“STIR ’EM UP DAVY”

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 91, 8 July 1927, Page 3

“STIR ’EM UP DAVY”

MR. HOWARD’S REPLY LABOUR’S NEWSPAPERS <THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter .) WELLINGTON, Thursday. . A FEW quiet, enjoyable minutes were spent by Mr. E. J. Howard in the House to-day at the expense of Mr. D. Jones, member for Ellesmere, whose speech on the previous evening had been directed largely at the methods and principles of the Labour Party. Mr. Howard took the members back to the days when he was working on the concrete board and regarded Mr. Jones as a person with a halo, but since then his faith had been rudely shattered. He adopted a -very hurt tone as he recalled that Mr. Jones had almost convinced him that farming was the best occupation on earth — but unfortunately 7s a day on the concrete board did not permit him to buy the farm! Mr. Howard produced copies of the newspaper “Farming First,’’ the official organ of the Auckland Farmers' Union, which received a fire of interjection from the Ministerial benches.

The Prime Minister: I don’t allow it in my house. Mr. Howard: There is no need to take it home to read it. (Laughter.) Mr. Howard commenced to quote something which he said the paper had published of the member for Ellesmere. Mr. Speaker: Is it something which would be out of order if you were not quoting ? , “NICE AND SOFT” Mr. Howard: Oh, no, Mr. Speaker; I have picked out something nice and soft. I could say something about the hon. gentleman that would perhaps be out of order—but I will not. (Laughter.) Mr. Speaker: I would point out that the hon. member is not in order in quoting something that would be out of order if it were his own words. Mr. Howard (ruefully): Oh, I don’t know-; The Hon. A. D. McLeod: Think it over.

Mr. Howard (considering): Well, Mr. Speaker, I don’t think I could say this about him without being out of order, so I had better leave it at that, I think. (Laughter.)

Mr. Howard continued to chip the chairman of the Meat Board, and said: “I know why he made that speech. His own side put him up. They said, ‘Stir ’em up, Davy!’ and Davy stirred ’em up!” The Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, replied to Mr. Howard, and defended Mr. Jones in his speech of the previous evening. In Mr. Howard’s mention of the farming journal, “Farming First,” the Minister said this was not an index to the minds of the farming community in the Dominion, but was probably on the same stamp as the “New Zealand "Worker,” which he understood was artificially kept afloat through compulsory levies from every subscription to the various unions. Labour Voices: That is entirely incorrect. The Minister: Well; I ask for information. Mr. R. W. Smith: That was the case with the sawmill unions some time ago. Mr. McKeen: You are imagining things. A COMPULSORY LEVY The Minister said he based his question on the fact that some of the boys from Waitaki High School had gone harvesting in the South, and had found it necessary to join the union in order to get the work. They then discovered that they were paying a compulsory levy to the “New Zealand Worker.” Mr. P. Fraser: That was higher education for them. The Minister: Well, it was put to good use, because the papers were Pinned on the wall and the masters gave daily lectures upon the fallacies contained in them. Mr. J. McCombs: And the policy was adopted by most of the students themselves.

The Minister: 1 am not able to check this. But if it is so, then it is a most unfortunate outlook for the future of the Dominion. (Reform laughter.) Mr. H. T. Armstrong: Unfortunate for the present Government. (Labour laughter.) The Minister: Well, I accept the hon. gentleman’s assurance that the paper is not artificially kept afloat. Mr. Stewart continued that the matter in the “New Zealand Worker” of a similar nature to that in Farming First,” and contained diatribes against those with whom the Writers did not agree. Thanks to the common sense of the people it did not Produce the result. Mr. p. Fraser: It has done very well excellently, in fact.