NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION DEFEATED.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 55

NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION DEFEATED.

WELLINGTON, July 8. The debate on the Address-in-Roply was resumed to-day by Mr G. M. Thomson, who commented upon the fact that the Opposition had not throughout the debate presented anything in the way of constructive criticism. The only thing which appeared to unite the Opposition was the desire to oust the Government. The members of that party constituted a band of unholy alliances, and if let loose they would bring about a state of chaos within 12 months. He also compared the Opposition to the hell broth in the Witches Cauldron of M‘Beth. He advocated the appointment of a director of agriculture. The people would save considerably on the cost of living if they would do their own marketing. He also mentioned the wasteful domestic methods and the rapid change of fashions as conducive to the high cost of living. The appointment of a properly qualified forestry expert would prove of great benefit to the country, and experiments should also be made with the timbers at present wasted. Mr J. C. Thomson held that there was 'hot an iota of constructive policy in the Governor’s Speech. Who opposed the closer settlement legislation and the provision of cheap money? The Right Hon. the Prime Minister. It was useless to deny this, because the utterances were recorded in Hansard. The Government had preached economy, but the Governor’s Speech showed largely increased expenditure. Neither had there been any reduction in taxation. The expenditure was increasing at a greater rate than the revenue, and the disparity this year was more marked than ever. Why did the Government condemn the Social Democrats when Mr Massey was responsible for placing them in their seats in the House ! Instead of decreasing borrowing Mr Massey was borrowing more than the Liberals had borrowed in the past. He instanced the cases of the renewable leases of endowment lands to show that the Government had backed down on the land question. The only freehold granted was of lease in perpetuity and a renewable lease of acquired land. The high land values, and not the cost of houses, were lesponsible-for increased rent.. A conference of land valuers should be called to provide a scientific system of valuation. In spite of its past utterances the Government ■ did propose to bring down a Local Government Bill. Great care should be taken with regard to the reform of the Legislative Council. Mr Hanan commented upon the fact that Ministers wore showing a remarkable reluctance to defend their policy and administration. Only the Minister of Public Works had spoken, and his speech was weak and colourless and had not provided an adequate defence of the Government. It had been claimed that the Government had carried out its pledges, but no one outside a lunatic asylum could seriously make such a pretence. They had been promised electoral reform, but the repeal of the Second Ballot Act without a substitute was not electoral reform. What had become of the Prime Minister’s declaration that the House should be elected on the basis of proportional representation ? Mr Massey: For the Upper House. Mr Hanan: No, for this House. _ The failure now to bring it forward belied the pretentions of the Government, and showed that on the question of electoral reform it was not worthy of the confidence of the people. Dealing with finance, he said the duty of the Government was to provide advances for the small men, but this had not been done. The Minister %f Finance was starving the allowances to settlers department so that he might come down with groat credit balances. The claims for great financial reforms would not stand investigation. Nothing had been done beyond what the Liberal Party had performed to prove the sound position of the country to the British investors. If evidences of tammany and corruption had been found in the pigeon holes would not the Government papers have declaimed the fact from one end of the country to the other. He defended the Liberal administration of the public 'service. Mr Hanan warned the House against wasteful expenditure _on defence, and declared that it was impossible for the House to obtain information as to the expenditure now being indulged in. He complained that moneys were being kept back from Education. Boards. Mr Allen: That is not correct.

Mr Hanan; If the Government challenges that statement let it put up a Minister to answer it. I make the statement and it awaits an answer. He charged the Government following with slavish docility, and traversed the decisions of some of the committees set up by the Government to whitewash Ministers. In support of his contention he quoted , the Otago Daily Times to show that that paper condemned the Minister’s proceedings in connection with the Westport Harbour Board scandal, which was exposed by Mr Atmore

Mr Anderson commended the work done by the Public Service Commissioners, claiming that they had done an immonce service to the dominion. In their last report they had shown how £60,000 per year could be saved, besides developing a business system in connection with the departments, by which wo could tell exactly the financial position of those departments. The attack made upon the Prime Minister by Mr Isitt in connection with the Cheviot sections was an evidence that our politics were degenerating. . and he quoted freely from the report of last year’s Land Committee to show how and why the committee upheld the action of the Prime Minister in that matter. On the general question of land settlement he urged that good as our present system was, the State should still further assist experienced farmers who were without capital. An extension of the Advances Department was necessary, largely on the lines along -which land and stock agents had assisted settlers to get stock and implements. Ho advocated insistence upon a living wage being paid to all workers, especially to young women in otios, who often did) not get sufficient to keep them in food, housing, and clothing. Many clerks were not receiving justice, and the Arbitration Court should be empowered to adjust such matter's in accordance with out humanitarian principles. He condemned the present party s-stem, which was conducive of nothing so much as waste of time. As a remedy ho suggested proportional representations, and an elective executive. That, ho thought, would help to eliminate the bitterness from the proceedings of the House. Ho would support the Governmcntand vote against the amendment because the Government had been administering the affairs of the country in a way that reflected credit on it and benefit to the dominion. The division was then taken on the amendment moved by Sir Joseph Ward, the voting being as follows —Ayes 34, Noes 39.

