PARLIAMENT

Southland Times, Issue 20831, 20 July 1929, Page 8

PARLIAMENT

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY END OF DEBATE IN SIGHT STANDING ORDERS NEXT ITEM (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, July 1?. The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. SIR JOSEPH WARD replying to Mr R. A. Wright (R., Wellington Suburbs), said that legislation would be necessary to increase the maximum amount of loans tinder the intermediate rural credits scheme, and he proposed to introduce an amendment to tho Act. One day’s leave of absence was granted the Hon.'J. B. Donald on account of illness in his family. Address-in-Reply. The debate on the Address-in-Reply was resumed by MR G. C. BLACK (U., Motucka), who said he wished to take the opportunity to thank the people of New Zealand for their assistance to those who had suffered through the recent earthquake. He said that experiences during the earthquake had demonstrated the necessity for landing bases for aeroplanes at intervals throughout New Zealand. Isolation had been a serious problem during the disaster and had emphasized the difficulty of communicating with certain parts of the country. He suggested that, at any rate, a base should be provided at Golden Bay, whereby air communication with the West Coast and the northern part of the South Island would be facilitated. At. the present time, the Southern Alps were frequently a barrier to air service. He also advocated an extension of facilities for wireless communication. Referring to the appointment of the Hon. Sir A. T. Ngata as Native Minister, he suggested that much good might come from a visit to Samoa by Sir A. T. Ngata, whose knowledge of the Polynesians would, perhaps, enable him to understand the position more completely than it had been .in the past. Public Works. MR BLACK criticised the estimates for public works in the past, and suggested that there, should be some change in legislation which would place on the shoulders of the people making the estimates, the responsibility for any serious faults. He did not think there would be any satisfactory control over the whole public works system until there had been appointed a Public Works Committee of the House. He said the policy of refusing licenses to mine coal areas should be discontinued, owing to the recent shortage occasioned by the earthquake. It. had been necessary to import coal from Queensland. This would not have been necessary had there been more mines in.the country. In his opinion, the problem should be tackled from the other end, that was to say, endeavours should be made to find a market for all the coal that could be produced. He advocated the exploitation by means of science and hydro-electric power of areas in the country likely to produce oil, in fact all the mineral resources of the country should be more thoroughly developed. He criticized the decentralized system of publicity obtaining in Government Departments and suggested that there should be one organization under a virtual head to undertake the task. He urged greater encouragement for young people of the country to study the history and scenic resources of New Zealand and stated there was no more helpful means of learning history than studying such regions as Waitomo. Land Aggregation. MR G. R. SYKES (R., Masterton) who followed, referred to land aggregation. He said an Act to prevent this was already on the Statute Book, but owing to “the astuteness of the family lawyer” aggregation had in some cases been achieved. He quoted "figures however to show that the number of holdings had’ increased substantially during the last years of the Reform administration, despite the fact that many small holdings had been absorbed on the fringes of cities. Referring to unemployment, he said the Reform Party’s “mal-administration” had been blamed for the distress. This was not so. It was time it was realized that unemployment was a subject above party politics and all parties united in an effort to relieve the position. He denied that secondary industries had been starved under the Reform regime. No country could become great, by its primary industries alone and realizing this, the Reform administration had given every encouragement to smaller industries. In concluding, he said there were in New Zealand thousands of motor cars belonging to people who could not pay their grocer’s bills, but were struggling to meet the monthly demands of motor dealers. Something should be done to remedy this position. There were 200,000 motor cars in the country and allowing £lOO a year as the average cost of upkeep of each, it could be assumed motor cars were costing the country £2,000,000 annually. The Road Vote. THE HON. E. A. RANSOM said it had been stated it was the Government’s intention to do away with the allocation of the road vote of New Zealand. This was not the case. What was intended was to vary tho incidence of that system. Last year the amount available was £424,000, but this year it had been found necessary to reduce the sum to £400,000, this representing an honest attempt on the part of the Government to live within its means and at the same time to provide for all requirements of the year. Variations in the system included the removal of allocations on an' area basis which, he considered, was not a fair claim on the road vote. Another heading under which there had been a change was the population basis. In the past road districts with larger populations had received a special allocation. He considered these were the districts that were best able to look after their own reading system. “Paper roads” had also been removed from the allocations. These were roads originally planned, but never completed and in many cases, not even known to residents of the districts in which they existed. These were the only items removed from the allocations and the money thereby saved had been added to the amount available for other items. He intended to double the amounts for the mileage of roads in use, apart from those metalled or surfaced and for local body loans for fbads. Crown and native land suitable for settlement would also be provided for. Land Settlement. The new system would not in any way interfere with the fairness of the manner in which the money was allocated and there could be no suggestion that political favour could enter into the position. continued that the country demanded closer settlement and more intensive farming and the present Government was out to give it those conditions. No man should be allowed to possess more land than he could farm to its capacity. Referring to the statement that men on public works to-day were earning only six shillings per day, he said all he could conclude was that it was work commenced under the Reform administration, upon which he had been unable to catch' up. He had investigated the matter and had been unable to find any such cases. He had ob-

tained particulars of the rates of pay at . co-operative works and had found that the * only, case where the average was under 14/- per day was on the Gisborne-Wairoa railway where the highest wage was 25/51 and the lowest wage 6/10 per day. In • ' other cases, the average wages were higher. It was the policy of the Government to give every man a living wage.

In answer to criticism that the Government had not yet lowered the interest rate, he said that had it not been the handicap placed on the present Minister of Finance by his predecessor, there would be cheaper money to-day. Referring to unemployment, he said'the Government had under consideration proposals which it hoped would place hundreds of men in permanent employment. The debate was adjourned on the motion of Mr A. J. Murdoch (U., Marsden). Replying to Mr J. G. Coates, SfR JOSEPH WARD said he hoped the Address-in-Reply debate would end on Tuesday or Wednesday. The House would next deal with Standing Orders. The House rose at 5.30 till 2.30 bn Tuesday.