THE REFORM RECORD.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13427, 8 July 1914, Page 3

THE REFORM RECORD.

AND A iHXISTEIUAL BOAST

(From our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. ilr Isitt was m aggressive form m the no -confidence debate last night, and raked the Reform benches scathingly upon their mute, unquestioning acceptance of every proposal brought forward hy their leader. Eir.-t ho bantered them upon making prai. vuithy efforts to represent the shoddy materials m the reform window as good and wholesome Eods. "Well," he remarked, "we- shall, ye to wait for a few months before the people have the '-right to express' their ' opinion about the records achieved by the Reform party. We have m the. meantime an opportunity of putting very definitely before the people of this- land the record of a Government wliich pos sesses naturally a very pretentious, Pharisaical, and Pecksniffian character, and .'whose stock-in-trade consists very largely of unfulfilled boast* and unkept pledges." A little further on the hur. member addressed himself to a recent statement by the Minister of Railways, who, said Mr Isitt, declared m the course of vaunting the surpassing . excellence of Reform that not even the late Right Hon. Richard John Seddon had succeeded m carrying on the conduct of his Government without failing to carry some one measure he had proposed. "The Minister of Railways actually boasts that, the men behind the present Government were all so supine and lamblike at their, leaders' back that they had not dared to oppose so much as one measure brought forward by the leader. of their pbli tical party," Casting a pitying smile over the Government benches, he added : "There was one occasion, just once, when three members of that party /dared to oppose the supremo will of tjfeir; leader, and what did we see then? The great 'Ariki Tory' left his seat and shook his political fist m their terrified faces till they shrank back, cowed and mock, into their places once and for ever, to rejoin the fold of the party, m that state of abject submission for which it is sb greatly distinguished. (Roars of Opposition larghter.) Yet when that Government was first formed, the members that brought it into existence boasted of their independence, boasted that they would never be dra^ficcd at the heels of any Government, however good, and proclaimed tlie principle of release from tlie toils and evils- of dumb adherence from the house-, tops," and again the nasonant, burlyvoice of Mr Isitt was lost m the scorn-' ful 'laughter of the Liberal benches. Touching on the Board of Agriculture, Mr Isitt. declared that many of Mr Massey's own supporters were aggrieved that small farmers were not; represented. The Prime Minister: You don't think T mafe the appointments, do you?. Mv Isitt « Ybu can exercise such influence ovrc the Board you created that you should have seen that the small farming class be considered lhe Premier* m spite of his claim to promote settlement, and still more settlement, out across all precedent, and interfered with the conduct of the Lands De"partment. Tlie Prime Minister : I did .not. Mir Isitt : Will the Premier kindly preserve the dignity of the House? He has the right of reply. (Laughter.) .Continuing, the speaker said Mr Gibson was dropped from the Canterhury Land Board, and Mr. Gee, a son-in-law of the' man who soit'rhl Vo retain a section, appointed to the vacant, position. When the Prime^Minister knew of the relationship ho should have at mice wired, cancelling the appointment, but he did not. The .subdivision of the Cawgill sections, which could have been cut uo and five settlements created, had been blocked. The Prime Minister : TMI make you sorry you spoke. Mr Isitt called Mr Speaker to rebuke the' Prime Minister for his provocative interruption. Mr Speaker asked Mr Isitt to address the chair. He thought Mr. Tsitt had directly spoken to the Prime Minister. Mr Isitt: V beftiw* I addressed Mr Massey, through you. Mr Speaker : You looked at Wm. Mr Isitt resumed his land references, quoting cases m which Crown tenants who had (failed to carry out aggregation under Liberal legislation were able to purchase the freehold under Mr Massey's Act of 1912 r and then re-selj to big landowners. ■ |