PARLIAMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18898, 26 June 1923, Page 8

PARLIAMENT.

YESTERDAY’S PROCEEDINGS (Per United Press Association.) . HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. WELLINGTON, June 25. The House met at 7.30 p.rn. SESSIONAL COMMITTEES. Notice was given by Ministers of their Intention to move next sitting day to set up the following Sessional Committees: —Railways, Native Affairs, Defence, Public Accounts, Education. Public Health, Gold Fields and Mines, Agriculture, and Labour. POWER FROM MANGAHAO. In replying to Mr Field the Hou. Mr COATES said that in the event of no serious Hood occurring and thereby impeding the progress of the work and assuming that the power boards had their reticulation schemes ready, there was no reason why consumers should not have supplies of electric power from the Mungahao scheme within 12 mouths. ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE. The debate on the Addrcss-in-Reply was resumed by Mr HARRIS, who raid the improvement in the financial position of tho country, as disclosed by the GovernorGeneral’s speech, was most encouraging, and the price at which our last, loan was raised was nn additional subject ot congratulation, as no other dominion had been ■■ able to do as well. This improvement was specially pleasing, as it enabled the Govern- , ment to reduce taxation, which had its : own reflex action by releasing large sums of money for the employment of labour. - He urged the Government to continue its policy of purchasing per cent, tax free bonds, a? by so doing it was not only reducing tho national indebtedness but in- -■ creasing the taxable sources of th.i dominion. Discussing tho soldier settlements he contended that the Government and -. the various departments concerned were to be congratulated on what they had done. - No country in the world had clone more, end the achievement in this respect was a , complete answer to all tho criticism levelled against the Government in this connection. There might bo losses, but the fact re- :•: mained that most of the soldiers had done 1 well, and whatever loss had to bo faced, it must be faced as a war loss, and for a country like New Zealand it was not very serious. In any case should it become - necessary to reduce the valuations of the soldier settlements ho felt sure that the taxpayers were quite prepared to shoulder >Jie burden, as out of 21,000 soldiers who lad been assisted the failures amounted to only seven per cent. So far as housing was concerned, he believed the Government Was taking the right course in abandoning tho building of houses. All over the world . local bodies had been trying to devise a scheme by which they could build houses profitably, but without success, and it was little wonder that it had failed here. Tho right course was to advance money to borrowers, letting those borrowers build their own houses. Assuming that tho administration was comiiotont and careful then they might look upon tho housing problem as solved. Mr Harris strongly advocated an immigration policy which would bring agricultural workers to New Zealand, and he concluded by making an appeal to the Re--form and Liberal Parties to link up in a .common cause against extreme Labour. Mr LYSNAR congratulated the Govern- . merit on the appointment of Mr Bollard j ,;as a member of the Cabinet. He had not been a great talker, but he was a good, .sound man, who could talk when required •to do so. He also congratulated the Government on the appointment of Mr Coates as Minister of Railways. Under his adho hoped to see many of the difficulties now existing in connection with railway matter's removed. The Government .was not responsible for the housing conditions of the .country, which were due to whole combination of circumstances. The Government was doing all that any Government could do to relieve those stressful circumstances. The speaker then proceeded to denounce tho statements of tho chair-, man of tho Bank of New Zealand to the effect that the land values of tho dominion 'were too high. This, Mr Lysnar declared, was “slandering the land titles of the people,” and he declared that it was time the Government took steps to stop this tort of thing. Evidently the chairman’s intention was to prevent, people from putting money into land mortgages, so that the bank might get it in shares or dcposjts. He urged that those gentlemen representing the Government interests on the Bank of New Zealand should not be permitted to hold shares, otherwise their judgment might be swayed by the interests of the bank as a whole and not by the single interests of the Government. He did not think tho time was rite for the scheme of agricultural banks which had been suggested, but he advocated a further extension of the Advances Department to meet the requirements of farmers up to 60 per cent, of the value of their lands. Passing on to the subject of railway construction, he declared that tbo East Coast railway had prior claims over the proposed deviations at Palmerston North and over the Bimutaka. He then ; urged the Government to pass legislation this session on tho licensing question on the liaes suggested by the Licensing Committee , of two sessions ago. He defended the Prime Minister for taking part in elections. •’ There was no other course he could follow ■ when it was necessary to put the position of the country before the people. Person,trally he had given that position the most ' serious consideration, and he had come to ' -the conclusion that he could best serve his ' -constituents by supporting the Government. He considered that Mr Wilford s amendment was merely a waste of time and was only delaying the legislation which should be passed before Mr Massey went Home. • He asked the Liberals to put the country before party and join forces with the Reform Party so as to prevent Lanour gaining - seats where the people did not want them • *°Mr C j ee C. THOMSON said that what the country wanted was not a paity wrangle, but a constructive policy. One of the first things required was abundance of cneap money. The moratorium was falling duo, and many businesses would find a difficulty in financing without assistance. He was, therefore, glad to notice taab the Prime ■ Minister was now disposed to widen the ' scope of the Advances Department, winch ho had formedly opposed. The country •also needed a State bank. lh° B r]me • Minister had once said that if he over : . became head of the Government one of the ■ first things he would do would be to sever ' the connection of the State with the Bank of New Zealand; but instead of doing that ho was increasing the State’s interest in the bank This was a good enough proposition, but the country was ripe for a Stale bank and for agricultural banks, the security for which already existed. He favoured .an active housing policy and an efficient Dairy Produce Kxport T3ili, which would give the working farmers a greater share in then produce. What was good tor meat was good for dairy produce. It meant or■ga n i sation —the throwing out of the exploiter and bringing the producer - into more direct contact with the consumers. The country reuired renef • from taxation. High railway freights were ii form of taxation which the farmers had ■ to pay, and it was because the farmers . found that they were just working for the Government that so many of them had , voted against the Reform larty at the last ; election. A State shipping line was re- . quired by New Zealand to get the reduced freights which private companies would not give without .-ompetition. Cheaper postage and telephone charges were needed, because while the charges were high tho people would not use the conveniences of the post office. So far as soldiers’ settleI ment was concerned, he believed the counI fry’s loss would be not £1,500.000, but | ■ ; £7,000,000. The country would face the • i og s but let it be understood that the loss was’ going to bo much heavier than was generally supposed. In spite of what was • said to the cohtrary, land aggregation was - going on, and the Liberal Party intended ■ to insist upon the most drastic legislation : -to prevent this evil—legislation such as they ■ had in force in Denmark. A vigorous roadin”- policy was required, and when the Government voted money for roads it should honour its grants instead of demand- ■ inp subsidies from, the local bodies. There . must be a cessation of borrowing except for - ; urgently required works, ami extravagances such as hostels should be cut out of the educational expenditure so that school : buildings, which were so necessary to the - country districts, might be obtained. Proportional representation, which was as per- . feet as anything human could bo, should ' become an established fact. There were . only'three points in the Governor-General's ' Speech which contributed to a progressive ’■'policy, but many things whii-h the Reform Partv had promised had not been prr- ;• ] formed, such as the reform of the Legislative Council. Mr Wilford’s amendment, -• ther.fore, was justified, but at the same . '■time- he thought New Zealand should be ' 'represented at the Imperial Conference by • the Prime Minister of tho dominion, whothat might bo.