FOR THE GOVERNMENT

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 10631, 2 July 1920, Page 6

FOR THE GOVERNMENT

MINISTER FOB LANDS REPLIES. WAR DEBT OF 105 MILLIONS. NO REASON FOR PESSIMISM. The Hon. D. H. Guthrie said that he saw nothing “tragic” in the Gov-ernor-General’s speech, as had been suggested by the Leader of the Opposition; though a note of warning had very properly been struck. We had passed through five years of war; and, as in- the case of every other country concerned in the war, there was a period of great difficulty for us to go through. But he saw’\ no need for pessimism, and he had been very pleased with the note of optimism struck by both the mover and the seconder of the Address-iu-Beply, whom he complimented on their admirable speeches. Our production _ had been maintained, and our financial position was such as in pre-war days no one could have believed possible after five years of war. Wo 'had raised large War loans, within the country; and while our war debt of 105 millions would no doubt be considered a 'staggering one, to-day the finances and production of the country were in so strong a position that we could look forward with confidence to carrying That extra burden and to finding also the other money that would ho absolutely required for the further development of the country. (Hear, hear.) He did not think that if wo_ maintained our production and exercised thrift we had gob anything to fear. (Hear, hear.) Dealing with repatriation and returned soldier-settlement, he briefly outlined what the Government had done and proposed to do; contending at the same time that while the returned soldiers should have the first choice of whatever land was offering, any land not required by them should be made available for other would-he settlors. (Hear, hoar.) LARGE ESTATES.

In regard to tho breaking up of "largo estates for settlement, as to which the Leader of the Opposition contended. that the Government had not done what it ought, ho stated that eighteen months ago he had circularised the large landholders, asking them to submit a proportion of their holdings for soldier-settlement purposes, and ho had received over 130 direct responses, to that circular. In all. ho added, the Government had settled 6948 soldiers on rural lands, and in addition had assisted 6926 to find homos in towns and cities; making a total altogether of 13,847 assisted in regard to land. It had been stated that many of the men settled on the land would not makei a success of it; but be was glad to say that tho reports to hand indicated that th© percentage of failures amongst soldier-settlers would ho very much smaller than had been the case hitherto with ordinary settlement. Tho department had now over 673,000 acres of land available for settlement in ordinary sized holdings, and 17,000 acres' for smaller holdings; making over 691,000 acres in all. The Government had recently purchased 286 estates which would provide in all 1908 holdings. In all 77,666 returned men were on tho register of tho Repatriation Department ; work had been found for 18,051 men. who required employment; and only 151 were now awaiting employment. Training, besides, had been arranged for 6661 men, and 1455 of these had completed their training. Tho Minister also quoted the figures in regard to business loans to soldiers, and complimented those who had been so assisted upon tho way in which they had mot their repayment obligations. £20,000.000 -FOR REPATRIATION. In a nutshell, ho might say that on

land purchase and repatriation generally the Government had spent just on 20 million pounds. The average capital value of the land purchased for soldier-settlement was £l2 per acre, and £2443 per holding; while the averagel size of the holdings was 202 acres. The Government had paid as high as £9B an aero for two acres of suburban land to enable a man to keep a cow; and that, he contended, showed that the prices paid for rural land had not been too high. A very valuable, though small, estate had just been purchased in the Gisborne district. Every possible provision, he claimed, was being made to deal , with' the cases of tubercular and limbless men who wanted land. Fourteen million pounds in all had been provided last year for sol-dier-settlement, and in view of their previous experience, they considered that that would have been ample; but the number of applications had been so great that in January last it was thought they would not have enough to carry on til! Parliament met. They had been able to carry on, however, till the Imprest Supply Bill gave then) authority lor another £600,000. No doubt the matter would bo brought forward again when the loan proposals were brought down, hut ho could not say—ho had no right even to suggest—what would then be done. Full consideration, lie assured hon. members, would bo given to the mattoc; and they would find that the Government was prepared, as it had been all along, to do the right thing by the soldiers. (Hear, hear.) As to electoral reform, ho was not sure whether the Liberal Lender desired proportional representation or not; but he would point out that, except in the case of Tasmania, every country which had adopted that system had gone back to first-past-the-post; and in Tasmania, ho contended, proportional representation had not produced better results than our present system. OPPORTUNITIES MISSED.

