THE ACTING-LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 30 June 1939, Page 8

THE ACTING-LEADER OF THE HOUSE

THE HON. T. FRASER IN REFLY The Acting-Leader of the House, Mr Fraser, commenced his reply to the j Leader of the Opposition's criticism, by j congratulating Mr Hamilton on the i happy time he had been having. He | had never been regarded as one of the brightest speakers of the House, but . now the elixir of life had come his way i and he was able to describe hardship, j depression and gloom for everybody. He reminded one of a cheerful and en- j terprising undertaker surveying the j corpse, but the corpse was not dead. It j was very much alive. The country had 1 : become accustomed to hearing members of the Opposition declaiming against 1 New Zealand. The difficulties of the j i country, which were of a temporaly ; character, were magnified into a , calamity. Did they think that was the ; waj to serve the Dominion? If they j tr ought that was discharging their re-j sponsibilities as members of the Op- I position it was a matter entirely for ; their judgment and for the judgment of their leader. Those methods were not ! likely to capture the imagination of the | people. A BAD PROPHET Mr Fraser referred, amidst Govern- . | ment laughter, to Mr Hamilton’s recent , statement: "Some say we lost the election. I say we f, just did not win it.” Whatever way it was out the result was equally satisfactory to the country. , Again Mr Hamilton had predicted disaster in respect to the Government s loan. He had proved himself a bad prophet. The loan met with excellent response. Dealing with social security the Minister said tliat the Leader of the Opposition was under an obligation to understand the law when he discussed the Act. He referred to a clause that

gave the Government power to bring in certain of the benefits when the necesI sary arrangements were completed, j That was’ the law. He wished to know whether the Lea’der of the Opposition would repeal the law and what else he would.do to bring down costs and prevent what he called "the squandering of money by the Government.’' Mr Fraser said he was pleased at the progress made with the Social Security Act. He would have-been better pleased had the medical profession agreed to the maternity benefits. He doubted whether there was much difficulty in connection with the signing of the contracts. The Government was prepared at any time to consider any proposals from the B.M.A. or other organisations concerning the scheme. B.M.A. PROPOSALS Mr W. J. Poison (National. Stratford): Did they not submit some proposals? Mr Fraser: They did and they are being considered. The Minister said that when it came to the question of .the care of the mothers it should not be a matter of newspaper controversy or recrimination. The Government’s duty was to administer the law of the country. Industrial workers and every section of the community must obey the law. He would not make threats. Personally,

his own relations with the medical profession had been friendly and he felt that the necessary arrangements would be made in the interests of the mothers. The benefits already conferred on mothers had been largely availed of’. More than 1400 mothers had received assistance in the past few weeks. Mr Fraser asked the Leader of the Opposition if he would reduce wages and social security benefits. "Let him say definitely if he is prepared to reverse the policy that has brought the people out of the slough of despond and depression to a standard of decent living,” he said. Hon D. G. Sullivan: Ilis is a safety first policy. Mr Fraser: A hit-and-run policy. A little hit and a lot of run. Mr W. J. Poison (National. Stratford): You propose to sponge on London lor that. Mr Fraser: There is sponging, as you call it. 1 appreciate the lion, member’s choice of diction. No doubt he will regret it and take an early opportunity of withdrawing it The Leader of the Opposition, continued Mr Fraser, said that the Government should be ashamed to go on the London market, and he also said that people were leginning to learn what British liberty meant. "1 quite agree with him on that last remark,” said Mr Fraser. SAVINGS BANK FIGURES One would have thought from the statements made by the Leader of the Opposition that there was a consistent failure of the P.O.S B finance, said the Minister, who quoted figures giving the relative position of deposits in and withdrawals from the Post Office Savings Bank In the four years 1918 to 1921 the excess of deposits was more than C 3.000.000: during 1922 the excess of withdrawals over deposits was £1.100.000: in 1923 it was £1000.000: in 1924 excess of deposits was £88.000; from 1925 to 1933. the excess of withdrawals ranged from £768.000 in 1920 to a maximum of £6.024 000 in 1932 dropping back to £2.700.000 n 1933 In 1934 there was a reversal, and 'deposits exceeded withdrawals by £1.600.000: this figure increased to £3.200.000 the following year, dropped back to £2.086.000 in 1936. rose ’ £3.600.000 in 1937. stood at £3.400.000 in 1938 and in 1 1939 there was an excess of withdrawals of £4.000.000. Explaining the recent excess of withdrawals Mr Fraser said that a large amounl had been taken out of the large accounts The smaller accounts showed 1 the greatest indication of increasing ; prosperity in the homes of the people.

i Those accounts not exceeding £3OO re-I 1 presented 94.2 per cent, of the total ac- ! counts. The run had been on those accounts kept by business people at call in the Post Office and earning interest. People owning accounts of under £3OO increased from 861.000 to 891.000. j The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (National. Kaipara): How many went out'.’ The Minister: I have not those figures . with me. i Mr Fraser went on to say that accounts exceeding £2OOO decreased from

8193 to 7078 and the sum involved was £1.672.000. "Where did that go‘ y ' he ' asked. "I would submit that with the j better industrial conditions opportunity ! was found for investment, and I would i be surprised if a certain amount was j not taken out for the recent internal i loan. The state of the .accounts in the I Post Office to-day is a sure indication of prosperity, diffused prosperity, and 1 it is as good a barometer as we have : ever had." People who talked about the flight of ! capital from the Post Office and that j i investments were in danger, created i j the very circumstances favourable to i , such a development, i Mr Fraser, after chiding Mr Hamil- : ton for personal references to members of the Government, referred to the lat- ; ter’s remark that the Government ! should not rush to London, and should

