OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLV, Issue 12086, 25 June 1920, Page 8

OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

Second Edition

GOVERNOR’S SPEECH

His Excellency Lord Liverpool delivered the following speech this afternoon„ ~ Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council and Gentlemen of the House of Repiesentatives I am glad that the extension of my term of office as Goverilor>Geueral has enabled me to meet you at the opening of the first session of the twentieth Parliament of New Zealand. „ . „ The visit of H.R.H. the Pnuce of Wales to the Dominions has happily provided an occasion for a demonstration of loyalty to the Crown, and of personal regard for the Sovereign and the Royal Tamil y from the whole people of the Hominion. M> Ministers desire to record that while arrangements were necessarily made for the gatherings of school children at every point or His Royal Highness’ stay, no such arrangements ware made for the as-, semoly ol the people generally. T’j®, great a.jd orderly assemblies of the people at every' place wore entirely spontaneous and their welcome everywhere to the Heir to the Throne was marked by an enthusiasm far beyond anything we are accustomed to witness in New Zealand. The Maori gathering at Rotorua afforded an equal op-< portunity for our fellow subjects of the native race again to demonstrate their loyalty to the Sovereign in a manner consonant with their customs and usages and to repeat to the Prince the loyal welcome to which they had given expression on the occasion of the visit of the present King, nineteen years ago. Much of the undoubted success of the visit is due to His Royal Highness himself. From the moment of his first laud ing at Auckland his response to the great popular welcome won for him a personal regard and affection which will continue during the lives of all those who wore privileged to meet him. Our soldiers whom he claimed as his comrades of the war, the crowds of children whom ho delighted by bis unaffected kindness and consideration to them, and the whole people whose loyal greetings he never failed to recognise, will long bear in mind the visit which ho himself has dons so much to make memorable. The common allegiance of all parts of the Empire to the Crown is the strong bond of the union of its peoples and it is fortunate that His Majesty and his Heir have won a personal regard aud respect, through and by means of which onr loyalty is strengthened and the union of the Empire cemented and assured

Mr Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives .—The conditions create i by the war continue to give great anxiety to my Government and demand vonr careful consideration. of those conditions it is beyond our power to remedy We canuot to any appreciable extent control the lauded prices of imported articles or the rates of foreign exchange, nor can we materially reduce our public debt, or the burden of the greatly increased interest and sinking fund, which drains our revenue and compels the levy of taxation at rates above anything in our experience before the war, nor can vve obtain from the English money market the loan moneys to meet the works of all kinds, many of which are absolutely necessary. The Government is faced with demands for expenditure far beyond anything which the revenues of the consolidated fond can meet and our only resource is to borrow within our own borders. Each section of the public regards as most urgent the class of work in which it is especially interested. The requirements of our returned soldiers must be met to the utmost limit of possible finance, but the acquisition of land for their settlement alone necessitates the provision of moneys many times in excess of the normal borrowing in years when the Loudon market was open. The singular success of the Repatriation Boards in establishing our soldiers in business occupations and the honourable performance by the men of their eu gage meats for the refund of loans In regular instalments, encourage my Ministers to anticipate larger provision for the purposes of that class of repatriation advances. The de~ mands for schools, housing, the ex teusion of telegraphs and post offices, and the installation of works to provide electrical power are only soma examples of the pressure of public opinion for an increase of expenditure of capital moneys. If tiie revenues can barely provide the great increases in salaries, wages and charges which cannot be avoided, it may justly be contended that increases in the salaries, wages and charges of ser-

vices, which, as the Railways and the Post and Telegraph Depart-

ment, may be provided by increases in the charges upon those who ose these services. Bat it must be remembered that all such increases involve corresponding increments

throughout the whole public service, ■which can only be met out of general taxation. It is necessary to bear in mind that in the present year other which the Dominion has no control, may gravely affect the receipts of the people from onr industries and indirectly affect our revenue. Tho deficiency of ships, combined with the congestion in British ports, has caused much delay and inconvenience which cannot be obviated by any direct effort of our own. Though no opportunity has been lost of impressing the position upon Imperial Ministers, and at the same time the excess of supply of oar meat in Great Britain above the demand has been the cause of the gravest anxiety to my Ministers, on the other hand the supply of wheat for the world’s use is computed to be considerably short of the requirements ar.d my Government has found it necessary to make provision tor an increased production of wheat in New Zealand bj' guarantee of prices tc the farmer, and at the same time to prevent a substantial rise in the cost of bread by a large subvention to the millers. You will diave

