Mr. Holland Decries Time-Wasting Talk

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 726, 27 July 1929, Page 8

Mr. Holland Decries Time-Wasting Talk

LEGISLATIVE DELAYS NO HELP FOR CONSERVATIVES Press Association WELLINGTON, Friday. Speaking before the freexing workers’ conference this morning, Mr. H. E. Holland, Leader of the Labour Party, said that in all the history of New Zealand Parliament there had probably never been a greater time-wast-ing display at a time when it was imperative and urgently necessary that legislation should be put through. The Address-in-Reply debate had proved to be one of the longest in recent years. Almost everything that had been said by the speakers who took part in it would be said over again when the various Bills and the Budget were before the House. It was a debate without ail objective, and if the Labour Party members had contributed to its futility it would have extended beyond a month. The worst feature of the waste of time was the fact that, while Parliament talked, some thousands of men were without work, and in consequence thousands of women and children were lacking the necessaries of life. At the same time there was ample work waiting to be done, and no shortage of money in the country. All that was lacking was the legislative sanctions in the form of authorising acts, and the Prime Minister had given his word that much of the legislation was ready for submission to the House.

Obviously under these circumstances Parliament should have been permitted to get to the leSislation with the least possible delay. Instead of this being done weeks had been spent in recriminative and almost wholly useless talk. It would be worse than criminal if there were any further unnecessary delay in putting through the legislation necessary to meet the situation arising out of the problem of unemployment, and this included legislation affecting both land and finance as well as public works. In discussing the political situation Mr. Holland made it clear that the Labour Party would not support any motion of no-confidence by the Reform Party “that would mean putting back on the Government benches the Conservative Party, which made such a dismal failure of its sixteen years’ opportunity,” he said, “and the Labour movement will not stand foi that ” He went on to say if a change of Government came it would be as a result of the Reform Party supporting a want of confidence motion moved by the Labour Party.