.be ashamed to go to London. "If the ! hon. member can bear with some recent I history,” he said. "I will provide it." TRADE POSITION ' The Minister proceeded to summarise the Dominion’s trade pbsition over a ; period of years. In the period from 1925 |to 1929 the exports were valued at '£261.000 000 and the imports at £241.000.000. leaving a balance of £20.000.000. j Interest charges to be met totalled j £29.000.000, leaving a deficit of j £9.000.000. Interest on local body debt meant another £3.000.000. To square | things £12.000.000 had to be found. How did the Government find it? They found , it by borrowing the sum of £34.000.000 ! for that and other purposes, i During the five years of the depresj sion period, continued the Minister, the i exports were valued at £185.000.000 and { the import!- at £152.000.000. An amount jof £32.000.00'! had be paid in over- ; seas interest, and to carry on the Government had to borrow £11.000.000. In j the period from 1935 to 1939 the exports ! were valued at £223.000.000 and the imj ports at £185.000.000. leaving a balance of £38.000.000. No money had been borrowed overseas during those years, but some would be borrowed. With the i accumulated borrowing of previous Governments the interest bill amounted to £27.000.000 during that period, and local body interest was C 4.000.000. And because the Government did not borrow. and because of accumulations in London, the amount available exceeded what was required for the time being "If you consider that it was laudable to accumulate money in London when j there was poverty and want here, then I disagree with you.” said Mr Fraser. Mr Fraser charged the Opposition i with not having suggested any alternative to the steps that had been taken, and their cry that costs must come down must mean that wages would be j reduced and the standard of living of the people impaired. “THE GREATEST CRISIS" Not one word of explanation or excuse had been offered by the Minister 1 of Education for the difficulties which ! he admitted confronted the Dominion . to-day, and he had deplored the action of the Opposition in drawing attention | to those difficulties, said Mr W. A. Bodkin (National, Central Otago), j "Why ?ay it when this letter was cirj eulated by the member for Grey Lynn ; (Mr J. A. Lee)?" asked Mr Bodkin.

"Why say it when the Pr>:e Minister at the Labour Conference had to place hi? back to the wall in the Parliament of the Labour Party itself and say that if the resolution was carried he would treat it as a vote of no confidence?” Mr Speaker pointed out that there was a question on the Order Paper concerning what was described as the "Lee letter" and there would be an opportunity of discussing the document when the question came before the House. Moreover, by no stretch of imagination could the document be described as an act of administration on the part of the Government, and the debate must be confined to consideration of Government policy or administration. Mr Bodkin: I intend to deal only with the., question of Government policy, but I will refer to. criticism made of the Government’s policy by prominent member of the Government and to criticism that took place at the Labour conference. A Government member: Who was your pimp? "We know that a majority of the present Government have accused Cabinet of a betrayal of the Labour policy and have pointed out to their own party and the country that they ’•ave brought about the greatest crisis this country has ever known," declared Mr Bodkin. Government members: Oh? Mr Bodkin: There are interjections from the right wing Why don’t you ask the left wing? The Acting-Leader of the House would suggest that this Government has the confidence of the country, while the position is that it has not got the confidence of its own party. Its party has said in no uncertain way ♦hat the policy the Government has followed has landed the country into the desperate position it is in to-day. The Minister of Finance is now endeavouring to retrieve his position. The left wing would only make confusion more confounded and I * say " quite frankly that it was a go6d thing that the Prime Minister, although he was beaten if it came to a vole, put his back to tiie wall and said. “If you pass this «t is a vote of no confidence in the Government ” For that reason 100 delegates refrained from voting because they were not prepared to plunge the country into an election. Yet the hon Minister says that the Labour Party is endeavouring to carry out the policy ff placed before the electors of New Zealand BEGGING FOR MONEY Mr Lee had made it quite plain that there was no more earnest exponent of the Labour policy than himself, and he had claimed tliat he and his 10lI lowers had been betrayed, said Mr I Bodkin. For years the Labour GovI ernment had claimed that, it would I never borrow overseas, but now they j had the Minister of Finance overseas begging for money as it had never been begged Tor before by New Zealand. Mr Fraser: That is not correct. Mr Bodkin: He has gone on to a bad market and the hon Minister knows it: He has allowed all the overseas funds to disappear and has succeeded in so destroying the credit of New Zealand that its bonds to-day are being sold in the open market for less than ever before in the history of this country, r is only too easy to see why the Minister in his reply had not one word of

j explanation.' He did not want to broach | the subject at all. but preferred to discuss matters of practically no moment i at all. Mr Bodkin said that if the Opposition | 1 were in office they would reduce tax- ; ation and encourage private enterprise j to develop the industries of New Zeai land. If the Government had left private enterprise alone all surplus lab- i our would have been absorbed. The j i Government he d reduced the country , lo the stage where men couH not-sell I their labour although the industries of

New Zealand had never failed before. It was reported that the Prime Minister had said that the time had come when they must muzzle the author of "Socialism in New Zealand.” Was tiie Prime Minister sincere in subscribing to the Dlatform of the Labour Party with its socialisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, or was rie getting into a new camp? vVas that plank only a gag or was it subscribed to by a portion of the Party only? If the Government was sincere in its desire to have men absorbed into industry the Minister of Industries and

Commerce should make a statement that socialisation was just so much humbug. New Zealand wanted to know what the position was because there was capital to develop industry and thousands of workers available, but the fear of socialisation was driving the capital out of the country.