, •'before you in the financial proposals the budget an indication of the i measures which my Ministers proto enable the Dominion to meet tße~difficnltiea here briefly outlined. In many respects they are such as to demand the compensation of all ?, parties in Parliament and my ■Uljplßlera hope to have the benefit of

the advice as well as of the assistance of your House in the effort to meet the emergency and overcome the difficulties. Honourable of the Legislative Council and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives— The legislation of the two preceding sessions of Parliament relating to the control of trade and the P r ®‘ vention of undue profits has proved in some respects to bo defective and proposals will be laid before you tor amendments of the law in this respect. Though there is c-übs u an evidence that further abnorme t creases of prices have been Prevented by the exi-ting legislation that under its influence trade _ gradually becoming established on a m^re reasonable basis, th' are strong indications that /£ the existing prosperity is to- continued extravagance must b avoided and industry and e ° r /Komy must be encouraged by f y possible means. The date for ttee coming into operation of the legislative Council Act, 1914, has i fixed by proclamation since the session of Parliament. The Ac come into force on the 31st J aia-aary, 1921, and you will, in aco ° rdsmce with the promise of my nistrers, have an opportunity of its provisions during ’yosr present session, when some . amendments will be submitted in the form of a .bill by my Government, Since the consolidation of our statute law in the year 1908 many amendments of the various statutes have been passed. My Ministers think it desirable that compilation of the more important Acts, especially those relating to local govern ■ meat, should be effected to enable those interested to have in their bauds the whole law on the subject in one Act in lieu of the present necessity for correction of the original law by the various amending provisions Luring the recent compilations of the Municipal Corporations Act and the Counties Act have been prepared and an opportunity of amendment of the existing law on both subjects, and of the powers of Municipal Corporations, and of County Councils is also thereby provided. The Public Trustee at present lias charge of numerous trusts of Nati vo land and moneys in addition to his duties as a trustee of public and private European trust estates and my Ministers consider it desirable that a complete separation of the Native from the European trusts should be effected and that the Native trusts held- by the Public Trustee and also the trust moneys held by Maori Land Boards should be vested in a special Native Trustee with a separate Board A Bill will be submitted to >ou with this object and with the farther object of enabling Native trust moneys to be utilised for the benefit of the Natives in a manner which is not at present possible under the statutory powers of the Public Trustee.

Under the powers conferred by the mandate of the Treaty of Peac e with Germany and by your legislation of last session the government of Western Samoa has been initiated in succession to the military rule which has controlled those islands since the occupation by New Zealand troops in the early months of the war. The orders in Council which have be-n issued providing a basis of law for the Islands and for their government nndei New Zealand, will be placed before you. Bills amending the laws relating to Land, Education, Local Government and Pensions have been prepared, or are in course of preparation, and will be submitted to you during your present session. My Ministers invite your serious consideration of methods to obviate the recurrence of industrial unrest. It is becoming apparent that the present provisions of the law for the settlement of industrial disputes are not altogether satisfactory to the unions of workers who refuse in many instances to adopt the settlement proposed. It is the desire of the public and of the Government, which holds the public authority, that public employees, whether paid by salary or by wage, should be satisfied as far as is possible with the conditions of their service and in most cases of private employment the employers are equally desirous of the establishment of methods which will enable friendly discussion of the relations of employer and employed and a better understanding by each party to the dispute of the difficulties of the other.

iVlr Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives—ln accord auce with the resolution passed by your House in the last session of the preceding Parliament proposals will be laid before yon for an increase in the payment to members, A Bill consolidating the civil list will bo submitted, the provision for the payment of Ministers and members being transferred from tue Legislators Act to the civil list, and thus the annual recurring charge will be met without farther appropriation. It is proposed that the salaries on the civil list shall not be reducible by taxation or be alienable in any manner. By this means the definite sums will be ascertainable as remuneration of Judges, Ministers and Members of Parliament. The effect of the graduation of incomes for taxation purposes adopted since the war has .been, in the case of the Judges, to reduce the salaries which are by the Supreme Court Act declared to be ineduciable during their tenure of office.

Hon Gentlemen of the Legislative Council and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives—This will be the last occasion on which I shall have the honour of opening a session of the New Zealand Parliament and I cannot permit the occasion to pass without exprossing s my most grateful personal thanks to those who during the years that I have represented His Majesty in this Dominion have constituted, on who now form part of the two Houses of the Legislature. I have held office for a longer consecutive period than any of my predecessors and during that time the Empire has been confronted with the greatest war chat lias ever been knwon. By the mercy of Providence tho crisis has been successfully met ana we live once again under the blessings of peace. The nation has maintained a united front throughout tho years of war and I am convinced that in the times which are before os onr peoples will surmount their troubles in a like spirit. I assure you that I am leaving the Dominion with the deepest-regret, after so long a sojourn among the inhabitants of these Islands. My close association with them has made me feel one of them and when I leave I shall never forget them and the many kindnesses which I and mine have cl ways received at th-ir hands. earnest prayer is that New Zealand will always emerge triumphant’ from any difficulties

which may beset her and ‘ . . 1 people will flourish great “® r arrthe^hoHta^o^'aad a.l wi.o live under