Mr T. K. Sidcy (Dunedin South) congratulated the mover and seconder of the Address-in-Reply. Mr Hockly, he said, had made a very temperate and sensible speech. There had been very little told the people in the Governor’s speech, and it was just about as bald as any of its predecessors. A perpetual inflation of land values was going on, but' no ’■cfcrenco had been made in the Governor’s Speech to the subject of taxation. Aggregation was proceeding, and l.i.p. land was being purchased and “aggregated.’’ Mr Massey said this could not be done.

Mr Young; There is a clause in the-title against it. Liberal members said all these points could bo got over. Another matter which had not been mentioned in the Governor’s Speech was that of roads. Roads were almost ns important as rnilwr//s, and the subject nad agitated the country from end to end.

Mr Sidey twitted tho ‘'new and young Minister for Public Works” (the Hon. J. G. Coates) on the enthusiasm and inexperience which had led him to enunciate the policy of perfection in regard to railway construction, and trusted that he would not fritter _ away time and money, as his predecessors had done, by carrying on at_ tho same time several railway works in different parts of the country, but steadily push one or two lines to completion. (Laughter.) Ho challenged the Prime Minister to indicate which of the lines at present in course of construction he proposed to stop. (Laughter.) He congratulated the Minister for Education (the Hon. C. J- Parr) upon having a good deal of money to spend on his department. Before the general ©lection, ho added, _ tho Prime Minister had stated his . intention of nationalising tho M.nistry. “When the devil was ill the devil a saint would be.” (Laughter.) But since the election was over they had heard nothing more ‘ about it. (Laughter.) “When the devil got well the devil a saint would be.” (Laughter.) Mr Massey: Apply that to yourself. (Laughter.) . Mr Sidey added that during _ the election campaign the Prime Minister had promised to remedy the anomalies of taxation; but now tho people found that they had to endure for still another year the injustices of tho Customs tariff which seriously increased the cost of living. (Hear, hear.) The procrastination of the Government in dealing with this and other urgent problems in ‘tself merited a no-con-fidence vote. (Hear, hoar.) During tho war the Government had had a splendid opportunity of acquiring tho Union Steam .Ship Company’s monopoly. But it had missed its chance; tho P. and O. Company had stepped in, and now the country was at tho mercy of the shipping ring. (Hoar, bear.) Last session, too, the Governmeat had had the opportunity of making good terms with tho railway sea*rants. But it had missed that opportunity, and the result was tho recent railway strike. (Hoar, hear.) “A COMPLETE'FAKCB. ,>

Mr E. Newman (Manawatu) complained of the complete farce of the Leader of the Opposition, for whom personally he had the greatest respect, bringing down a no-confidence motion winch could not possibly bo carried, even if all the other sections in the House voted together against the Government. Ho was sure that the people throughout the country would regard that debate as a waste of time and a farce. (Laughter.) Mr H. Poland (Ohmemun): Then why continue it? (Laughter.) Another member: Sit down and go home. (Laughter.) ■ Colonel Mitchell (Wellington South): Should wo resolve ourselves into a mutual admiration society? (Laughter.) ■ Mr Newman regretted that they could not settle down unitedly to carry on the necessary business of the country. In his experience, he added, he had never known an election fought with loss bitterness and recrimination than the last general election. (Oh, ohl Hear, hear, and laughter). As to the complaint that the country was governed by a. minority, ho argued that the contention that all the votes that were nob cast for the Reform party should bo counted as against it, was a verv weak one indeed. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He had analysed the voting to some extent, and found that there were, for instance, four or five members of the Parliamentary Labour party, who, under another electoral system, might not have been returned to the House. He had seen it stated that 44 o.f the Reform party had been returned on minority votes, and seven of Hie Liberal party; though lie believed that all the Independent members had got majority votes. (Hear, hoar.) He admitted that the present system was not poi'fect, and hoped that a better system would bo discovered. But he, for one, would never support proportional representation, because that would mean doing away with the countin’ quota. Ho contended that the country districts were entitled to that advantage, because of the great difficulties many of the electors experienced in recording their votes in those districts. He maintained that the Board of Trade and the Government together had sav-

