Parliament at Work

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 86, 6 July 1928, Page 5

Parliament at Work

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY. .NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION , ; "*'qOVBRNMENT ATTACKED.' ' 'Press Association—Copyright: " ' -'' '.''•• WELLINGTON, Last Night. '; 'Continuing the , debate on ttiei.Ad- '' dress-in-Reply in 'the House of: R«today, Mr H. ,E. iflol Leader of the Opposition,, complimented the mover and seconder of „ the motion before the. House as ~ > : .they -had acquitted themselves: most ably in dealing with a difficult* task; a task that was rendered more dim- '' cult by' the paucity of policy mat- '' "'ters' contained in the Govern'or-Gen-eral's. .speech. ■•'•'].•, ■ , ; 'He, moved: "That the piloting J ,,-' : words; be-added to the motion;?: !But 1 -we deem 'it' our duty to represent to Your Excellency's advisers do not •possess the confidence of the .people *''".'''"' of the country for, among otheTrs, ; the '''fbhowing - reasons:— "'.." V Vrhqy" have failed to provide ado-* . quate'financial assistance for ' the .and home builders. , , «.•■ " -.' "Iliey have permitted their P<}%y : relating to the Post Office Savings ..'i. Bank and the State Advances Department to be influenced by privately, ' 'owned ' financial institutions to ;the detriment of the whole Dominion."

r , " ITEREST RATES. >''» :'" Mr Holland proceeded] to criticise the actionvof the, Government in ifis- . ing the rates of interest to settlers borrowing' .©rough the Advances •Department, which increase was jinjjnediately followed by private lending institutions. He also found fault with the methods adopted in ..•raising -the recent £5,000,000. The •.. Government,.- he said, did not take of the new marketi don-- » in ; tfie way they might? hnve "''done; and. consequently lost to the country £21,000 upon Which interest ' not have been paid. !, 1 1 Thet administrations of, the Post -Office... Sayings, Bank was criticised, ::■: -Mr Holland, declaring; that the, Bank 7] of :N©w : Zealand had objected to the '-' Kfrge; deposits being taken; by the ■ jpos't Office Savings Bank. This objection' Was followed almost' immediately, by the announcement that -dethe. Tost Office Savings . Bank jwere to \W- reduced from'£Sooo . : ; to the old' amount of £SOO, thug. in- ' .dfcating.that the Bank .of New Zea- ■ the policy of the ;v Post Office Savings Bank. ~, , \ ,

, RURAL/CREDITS. .. f , ~) M r; Holland complained that ith© <figures of the; business; done by jthej Rural: Advances Board had been giy-J eh to the member: for Clutha jfor j ■use "Jn- his speech last night, while | being withheld from other membprs; \ He declared there was a conflict; of opinion .amongst Reform supporters in connection with rural credits, for, ■while! Professor . Tocker was urging Cheaper ; credits'; Sir George Elliott, chairman of the , Bank Of New Zea-> land, was 'demanding higher priced credits; The failure of rural itsbonds, was due to the fact that •Ministers had declared that a State ;lguarahtee was not behind the bonds, and, the .Governments lack of straight-, forwardness on this point and created ' a most unsatisfactory position. This was due to the desire of • the Government to prevent the rural credits loan being regarded as public indebtedness, but in the final analysis they would ■ not be- able to escape tbijj liability. U they had wanted to pay dearly for the money they 'couid*-ndi'have gone about it mpre 'effectively. " r

" ; - MINISTER'S REPLY. . ' . ~. The Hon. W. Downie Stewart twitted Mr Holland for showing a desire to supplant the Government, not because his party had a better policy, but because it was the only alternative. His trouble was .that he;, had r>o fixed policy, and he I was J continually watering down his ;prp : ! gramme in order to find something •which-would please the public.j The nationalMation of everything had, gone or was being kept in the dark., .Labour's } land policy had been so stated and restated that it now looked very like freehold. ,sMr -Stewart defended the raising .. of, the • last loan. It was put on t the market under the best possible ■ advice, • and he only hoped when. Mr. .Holland came to raise his loa n he would be as successful as the Government had been. ! ' ' One reason why the Savings Bank • deposits were reduced from £SOOO to £SOO was that experience had proved it was unwise to have such large

sums lying on temporary deposits, ift was bad business and .created a false impression. It was'generally supposed that Post Office Savings Bank deposits reflected "the savings of the people, but these/ large sums did not.

,COUNTRYS POSITION SOUND. Dealing With the position of the country generally, Mr Stewart maintained it was thoroughly sound. The Opposition had blamed the Government, but they did not explain that those who were asked to pay more had not previously been paying their fair share, and they also failed to mention the remissions made through the Customs tariff. He did not know whether the Labour Party was free trade or protection because no two members seemed to have the same opinion. The policy of the Government was easily seen in last years revision of the tariff. He appealed to the Labour Party to clarify its policy so tTiat when they Ayent before the people it would be possible to see where they stood.

STATE ADVANCES. Coming to the question of State Advances interest, he explained that some of the original loans were maturing, and no w money could not be raised at the same rate. Therefore if the interest charges were not raised the department must 'suffer, serious losses. Overdraft rates of the banks had nothing to do with the advances of interest as the two things were governed by quite different considerations.

..Mr W. A. Veitch (Wanganui) said he,, was not so greatly interested in the : dispute between the Leader of the Opposition and the Government as to whether loans had been, wisely raised as he was interested in the question whether the money had been wisely spent. There was no evidence in this direction, and therein lay a serious aspect of our public, finance.

.The governments agrarian policy had.jbeen a dismal failure, and this* forj many reasons. Over and above all because there was no proper financial organisation whose business it was to meet the requirements of the, primary producers.

Land aggregation was going on and some of the land purchases, of the >• Government had been highly questionable. The Te Wera purchase was a case in point. * INDUSTRIAL POSITION. Speaking of the industrial situation Mr Veitch said the recent revision of the tariff would result in the establishment of American industries here to overcome the tariff |waU raised against them. Personally, he "wanted to see all our industries, British as far as possible, but he c.ould see an American influence comin"g in, which would not be of advantage to our own people. Hr Holland's amendment was seconded by Mr E. J. Howard.

Mr Veitch twitted the Reform Party with having depalrted from its slogan, "more business in Government and less Government in business," but so far from giving effect to this which was not original with them, but was American, the party hairdly knew, its meaning. They were pledged to a free, secular and compulsory education,'Which was an almost sacred principle'in our education system. Practically the whole party had deserted it. .";■'

The) Hon. J. A. Young said the tendency, of the present day was for the people to look to the State, having gone into that business, must business, must lend money on easy terms and for long terms. The difficulty of the ; primary producers was that private lenders would not lend for sufficiently long terms. There was then a great demand on the State; funds, but it was not always possible for 'the State to procure all the money required on profitable terms, or the money lenders in Britain, while quite willing to lend to the State for developmental purposes, would not lend so that the State might let money out again to settlers.

Mf' Young denied that unemployment was' necessarily linked up with immigration, quoting Professor CopMelbourne University, in support' of his contention. Ifnemploynient was one of those experiences Which came in cycles for which there, no doubt, was a scientific basis, though we might not be able to say what that basis was.

After Mr Howard had spoken the debate was adjourned, 'and the House rose at 11.30 p.m.