The amendment was lost. Following was the division list:— For tho Amendment (34). Atmorc, Brown, Buxjtpn, Carroll, Colvin, Craigie, Davey, Dickie, Ell, Forbes, Glover, Hanan, Hindmarsh, Isitt, M‘Callum, M‘Combs, Macdonald.' MTvonzie Myers, Parata, Payne, Poland. Rangihiroa, Robertson, Russell, Seddon. Sidey, R. W. Smith, J. C. Thomson, Veilcb, Ward, Webb, Wilford, Witty. Against tho Amendment (39). —Allen, Anderson, J. Bollard, R. F. Bollard, Bradney, Buchanan. Buick, Campbell, Coates, Dickson, Escott, Fisher, Fraser. Guthrie, Harris, Herdman, Herrie, Hino, Hunter, Lee, Malcolmn, Mander, Massey, A. K. Newman, Nosworthy, Okey, Pearce, Pomarc, Reed, R. H. Rhodes, W. Rhodes, Scott, F. H. Smith Statham, Sykes, G. M. Thomson Wilkinson. Wilson, Young. Pairs.—Ayes; Buddo and Ngata. Noes: Bell and B! Newman. The debate on the mam question was resumed bv JVIr Brown, who censured the administration of tho Pensions Department as being run on the linos of spoils to the victors.” Ho blamed the Government for stopping the East Coast railway, while at the same time it was starting another railway in tho Prime Minister’s district. Ample provision was not being made . for tho teachers to attract the best men to the profession or keep them in it. Better pay was being given to the police than to the teachers, and any increase that had been given was forced upon the Govorncmnt by tho Opposition. Mr Wilkinson claimed that there were, onlv 28 Liberals in the division taken that night. There -wore six Labourites, who were out to use either side as best they could, so that it was nob any comfort to the Opposition to have them as a following. He justified the extra expenditure of the Government by the growth of the demands upon tho State, which could not be denied unless they were going to check progress. He favoured a local navy, and condemned the' Japanese Alliance as a rotten reed to depend upon for the defence of the Pacific. The Liberal Party was discredited, and ho wanted to. know where its policy was. The debate was adjourned on the motion of Mr M'Combs, and the House rose .at 11.20 p.m. WELLINGTON, July 9. , In the House of Representatives this afternoon, after formal business had been disposed of, Mr Parata resumed the debate on tho Address-in-Reply. He refuted the claims that the legislation of tho Government had been beneficial to the Native race. He contrasted the land held by me Natives and by large pakeha holders, contending that the agitation for the settlement of Maori lands was only a ruse to draw attention from tho holdings of Europeans. who owned not blocks, but small dominions. It was urged that Native lands grew noxious weeds, but what about that great Government supporter, the member lor Taranaki, who was fined the other day tor letting noxious weeds grow on his land. The legislation of the Government was a lure to the Maoris to sell their land and divest themselves of their property. It was not fair, for the Maoris looked to the Minister as their father. They looked oo him for protection, and it was not right that the Minister should come down, from his high position and put temptation in the way of his children. He instanced a case in which a young Maori had sold some thousands of acres, for which he received £27,000, and now all he had to show for it was some racehorses and a few motor cars. Tho secret of Maori poverty was that the Natives did not understand tho meaning of the word thrift. They could not be Europeanised in a few years, and it was absurd to claim that it could be done. The Native race was handicapped in the House by the fact that the Minister did not understand the Native mind. He had no experience of Native thought, while Dr Poraare had broken his pledges and given a dishonoured vote against the Liberals. Last year’s defence legislation would involve an extra expenditure of £4OOO per year. It was congesting the office, and the wdiole staff was laughing at the Minister. The country was defence mad. Our system was costing too much, and if we added to it the cost of a local navy it would be ruination. The Hon. Dr Pomare quoted from the maiden speech of Mr Parata, in which he stated that the Native policy of the Liberals was an “ absolute public scandal.” In the same speech he advocated Europeanising the Native land. Since then he had evidently changed his views. Perhaps his political morality had been tampered with since then. Mr Parata’s great grievance was tho Ngaitahu claims in the South Island. What had the Liberal Government, which the hen. gentleman’s father had supported for 22 years, done to settle tho Ngaitahu claims? He defended the Government’s legislation affecting tho West Coast leases, which he claimed did justice to the Natives, as against the legislation of the Liberals, which took away 130,000 acres from them for all time. He described a deputation which he introduced to Sir J. G Ward and Sir James Carroll on Native land matters, when they were shown a map on the wall, and the Native Minister showed them a spot on the map which he said represented 18,000 acres. These 18,000 acres Sir James Carroll said he would use as a handkerchief to wipe away the tears of the Taranaki Natives. To show the hypocrisy of politics, at the very time they were told this the Government had a Bill prepared to give that land away to someone else. He was not elected to support Sir James Carroll, but to right the wrongs of his people; and if the Maori was weeping, it was not for grief, but for joy at the fact that ffiey now had a Government that would give them justice. Mr Hindmarsh deprecated the personalities indulged in and the charges of dishonesty so freely' hurled about in politics. The '‘rst duty of Parliament was to settle New Zealand, but the fact was that 541 people -who owned £1,800,000 worth of unimproved land had, too much influence in the House, and, though many Government supporters knew what ought to be done, they were powerless to do it. The member for Rangitikei had voiced the true reason for this when he said that an effective graduated land tax would bring so much land on to the market that tho value of all tho neighbouring holdings would be reduced. The vital question of tho moment was land settlement, and the way to do it was to burst up big estates by means of the graduated tax. The leasehold system was the best for the country, as under the freehold no man with small capital could possibly get a home. Mr Campbell said the country had to be congratulated upon the good year enjoyed. It had been reiterated time after time •‘hat the Government should be turned out of office, but no valid reason had been given. The Opposition had never put many of the measures introduced by the Government to a division. Hejavitted Mr Hindmarsh with saying that he was going to sunk the Go-

