ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

North Otago Times, Volume CV, Issue 13929, 11 July 1917, Page 2

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

PEBATE RESUMED,

SOME SALUTARY GUTICKQL (Per Press Association,) WELLINGTON', July fo, Iu the House this afternoon, Pr Newman resumed the debate on the Address-in-lieply. He complained that Parliament, hail been in recess for nearly eleven months, when so many vital questions remained to be decided, but when the House was called, together, no 1 ;ad was given as to the policy of the .Government. The Speech from the Throne was a miserable disappointment, .containing little else than some pifllc about the appointment of a GovernorGeneral. What tli'c people of this country wanted to know was whether the expenditure of the Dominion was going to be increased in consequence of that appointment. There was no guide as to the policy of the Government. lie wanted to know what they were going to do about six o'clock closing. Were the Ministers going again to flout this change, which was demanded by public opinion from one end of the country to the other. On the question of reinforcements he would ask himself whether we hail not done enough. We now had about 85,000 men in camp and at the front. The pick and ilower of the country. Would it not be better to devote our attention to the production of food, than to sending mere men, the circumstances having greatly changed since America had come into the war. The Government should make up its mind and give the House and country a definite lead on this important question. He complained that nothing was being done to deal with the alien question. British professional men and tradesmen were going to the front, and aliens wofc remaining bohiud reaping a harvest from the businesses left by our own people. Surely these aliens could be made to do non-combatant work, since they could not be sent to the front. Nothing adequate had been done to cope with 1 lie cost of living, for while we'had thousands of boxes of butter in store, the people could not buy it lor less than Is Sd. Our meat was being manipulated by rings in the Old Country...The only way to check the operations of the Meat Trust, was for the Government to take a hand in the overseas trade, lie made an appeal for a more energetic effort to stamp out cancer ;uul other diseases. Concluding, he asked th,e House to look forward to another three years of war, for which we must organise, lie begged of the Ministers to give the House and the country a lead before the debate closed. Mr ,1. C. Thomson advocated Slateowned ships to counteract the effects of the recent merger of the Union Company. He condemned the butter-fat levy, which he declared should have been repcaledj and he contended that the constitution ot' Ihe Eflicienoy Boards was far from satisfactory, while the allowances for the men of Hie Second Division would have In be increased, if any serious attempt was wade 111 send tii Ihe front the men of I lull branch of the .service. Dealing with the i|!i iA finn of employment for relumed soldiers, lie strongly advocated •itt nit ion being given lo State forestry. Bafciico Minister's Speech.

When l!it' HoiKe resumed in flic eventin- lion, fr'ir James Allen continued ilio debate on flic Addressin-licply. lie opened by paying a compliment to the Second Division, iiieiiibora of whieli, lie said, desired no apologies on their lr.lie was nnalile to nay when Hie Second JJivisinn would lie called out, He thought the First Division would last at least jwo reinforcements yet, Before tliey were exhausted the department intended to inaugurate a combing out policy, from which it was expected the department would procure several reinforcements, so that the Second Division may not be called for four or live months yet. When that was done, it may be necessary to review the standard of pensions and allowances to the cjccjJid Division. There wan a differential rate of pensions in Great Britain, ,and it was for New Zealand to say whether, in (his democratic country, we should have a differential rate between the rich and the poor man. Jle thought the country would rather raise the pension to tlui lie I'd of the poorest man, but that question would have to be settled by Parliament when the time arrives. He described the. work of the Hoard, set up to render financial assistance to soldiers, of which complaint had been made that it was too tardy in its decisions, This lie defended on the grounds that in the early stages, the Beard had great difficulties to contend with owing to the paucity of information. But all cases were now well in hand, and the arrears were being completely wiped out, In all JMI applications had been before the Board, of which 10S!) had been granted,' and oi2 dismissed or withdrawn, On the subject of pensions, Sir James claimed that our provision of pensions was higher in proportion to the population than either Australia or Great Britain. This, he argued, disproved the criticism that the Board had been niggardly in dealing with the claims. Proceeding, lie defended the practice of granting commissions in New Zealand, as against men 011 the field, contending that the practice was in accordance with the wishes of the generals commaudiug at the front. From the point of view of the health of the troops, he said, the position was not satisfactory

