LEGISLATURE IN SESSION

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12229, 29 August 1925, Page 6

LEGISLATURE IN SESSION

HOUSE RESUMES CONSIDERATION OF THE ESTIMATES

OPPOSITION LEADER IN QUEST OF INFORMATION

MOTION TO REDUCE CUSTOMS VOTE DEFEATED

Yesterday afternoon the House resumed the consideration of the Estimates. The pustoms class (£152,594) was taken first. The Leader of the Opposition complained that very little notice had been given of the business that was to he considered. The first the Opposition knew as to what class was to be taken was when it was announoed in the House just prior to his rising. This did not allow members, who were expected to be able to discuss ■ these questions intelligently, a fair opportunity. When he had asked the Prime Minister that day what business was to come before the House in the afternoon Mr Coates had not given him the information, but had merely said that he was going to take 20 or 30 small sections of the Estimates. Mr Forbes added that the Government knew that the’ public was looking seriously at the enormous increases that were taking place in the expenditure in the public service. OLD PRACTICE FOLLOWED The Hon. Sir Maui Pomare said that h 6 could not understand Mr Forbes making such a complaint. He had never known him to object when he was on the Government benches, and the same practice was followed then as' was being followed at the present time. The Estimates had been before the House for three weeks. Surely members had had plenty of time within three weeks to study them, and should bo ready to speak on any of them •intelligently. Mr Veitch (Wanganui) upheld what he termed the dignified protest of the leader of the Opposition. He said he did not know how many hours the Minister.for Health had spent in the chamber during the last three weeks. Mr Veitoh complained that the House had been driven very hard and had been working late hours lately. Mr Coates: Wide akake.

Mr Veitch: We need to be wide £wake when the hon. gentleman is in charge. He added that there had been no attempt on the part of the Opposition to wilfully retard the business of the House.

The Prime Minister said he thought it was about time that they went on with the Estimates. The plan that had been adopted was the usual one. He had been oqt of the House when it adjourned early that morning or he would have given hon. members some information as to the oourse of business. He realised that it was the custom for the Leader of the Opposition to get up and protest. That was part of the tradition, and no doubt in that respect the custom of Parliament must be maintained. While it was annoying to the Government that time should bo taken up with such protests the Government knew it must put up with tlmm. Mr Masters: What about telling the Leader of the Opposition this morning that there would he twenty or thirty email classes? Air Coates: I could not tell him then. If he had come along to my office I could have given him the information.

Mr Hansom (Pahiatua): Will it always be available if we go to your office?

A4r Coates: Oh, no. Certainly not. The Leader of the House controls the business, not the hon. member. (Laughter.) Air Coates added that he expected it would take two more days to pass the remaining classes of the Estimates. -There were a number of reports that had not yet been dealt with. The Government had been unfortunate with. their reports in not being able to get them on the table. HAD ALWAYS GOT INFORMA' TION Mr Holland (Leader of the Labour Party) pointed out that it was proposed to take the Labour Department, but the report of that department was not yet down. The Prime Minister, he added, was optimistic if he thought tbat he would get through all the classes'he had mentioned in one day . Mr Holland complained about the late hours, hut admitted in regard to the Estimates that the Government was adopting the ordinary course. He thought, however, they should systematise the work of the,, House so that they would know thiee or four daye in advance what they would be undertaking. The Prime Minister had adopted the new plan of letting members know before the House rose what it would be called upon to do next day, but that was not enough. He wished to say quite frankly, however, that whenever he had gone to the Primh Minister with a request he had always got the information.

The Hon. Mr Andereon said in reference to the Labour report that he had rot so far had an opportunity of getting it presented. It had been on his desk for a week. One report which it had been attempted to lay on the table had been talked about for a whole afternoon. 1“ hon. members wanted the reports it was obvious that they should give the Government an opportunity to lay them on the table of the House. “HOUSE DRIVEN TO, EXCESSIVE HOURS” The Hon. D. Buddo (Kaiapoi) thought the information sought coula with ease he furnished at least two days before it came before the House. ‘■We have been led off the track,” lie said, “because the customs have died away, and the courtesy that has in the past been extended to the Leader of the Opposition has been dropped," Mr D. G. Sullivan complained of the i? 5° ,jrs members were compelled to sit, and averred that a great (leal—or at least some—of the business that had been transacted',this week liac been sent through while there was not a quorum in the House. Mr J. A. Young (Chairman of Committees) : I cannot allow that to go, I think if business has been going on without a quorum it is the duty of the hon. member to notify the House, and it will immediately stop. Mr Sullivan tusked how was it possible to give the necessary consideration to the business when the House was driven to the _ excessive hours which had been justifiably complained of.

The Prime Minister informed the House that only on one occasion had the Order Paper been handed to the clerk later than 11 o’clock in the morning. Air Forbes: Then it has not been distributed, for we cannot get it at that time. THEMSELVES TO THANK Mr Coates: It goes immediately to

the printer. As far as the long hours are concerned, members have themselves to thankA member of the Opposition: We come here to talk.