vernment and the Opposition dry. The freehold was proved beneficial, and settlement had boon progressing', 140,000 acres being purchased last year. The Liberal Government had not purchased Native land along the Main Trunk lino, thus fostering Native landlords. He congratulated the Government upon the proposal to borrow a large sum for reading the back-blocks. Mr M‘Combs referred to the “Red Federation,” comparing it with the Employers’ Federation. Ho held that the Federarion of Labour was a defensive organisation, while the Employers’ Federation was an offensive one. The avowed pokey of the Employers’ Federation was to attack the workers, and it had always resented legislation for the settlement of industrial disputes. Strikes, wars, and lock-outs wore appeals to force. All the Employers’ Federation wanted to do at Waihi was to fetter the miners. The Primo Minister had aided and abetted the attempt to deny the workers abetted the attempt to deny the workers the rights granted to them by Parliament. Mr Wilson said the proposal for a progressive reading policy was to his mind the most important announcement in the Governor’s Speech. Mr F. H. Smith said the “Red Feds.” were out to break every agreement entered into. The Prime Minister had done all ho could to settle the strike, while the utterances of the Leader of the Opposition had led the to expect support party. The farmers were nrepared to ’ see that their produce was not held up on the wharves. He contended that the Government Party was not against Labour. It was not out to legislate for any particular class, but for all classes of .the community. Mr Lee, in reply, said the criticism of the. Government had been of the feeblest kind. Ho then proceeded to deal with Sir Joseph Ward’s speech on the proposed Imperial Council and the last Imperial Conference, reading copiously from the official reports and ridiculing tho vagueness of the proposals submitted. “That a respectful address bo presented to the Governor,” was moved at 11.52 p.m., and after Sir J. G. Ward had made a personal explanation, in which he declared that Mr Leo had misquoted the official report of tho Imperial Conference, so conveying a wrong impression of the speech delivered by him at that conference, the motion was carried. The House rose at midnight. GOVERNMENT VICTORY. STRENGTH OF PARTIES. (From Odb Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, July 9. The no-confluence debate, of which everyone was getting heartily tired, collapsed suddenly shortly before 9 o’clock to-night., ’ There was some misunderstanding about the pair for Mr Ngata. The Government had agreed to keep him covered with an absentee from its own side, and in the first instance Mr Hine was paired against him, then Mr Bell, and then Mr Clark, who had to leave to-day with a sick friend for Rotorua. The Opposition, however, objected to Mr Clark being paired against Mr Ngata, and so Mr Bell had to leave the Chamber to prevent the possibility of its being said that there was a breach of faith. - Mr Millar, who is rather seedy just now, rvas not present to-night, so his vote, as well as Mr Clark’s, was lost to the Government in the division. Had these votes been available the Government’s majority would have been seven with the Speaker’s. This makes the strength of parties as follows :—Government, 44; Opposition, 50; Labour, 6—thus giving the Government a clear majority of eight over the Opposition and Labour parties combined.