ed tho people hundreds of thousands of pounds by preventing increases in the price of sugar and of other commodities— that the Government was entitled to the greatest credit for what it had done in the way of soldier-settlement and iu gard to repatriation work generally. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion, he expressed the hope that the proposed round table conference between workers and employers would take place. Ho thought that it might result m much good, as he refused to believe that tho Parliamentary Labour party, with its extreme views, represented the great mass of the workers of the Dominion. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) PROFITEERING IN LAND. Mr R. McCallum (Wairau) said that there had been more profiteering in land than in any other thing in the Dominion. There were many who did so well out of tho communal value 01 land that they could die rich without having honestly earned a penny. The largo landowner robbed the children ot bread. Because of the ineptitude oi the present Government butter would soon bo at 2s 4d. whereas it could have been fixed at Is Bd. He threw back at Mr Jones the statement that New Zealand wanted a city population. Wo did not want that. No doubt to get a Sydney population here would suit Mr Jones' and the farmers, but for the good of New Zealand wo should have a rural population. Mr McCallum complimented Mr MacDonald on his address. In Mr MacDonald the Liberal party had a man in whom they, had tho greatest confidence. Mr MacDonald followed a line of groat statesmen. First of all there was Sir George Grey, who inaugurated many of the early principles of then the present Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout; then that kingly man and great leader, Mr Seddon; and later Sir Joseph Ward. It was a thing to bo proud of to follow such men. Had the Reform party such a pedigres? No. No one knew from what stock the Reformers sprang. The Liberal party was as loyal and as sound, as ever, and though its sun was a little dimmed, it would do good service always. Land values were increasing at the rate of £IOO,OOO a year, or £IOO in five minutes. In some oases land had not been revalued for 23 years. During the pass five years we had had sufficient increment on the communal value of land to pay moro than half the cost of the war. There were 72 owners of land paying over £SOO. The total land tax only amounted to one and a half millions, as against seven millions on income tax. ■Mr Massey: They have income tax, too. Mr MoCallum; Thov can well afford to! Mr Massey: But you don’t give them credit for it. Mr McCallum; Oh, I am not going to make points that way. Mr Massey : I don’t think you understand what has been done in taxation. Mr McCallum: I am always wanting to know. I am always asking for the information.

Mr McCallum said the way land escaped taxation was enough to cause a revolution. Half the added value of land goes into the pockets ot the large landowner, and he urged this as a strong reason why the present Government should be ousted. WAS DUTY NEGLECTED? The Board of _ Trade had done good work, but its initiation was one ot tho Liberal measures' introduced by the lion. W. D. S. MacDonald. The'Government could not claim to be tho friend of the producer after its treatment of the'trustees for the Oawthron Institute. Tho House would like to know the Government defence policy. The Liberal party wanted to see the country defended, hut would oppose anything in. the shape of militarism. Mr Massey had been Minister for Lands in 1916, two years after the war started. Mr McCallum wanted to ask Mr Massey if the Lands Department had then submitted to him some 'scheme by which land could bo acquired for returning soldiers. If not, a very grave dereliction of duty had been committed. Tho absence from the House of Sir Joseph Ward would be regretted by all, for ho was recognised all round as a tine statesmen and a high-minded gentleman. {Applause.)

The debate stands adjourned till this afternoon.