HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18895, 22 June 1923, Page 6

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House met at 2.30 p.m. ■SALE OF FOODS AND DRUGS. On the motion of the Hon. Mr PARR the Sale of Foods and Drugs Act Amendmerit Bill was introduced, and was read afirst time. INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE. On the motion of the Hon. Mr STEWART it w/s agreed that a select committee be appointed, consisting of 10 members, to deal with all matters m connection with industries and commerce, witn power to call for persons, papers, and records, three to form a quorum, the committeo to consist of Messrs Aimove, Girling, Harrison, Munro, M*JLeod, Nash, Savage. Sidey, Sir John Luke, and tho mover. MONDAY SITTINGS. Mr MASSEY moved that the House meet on Monday at 7.30 p.m. for the transaction of business. The motion was agreed to. ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE. The debate on the no-confidence motion proposed by Mr Wilford was resumed by Sir VEITCH (Wanganui), who said an alteration of the Jaw was urgently required to prevent Ministers from going into electorates where elections were being held and. at the expense of tho State, canvassing in favour of their own particular candidate. He pointed out that while private individuals’ expenditure on elections was limited to £2OO the expenditure by Ministers was unlimited. The speaker quoted previous references to this subject by Mr Mas&ey when in Opposition to show that ho roundly condemned tho practice, in which he indulged too freely at Tauranga and Oamaru. He dealt at length with tho promises which Minfstors were alleged to have made with a view to influencing tho electors in those districts. Their promises wore in contravention to the law, and simply amounted to “Tammanyism” within the law. Coming to general politics he commended the work done by tho Plunket Society, which had done invaluable service to the dominion in saving the lives of children. In this respect , it had provided tho country with population ,at a cheaper rate than immigrants were .brought into the dominion. He therefore . advocated the transfer of a considerable sum of money from the Immigration Department to the Plunket Society to enable it to further the good work it was doing. Fie strongly advocated the establishment of a State Bank, and condemned the Government’s legislation in connection with the Bank of New Zealand, which, he said, had resulted in concession after concession being given to private shareholders at the expense of the State. The proposal to call up new capital by the bank was denounced, as it was not being done, as tho chairman alleged, to provide additional money to lend to borrowers, but simply to distribute further profits from the reserves, and the State was being invited to share in the plunder. That was the true position of the Bank of New Zealand, and it raised the question whether it would not bo wise to limit the profits of this bank and of other banks doing business in tho dominion because all had gone far past a paying point. He felt uneasy regarding the Government's highways policy—a policy of building better highways which w r ould compete with the •railways. It was a mistaken policy to open •up groat motor roads and at the same time neglect deserving districts. He referred to the success of agricultural banks elsewhere, and suggested that there was no reason why they should not be equally successful in Now Zealand. Safeguards must, of course, be provided, particularly against tho State taking undue risks. The Rural Credits Act passed last session was a complete failure, and not a single farmer had taken advantage of its provisions. Mr HAWKEN (Egmont) agreed that a different policy would have to be followed if the land was to be settled with the idea of securing increased production. There was scarcely any country left suitable for small settlement. If the House decided tho relative progress made by the various industries it would be realised that the industry with the greatest future was dairying. The decision of the Prime Minister to increase the aount which might bo borrowed from the Advances Department would mean a big thing to the dairy industry of the dominion. What tho Liberal Party had to say regarding the housing question was simply borrowed from the Labour Party. They had no ideas of their own on this important topic. Complaint had been made that the reports of the soldier settlement commissions had not been submitted to the House, but ho knew- of his own knowledge that the question was extremely intricate and that it was difficult o arrive at an equitable decision. The Government had invoked the services of the very best men obtainable, and ho felt confident that when the reports were submitted justice would bo done to both the soldiers and the State. Flo favoured the establishment of agric*nltural banks, the principle of which was thoroughly safe, but the Liberal Party’s proposal of a State Bank was a delusion which had been exposed by Sir Joseph Ward. It was much better to strengthen tho State’s position in connection with the Bank of New Zealand. Mr SULLIYAN (Avon), discussing the forthcoming Imperial Conference, complained of .the paucity of information given by the Prime Minister regarding Imperial affairs. It was only when Mi- Massey could not evade giving information that the House got any at all. The Government generally, and tho Prime Minister • in particular, seemed to belong to the old, bad school of secret diplomacy—a school which regarded the people with contempt or at best as pa.vns, who were to move hither and thither according to tho dictates of their master. So far as the forthcoming Conference was concerned, three questions arose: (1) Should New Zealand be represented; (2) If so, by whom? (3) What policy should our representative follow? The Labour Party had no objection to New Zealand being represented. It looked upon these gatherings as inevitable, as none of • the alternatives was satisfactory. At the same time, it did not regard Mr Massey as the most suitable representative. His Toryism was not in harmony with the democracy of the dominion, and everyone regretted his impetuosity in pledging the country to war in response to Mr Lloyd George’s cablegram regarding the crisis in the Near East. The House should, therefore, have an opportunity of saying by different votes whether New Zealand should bo represented and by whom. So far as the policy at tho Conference was concerned, he contended that our delegates should strive for open diplomacy amongst the nations. He quoted Lord Loreburn against secret diplomacy, and argued that as the technical development of war had so enormously increased, by which whole communities could be wiped out in a few hours, it was the duty of New Zealand’s delegate to strive by every means for peace. One of the most essential steps to securing European peace was a revision of the Versailles Treaty. The French action under the Treaty had raised national hatred in many quarters, and it had been extremely detrimental to British trade. In criticising Mr Wilford’s amendment, he complained that it was couched in generalities. Especially was this so in its reference to electoral re.form, which might mean proportional representation or it might mean preferential voting, tho latter of which he hoped would never be adopted, as it had all the weaknesses of the second ballot. Bad as was the “first-past-the-post” system, he would always prefer it to preferential voting. After advocating proportional representation as the method of electing members of the House, he moved to add to Mr Wilford’s amendment after the words “electoral re-

