Second Edition. Parliament.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 43, 15 February 1923, Page 6

Second Edition. Parliament.

TO-DAY’S SITTING. REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. it Per Press Association. Wellington, February 15. /The House met at 11 (.'dock. Replying to Mr Burnett, Mr Mast»fey said the Board of Trade had been instructed to watch closely and supervise what was beings done, and what was proposed to be done by the organisation known as Distributors la., and to report to him. Replying to Mr Wilford, Mr Massey said that there was absolutely no intention to make a third cut in cer«in departments through the medi- __ i of reclassification. - 'Replying to Mr Hanan, Mr Massey said the government had raised a. loan of half a million in Australia for renewal purpose:.-. The interest was of per cent, and he believed the loan was repayable at three, five and tett-year pteriods, ADDREBSJN-REPLY DEBATE. The debate'cp the Address-in-Rc-ply was resumed by Mr Lysnar, who said that though elected as an Independent, h* believed it was in the best interests of the Dominion that lid should support the Reform Government. The country wanted a stable Government, and one of the greatest proofs of the Reform Government's strength and disinterestedness was 1 the fact that in face of a general election they made a cut in the bonuses given to civil servants. Tha three-party systpm was destructive, of good government, and it should be the power of the Hou'se to eliminate it. The Labour programme was one of disloyalty. Th'ey wished to set up a Council of fiction, and generally to disrupt things. We Waited a" stable government, riot extremists, at the present juncture. Mr Lysnar made a strong appeal for a fusion of the Liberal and Reform Parties on a give-and-take

basis. ‘ ’ V/ 1 ' , Mr P. do La. Porrclle (Awania) criticised tie Government's handling pf the returned soldiers’ Settlement (ppstion. By unwise purchases, they ga raised the price (if land against ■jemselves, and piled up a heritage q| f >tprp© for the brave young fellows we had sent to fight for us. The wheat-pu rohasi ng arrangements sjlsp came in for censure, which was followed by a catalogue of broken pledges of the Reform Party, the chief amongst which was the failure ■preform the,Upper House, which be reformed but jftbplished-and replaced by an .advisory committee. He approved of Mr Lysuggestion; for fusi n, but Jthqught that in any. such nogoiiatirifis -the , Party, which .. as fiddle Party, should ;be> approached by Reform. ; ,.-JUr (Christchurch East) said' the. labour Party desired. to a complete change in the economic. conditions of the people of ifpw r ,Zealand, but not for revolution ip any other sense. They did hot ' stand, for confiscation nor did they anyone pf anything ’tSich rightly belonged to them, but tpey... didf wint, to .stop! the robbery ; now going on, by which rich people a|c qn the backs of the useful people of the Dominion. On the Party question, he would vote the Reform Government out, whether ~ of hot, and no member of the Liberal Party could vote to keep the Governirient in without a violation of the pledges giyep tp electors. , The House adjourned at 1 o’clock /Until 2.30. v