•-0 far (is diseases were concerned, and lie said Parliament would have to face the facts and .do something, and do it this season, lie warmly combatted the contention that the reinforcements should be limited, Ko long as New Zealand hasthe Main Bodies at the front, we would have to maintain them at the full strength by reinforcements, as necessities require, lie had given Ihe men. at the front that pledge, and never would he recede from that -position, It had been said that New Zealand was send ing too many reinforcements, That was r.ot so, New Zealand was only keeping Bp the necessary percentages, which ?ould not be'reduced,- Up to date New Zealand h.ir sent away, and had in (riiiiniiv men and nurses. Hio'i' men are 'Maori ««•! i : " land trceps. -These men had not asicc.

to have their reinforcements reduced, find in tin- face of their courago ami patriotism, what white man would refill to go iii aid of his country 1 ) ' Il\> passed an eniogism upon the' tuiinnellors and w;ireless men who had gone from New Zealand, and who wer» doing ■magnificent service on the west front, and in Mesopotamia. Ho further stated that JO,O'J7 men/had been'returned sick and wounded. Under the splendid treatment received, 123S of these had recovered sufficiently to go back to tho front. After sueli a splendid example of heroism, was there, lie asked, one Second Division .man who would not gladly, go ami relieve one. of these men? He regretted the casualties were very high in tlie recent offensive. There had been 2G,000 casualties, 7500 of whom, he regretted to say, would never see New Zealand again. He did not know when the war would end. He hoped it would be this year. If not, ho reminded the House that the spirit of the men buried in Franco, Gallipoli and elsewhere called on New Zealand to support the cause in which they had died. He t'olt confident no Second Division man would refuse to answer that call. He explained that An additional brigade had recently been formed 1 from the accumulated reinforcements. It was formed, not at the desire of the Government, but at the request of the Imperial authorities. Those men were required for a special mission, Such a request the Government could not refuse. It had been said that now America had come in, New Zealand should .-"pull out." He repudiated such a notion. New Zealand must be in at the linish, and he would not have the world say, if he could prevent it, that New Zealand grew weary ami faint-hearted in fighting for the glory of the Empire, and l'or the cause of humanity. /

Further Discussion. Mr C, H, Poole described the Minister's speech as a strong definite statement of policy, containing many concessions, which had been asked for from one end of (he Dominion to the other, He hoped it would never be said of any Government in this country that they failed to make adequate provision for the men who risked their lives and limbs at tlie front. In discussing the title of Governor-General referred to in the Speech, he said the Minister had not taken the House into his confidence, but had made a significant suggestion, to liini, that after the war there were-to be certain annexations in (lie Pacific, and New Zealand would probably llnd herself mistress amongst a number of islands silch as Samoa, Fiji and others, lie paid a warm tribute to the men of I the merchant service, who had neveronce refused to go to sea because they knew mines and submarines waited further outside. The coming in of America was a great event, and would help forward the day when the Allies would give the death-blow lo German tyranny.'Coming to local matters, Mr Poole declared that the National Cabinet had not faced its obligations, in the matter of the cost of living. Strong measures must be taken, and the Government must take them, while I lie walls of our freezing works 1 were bursting with meat, If the Government did not see that the people got cheap meat, then they were denying the means of cheap living to the people in this crisis, and while the people were making great sacrifices, they deserved something better than to have to pay Is fid for butter, lie pictured the tanner looking on with bulging eyes, at the way the prices of butter were rising higher and higher. Yet these people had the audacity to clamour for the repeal of the butter-fat tax, and actually demanded that it be repaid out of the Consolidated Fund, Nothing but a reduction in the cost cf living would quiet the discontent which he knew was rumbling through' the social ranks. The producers were demanding the right to sell the products of their labour in the dearest market, ami were complaining bitterly because they were not allowed lo do so, but what about the worker who wanted to go Home and work in Britain and increase his income'? The Government said: "No, this your place, and" if the country wants you, you must go out and light for us," If the workers are to be taken, and asked to sacrifice life and all life worth living for, on the altar of the country, surely the producers can remain patient under such small restrictions as are now being placed upon them.

Mr A. If. Harris made an appeal for the more thorough education of the young people as the. surest way of restricting the spread of venereal disease. He favoured a careful inquiry before deciding upon Imperial preference. He advocated a non-German Pacific, and urged the annexation of I'lcasaiit and Ocean Islands, where there were most valuable deposits of phosphates, the acquisition of which would pay us handsomely for our war expenditure. The adjournment of the debate was moved liy Mr McComk The House rose at 10,15 p.m.