form,” the following words“ Providing for proportional representation and the abolition of the Legislative Council.” As tho speaker’s time had expired, no arguments were adduced in favour of the latter proposal. Mr MASTERS criticised the action of the Minister of Education in granting a district high school at Morrinsville. In this matter the speaker contended that the Minister did not have the advice of the Council of Education, as was required by law, and the sole reason for establishing that school was to endeavour to influence votes at the Tauranga election. He declared that the Prime Minister had been doing nothing but electioneering for months. If ho was not at Tauranga he was at Oamaru, to the great neglect of public business. Not only that, but a Hansard reporter was employed to follow the Liberal candidate at Oamaru and make progress reports to the Prime Minister. A motor car was provided for that reporter. Mr MASSEY: That was a private arrangement.

Mr Masters said it might be a private arrangement, but who could say it was not paid for out of the public funds. The Oamaru election was an indictment of the r'rime Minister and his policy, and the most important feature of that indictment was that Mr Maopherson’s majority was largely made up by farmers, which was only another proof that the farming community was growing tired of tho Reform Government. Passing on to the subject of land aggregation, Mr Masters declared that he recently passed through tho Oroua electorate, where ho saw most regrettable scenes of desolation. House after house formerly occupied by families was now empty and schools were almost deserted because one man bought up six farms, another eight, and another 12 Aggregation was killing the town of Apiti. The speaker was next proceeding to quote a letter sent to the dairy companies by the associated banks raising the rate of interest on advances made against exports to 7 per cent., when the Premier interjected that that had been altered at his request. Mr Masters said he was not aware of that, but he was not going to stand by and see that sort of thing going on without a protest. In criticising tho soldier settlements ho declared that the State was going to be a heavy loser in many cases, but the mo.st unfair thing about them was the method of revaluing the land. In some cases the soldiers lost farms because they could not pay the interest on the orginal valuation, but as soon as a soldielleft his farm the Land Board reduced the valuation and offered the property to some other individual, which, he contended, was most unfair to the soldier. The distribution of Nauru phosphates to tho farmers was found fault with, as was also the basis of the railway tariff, which was now 30 years old and sadly needed revision in the interests of local industries. Tho speaker bad not concluded his remarks when h:s time limit expired. The Hon. Mr STEWART opened with extensive references to the Liberal speaker’s remarks at the Tauranga and Oamaru elections, contending that there had been no abuse of public works funds on the part of the Government, which had been publicly admitted by Dir Masters—a tribute which could not have been paid to any other Government for years past, for what had previously been done in this connection was notorious. __ ’ Referring to Mr Wilford’s no-confidence motion, Mr Stewart said there was nothing now in it, and it was quite clear that Mr Wilford had no definite idea of what was going to happen after he got the Government out. Evidently ho was just trying to upset the cart in the hope that something would turn up out of tho scramble. Dealing with tho Imperial Conference, he maintained that the Prime Minister could not go Homo with his hands tied. If so, he might just as well stay at home, because with limited powers he might find himself unable to take part in many discussions which would naturally arise at such a gathering. It must be remembered that New Zealand would not be committed to anything which the Prime Minister might agree to until it had been ratified' by Parliament. It was not correct to say that Mr Massey would not take any instructions from Parliament. Ho would do so where that was possible, but it was impossible to tie the hands of our representative on all questions. The open diplomacy advocated by tho Labour Party was also not always practicable, as had been more than once admitted by President Wilson, than whom there was no more strenuous opponent of secret diplomacy. If Mr Holland were himself in power to-morrow and was going to such a conference, he would not expqct to take detailed instructions on all questions from the Ilopse. Mr HOLLAND: On front-rank questions I would.

Continuing, Mr Stewart said a certain amount of trust must bo placed in the representative at the conference, just as constituents placed trust in members of the House. He felt that tho right course was being followed by the Government in insisting that the Prime Minister must have, to a certain extent, a free hand and that there’ need be no fear that he would abuse the trust reposed in him.

Mr M'ILVRIDE supported the amendment moved by Mr Sullivan. Ho said that proportional representation gave just and adequate representation to all parties in tho State. If proof of its value were required it could be found in its rapid growth in other parts of the world, and if proof of its accuracy were required that proof could be found in tho recent Christchurch municipal elections. , Had it been in force in New Zealand during the last eight years, this country would not now be suffering as it was from the effects of the Reform Government’s legislation. After the speaker had dealt with the question of unemployment and the Imperial Conference on general Labour Party lines, the adjournment of tho debate was moved by Mr LYE, and the House rose at 10.52 p.m. till 2.30 p.m. to-morrow.