REACHING THE LIMIT.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1065, 11 July 1917, Page 3

REACHING THE LIMIT.

SUPPLY OF TROOPS. DR NEWMAN CRITICISES CABINET TIME NEW ZEALAND WOKE UP. •m . [From Our Own Parliamentnry Reporter.l WELLINGTON, July 111. The question of the placing of a limit on the number of reinforcements to be sent from New Zealand firmed the subject of remarks in the House of Representatives this afternoon by Dr. A. K. Newman (Wellington East I. Speaking on the Address-in-Reply debate. Dr. Newman said this was probably the most important session the New Zealand Parliament had c\er known. He thought the Government had made a great mistake in having a recess of eleven months. No other country in the war had allowed its Parliament to be idle for 5.0 long. There was excitement from one end of the country to the other! us to what the Government intended io do, but liic Governor-General's speech had been a blank disappointment. All it said was that as a coalition ministry had been formed nothing was to be done, and no progress] was to be made. The position was lamentable. We had a GovernorGeneral's speech with absolutely j nothing in it. and—even with the statements of the two leaders in the House—members had not the slightest idea of what the policy of the Government was. For instance, what was the attitude of Cabinet on six o'clock closing? Thousands of people were agitated over this question, but would the Government give them a lead? No; Cabinet itself did not know where it was. If the question were left to the House, the reform would be carried, but if the Government were against it and would not give the House a chance, it did not have a hope. About the only country in the world which had not done something to prevent the waste in alcohol was New Zealand. The j people of the country would carry early closing on a referendum by two to one, and they looked to the House to do something in the matter. A most important question, continued Dr Newman, was whether "wc should send more men to the front. It was time a number of us woke us. It was right that at the beginning of the war we should have sent a large number of men, because Britain and New Zealand were in jeopardy. If we bad not sent them we should have run risks of becoming slaves. At that time we expected a crisp, sharp war, which would soon end. Now we knew that the end was not in sight. All the evidence showed that the war would last for another two or three years. Already we bad sent 85,000 men, the pick and flower of New Zealand, and he was going to ask the House whether we had not reached the limit of what we are called upon to do. FOOD PRODUCTION ESSENTIAL. If New Zealand sent all her men out of the country, she could not go on producing food. If wc sent another 20,000 even, our food-pro-ducing capacity would be greatly affected. The question therefore was: Shall we send more men. or shall we keep them to prow food? He was perfectly satisfied in his own mrrrtU that we should stop sending men. and should produce food. Mr Masscv had stated that in Feb- . n.iary last Sir William Robertson! asked him to spnd a lot more men from New Zealand, but since thai time America (with a population of 1flfl.0n0.n00) had come into the war. and Russia (with a population of 170.0Oft.0fin) had cot going again. Should wo in New Zealand, with our sinffle million of people, eo on depleting our manhood? Fven if we were to continue our monthly draft of 2500 men. thev would be merely a drop in the bucket. If we were to send 2000 men a month, then America, on the same proportion, should send 180.000 a month. If America did this, would our 2000 be missed? GROW OUR OWN WHEAT! The Hon. Mr Mac Donald had recently pone to Australia to purchase a lar?o quantity of wheat. Rv whom had that wheat been grown? B«- Australians who had not gone fo the front. Would it not be wiser to keep our men here, and let them prow our own wheat? When he "-is in England recently he heard that there was a likelihood of a world-wide famine, and the production of every ounce of food was of \Yi„ "rentes! nossihle importance. Tb<* Government did not seem to be able to make on its miml on the ouestion. but he himself Ihouoht that t»ip rountrv had reached its limit. The Dominion had never missed sending a single contingent, whereas Canada a"d Australia had missed several. The ouestion was whether we wern'l getting a bit out of breath. New Zealand was the first of the Dominions to introduce conscription. I'n'lcr these conditions the manhood of New Zealand was being depleted more than that of any other part of the Empire. It was being outrageously depleted. England was nearer the war than New Zealand, and yet England hail brought back from the fighting front thousands of munitions workers, miners, and food producers. He hoped thai the Government would realise the position, and keep in the country the men who could do far better work here than ever they would at the front. BETTER ALLOWANCES NEEDED. Mr J. C. Thomson (Wallace) said that while the Dominion of Australia was considering the question whether or not conscription should be introduced, and while Canada, owing to racial reasons, was overcoming difficulties in connection with the same subject, the Dominion of New Zealand might withhold an expression of opinion and trust the Government to do entirely what was right in this connection. Rut he would emphasise that to expect 38/0 to support a wife and two children was absurd. (Hear, hear.) The Second Division League was stirring from the North Cape to the Bluff at the present time, and the Government should allay the agitation by declaring most emphatically that it was its intention to see that the separation allowance shall be a living wage. The country could afford to give a better measure of allowance. Money was piling up in the banks. It was unfair to keep flic men of the Second Division in suspense when the Government knew perfectly well that the House would never sanction the married men going to the war when the separation allowance to a wife and two children was only 38'fi a week. (Hear, hear.;