Mr Coates: Yes; and you do talk. You talk, and talk, and talk. The Prime Minister continued that members should in fairness accept some of the responsibility for this waste of time. Three-quarters of an hour had that afternoon been wasted, and the Estimates had not been touched. Mr J. B. Corrigan (Patea): But we have touched a very important point. Air Sullivan: The Prime Minister himself has had three goes. Air Coates: I have been trying to pour oil on the troubled waters.

He promised that he would give the Loader of the Opposition any information he required the day or the night before it being brought up. In proceeding to debate the Estimates, Mr A. L. Alonteith (Wellington East) asked for information on an item which aimed at refunding dutv on uniforms for officers of H.M. cable ship Iris. Could these articles not he made in the Dominion ?

Mr W. J. Girling (Wairau) referred to another item, which proposed to refund £l5O on uniforms for pipe bands, and said it was unfortunate that, just at a time when every endeavour was being made to foster the secondary industries of New Zealand, the Government should remit the duty ou goods of this character. Certainly some of the badges would have to be imported, hut the speaker thought the remainder of the uniforms oouid he manufactured here, and completed by the imported badges. ‘ ‘Give the manufacturer—who is having a hard time just now—an opportunity of undertaking work that is well within their sphere,” he said. Air F. J. Bollestos <Timaru, was dissatisfied that a refund of duty should he given on uniforms foi pipe bands, and no such consideration extended to unifoixns for ambulance brigades. IMPORTED UNIFORMS Mr Sullivan moved to reduce the total Estimates by £5 as an indication that there should be no refund of duty on uniforms which could he manufactured within the Dominion. It was regrettable, he said, that the Government should show such a little consideration to the secondary industries of the country—particularly as many people throughout the country were unemployed. The Government was intensifying the difficulties of those who were trying to build up industries by refunding the duty mentioned, and the only way to settle the question as to the attitude of the Government towards secondary industries as a whole, was to force a division in the direction in which 'his amendment pointed. Air J. S. Dickson (Parnell) explained that the cloth of which the uniforms were made could net he turned out by New Zealand manufacturers.

Mr W. A. Veitch (Wanganui) said the matter of the uniforms was not a •serious one, only insofar as it indicated the attitude of the Government towards secondary industries. He asked that the item be reconsidered. Tlie motion to reduce the vote was defeated by 31 votes to 28, and the total vote was passed unaltered. THE SPEAKER’S CHAIR During the debate on the Industries and Commerce Estimates last evening, Mr D. G. Sullivan (Avon) noted that provision had been made for publicity purposes, and asked the Minister for Industries and Commerce (Hon. G. J. Anderson) if any steps had been taken by the Government to educate the people of the Dominion to consume their own products, and use their own manufactures. In Australia and America the people had been imbued with an enthusiasm which had almost become a religion, but there appeared to be a prejudice in the minds of the jo joedsaj ui ijjunoo siqj jo efdcod the use of their own goods. He asked what support secondary industries had received from members of Parliament. Air W. A. yeitch (Wanganui) explained that one firm of cigarette manufacturers in New Zealand spent £IB,OOO per annum, hut the Government had not spent a similar amount in advertising the country. “We must begin at home,” he went on, “and get among our own people. But how can we get anything done till we awaken the enthusiasm of the Government?” Mr G. McKay (Hawke’s Bay) thought there was little chance 6f ac- , complisliing anything extensive with the limited population which the Dominion had at the present time. Mr Sullivan said it was a somewhat anomalous position that the Speaker’s chair in the House was made of imported timber. Surely this at least should he constructed of local material. Mr H. E. Holland, the Leader of the Labour Party, said members would receive a shock to discover that the Speaker’s chair was built of material from abroad. Only recently had it been made known that the frames in which reposed the photographs of members of tlie House were of material from Japan, while he understood that the new sleeping cars were to be of mahogany and fittings from abroad. “The State docs not move nearly sufficiently in this direction,” Mr Holland continued. “We are sending our wool thousands of miles across the ocean to have it made up, and then when It comes hack in the form of manufactured goods, we charge a duty on it—our own wool!” In reply to Mr Sullivan the Minister said the department was impressing upon the people in every possible way the desirability of using New Zealand goods. Mr Holland: Including coal? The Minister: Yes; including New Zealand coal. I am in favour of using New Zealand coal as far as possible. In respect to tlie Speaker’s chair, tho least said about that matter the better, for it was brought from Dunedin by the Hon. Mr Speaker himself. In fact the Minister understood that it had been a presentation. Later the Alinister corrected this impression. and stated that the chair was made of British oak. and had been brought out on a British ship. Mr R. Masters (Stratford) sought to have a vote of the House on the question of . adopting the ward system of election to the Dairy Control Board, and moved that the estimates be reduced as an indication that tho hoard should he elected bv this method.

Tho motion of Air Masters was lost by 28 votes to 23.