That had invariably been the policy which he had followed, though he was but one of 80 members in the House, and he often found that it was an uphill struggle. The National Government, formed expressly for helping to win the war, had been the best possible thing for the time being. Domestic legislation had been dropped by mutual assent, but now that the war cause was removed the accumulation of domestic problems would have to be tackled in earnest and the most vigorous efforts made to bring about a better state of affairs all round. (Applause.) '"