A GENERAL ELECTION

Otago Witness, Issue 3312, 5 September 1917, Page 9

A GENERAL ELECTION

PRIME MINISTER WILLING. GOVERNMENT TIRED OF PIN-PRICK-ING. {Fbom Oub Own Coehespondkn.t.) WELLINGTON, August 28. " Don't make too sure that you won't get an election,"' was the significant interjection of the Prime Minister this afternoon when Dr Thacker was speaking in support of Mr Witty's Parliamentary Election Postponement Act Amendment Bill. Dr Thacker challenged the Prime Minister to resign with him and contest the Christchurch East seat with him. Later Mr Massey informed members that he was not going to stand in the way of a general election. If the majority of the members or the people wanted it they could have it. The Government was tired of pin-pricking.. In asking leave to introduce his Bill, Mr W 7 itty said it aimed at repealing the section of the Act passed last year providing for the prolongation of Parliament. He opposed the measure last scission, and 15 or 16 members had voted with him. Parliament refused to local bodies the right to postpone their elections, and he contended that Parliament should go before tho people at the proper time. Other parts of .the Empire had held elections despite the war. Thfe was supposed to be a democratic country, and there were many reasons why members of the House should go before the people. What were they to bo afraid of? They were in Parliament because it was the will of the people, and surely it was not the expense of holding an election that was deterring them. A great many things had been done which the people should have the right of rectifying. If the war continued for another year, what was Parliament going to do then if they did not hold an election at the usual time? A great many orders-in-council had been forced on the people which he felt sure would not have been if there had been a general election in sight. There were a great many feather-bed soldiers in this country. One man had informd him that ho could pick up 500. Hundreds of men had been called up in tho ballot who had never made their appearance in camp, and yet Second Division men were shortly to be called up, and it was intended to pass a Bill calling up boys of 19 years of age before married men were called up. Parliament should give the people the opportunity of saying what they thought was right. He alleged that men of good position wero not being sent to tho front. Sir Jas. Allen challenged Mr Witty to mention names, but Mr Witty contented himself with a knowing look. In the course of further remarks Mr Witty said everyone knew of the frightful waste going on in the Defence Department. Why had not the Government dealt with things instead of appointing boards? Had the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance not been absent he felt sure the boards would never have been set up. When he Government was first formed tho question of the cost of living was to be" settled, but tho position was worse to-day than ever. If an election wero held he did not say the Prime Minister wo'ild not come back to the House, but he would not come back as Prime Minister for long. He implored members to play the game with the people and not shelter themselves on account of the war. Dr Thacker seconded the motion. He said the Government of the country at present consisted of the chairman of the Efficiency Board and tho president of the Farmers' Union in the North Island. During the course of Dr Thackcr's speech tho Prime Minister interjected:—" Don't make too sure that you won't get an election.'" ,11 Dr Thacker said nothing would pleaso him more. Pie asked the Prime Minister to give the dominion a square deal and- an election next December. _ Sir James Allen said it was impossible to take tho mover and seconder seriously, but he urged them to consider the times the country was passing through. They never appeared to be anxious to help with constructive criticism. To his knowledge not a single man classed as fit had been retained in New Zealand for the reason that ho held a good position or for any other reason. He made that deliberate statement. Neither tho Minister of Defence nor his officers had ever done a thing during tho war that was not upright or proper. Ho had challenged the member for Riccarton to give tho name of a single man who was retained, though medically fit, because :>f his high position. Sir James Allen declared that he never backed up his officers when they were wrong, but he considered himself justified in protecting them from unfair criticism in the House. Regarding tho allegation of waste in defence expendi-

ture, it might be said that there was a certain amount of waste in the camps that was unavoidable, but tho waste products in the camps were now being converted to f?ood use, and iu that respect the Defence Department was setting an example not only to the city of Wellington, but to the whole of New Zealand. What important questions had the Government failed to deal with? he inquired. A Member: The cost of living. Sir James Allen said he left the answering of that question to the Minister in charge, biit he ventured to say that no country in tho world had dealt with tha cost of living more than New Zealand, and there was no country in the world where the cost of living was lower than in New Zealand. He could also say that there had been less industrial trouble in New Zealand, and where it had happened the Government had dealt with it on tho spot.

A. Member: You put them in gaol. Sir James Allen: It was sometimes necessary in the interests of tho public. It was clso necessary to introduce for the safety and interest of the public.— ("Hear, hear/') He protested against tho proposal made to intern the sons of German settlers in this country. That was tho policy of the hon. gentleman who had last spoken, but the fathers had come hero many years ago, and in very many cases bad married English women. Many of their sons had been bravely fighting in the trenches, and the hon. gentleman suggested that the reputation of these men who had been doing their duty nobly . should be blasted.

Mr M'Combs said the 3rd Brigade of the New Zealand Division, besides the 4th, was formed out of accumulated reinforcements. New Zealand was supplying far more men for the front in proportion than Canada, .and the whole question should be submitted to the people at a general election. The Prime Minister said ho did not intend to block the Bill. He did not see how the local elections held last year helped the member for Riccarton, when the four chief centres and Wanganui returned the same Mayors, which showed that during the war period the people did not desire a change of Mayors. He believed the same applied to Parliament. Ho wished to tell the House and the people of the country that he was not going to stand in the way of a general election. Mr Payne: That is the decent thing to do

Mr Massey said that if a sufficient number of the members of the House required a general election they only had to say so, and they would get it. A Reform Member: They don't want it.

Mr Massey said that if a sufficient number of the people wanted it they could have it. He was prepared for an election now. He was not waiting for hon. members. Personally, he did not think an election advisable. There were three members of the House at the front, but apart from that, at a time like this, when the country was fighting for its existence against the enemy, all parties should be united, and he thought it the wrong thing .to hold a general election. Great Britain .had postponed her general election, i nd Canada had done so up to the present. It was quite true that an election had been held in Australia, but it was held because it was impossible for them to carry on over there without one. The.result was that a National Government had come into power with a large majority. Canada had now formed a National Government. It was a pity that Canada had not formed one before, because one of the first things to be introduced would have been what wc called conscription, with the result that she would have supplied her divisions at the front with adequate reinforcements. Ho averred again that New Zealand led the dominions of the Empire during the war period in the number of men she had sent to the front, and in their capacity and good conduct. New Zealand had sent more supplies of foodstuffs than any other country in the Empire; in fact, in regard to the supply of_ meat, only one other country —the Argentine—was ahead of us. Was there another country in the Empire which was in as good a financial position as New Zealand? Not one. "We must expect these pinpricks," he declared > in conclusion, 'but we arc not going to sit quiet any longer." —(" Hear, hear.") The motion that Mr Witty bo given leave to introduce his Bill was then put, the noes far exceeding the ayes in volume. " Let it go," said Mr Massey, and the first reading was agreed to.