ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1735, 5 September 1919, Page 6

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

OPENING OF DEBATE. TWO INTERESTING SPEECHES. A WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS. [From Our Own Parliamentary Reiforter.] September 4. The Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives was opeijed this evening. The motion to gresent a Respectful Address to his Excellency the Governor-General was moved by Mr J. A. Nash erston) and seconded by Mr A. Harris (Waitemata) and at 10.12 p.m. the debate was adjourned on the motion of Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward (Leader of the Opposition). Ttoth mover and seconder occupied their full hour, and both—but especially Mr Nash, who spoke very confidently—covered a wide range of subjects. Mr Nash expressed hiaiself as having been favourable to the formation of the National which had done such good work in ths great emergency. Now had come the dissolution of the National Cabinet, and they might look forward to party strife, although he was convinced that that would not be in the best interests of the country. The country should stand united for reconstruction. In many ways the National Government had been unpopular, one .of the reasons being tjhc Conscription Act. To his mind, that Act had provided the "best solution of the problem. Profiteering Rampant.

It was unfortunate that the Government had not taken control of the products of this country early in the War. It was the last cost of living retiyn showed New Zealand to be the lowest in the world, with a 42} per cent, increase, but that did not alter the fact that profiteering had been rampant from one end of the Dominion to the other. He was surprised that no prosecution had taken place through tte Board of Trade, but he was convinced that they never had had a sincere Minister than the Hon. W. Dr S. Mac Donald in charge Of affairs in this country, and that he, as the head of the Board of Trade, had done his best.

Mr J. Payne (Grey Lynn): Heary hearl He had a bad companion, But, added Mr Nash, he hflped that the new legislation would provide far a term of imprisonment for the offence of profiteering. The Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen) had been the butt of much t>f the criticism of the Government. . Two years ago he had been the rr»st unpopular man in the country. Mr Payne: The most unreasonable! Mr Najh: He was reasonable. He did what was reasonable.

Mr Payne: You weren't here; yoi don't know.

To-dav. continued Mr Nash, Sir James Allenwwass s one of the most nopular men in 'J=e Dominion. Hy' had come through the ordeal with flying colours.

7V hon. member went on to euloffise the 'rork of the New Zealand High Commissioner (Sr Thomas Mackenzie), whose appointment had been one of the most successful in the r*sto?y of the office.

Mr Payne:-Who's going to succeed him?

Mr Nash: Well. I i*->ght if I have any luck. (Laughter.) The Housing Problem.

Coming To the question of housing, the hon. member sa«d that a loan of £5,000.000 should be provided for that purpose. That would enable every nvui and womsi to have a home of his or her ow; at a reasonable price. The municipalities had all the necesr.iry powers so far as housing was concerned, and ,why should not better facilities be provided for them? Why should hot the Government subsidise the municipalities to do the work. That would *elp to get sway from Red Tape, llie country wanted 500 houses at once, and provision should be maite for their construction, in accordance Vvth a town-planning scheme. The health of the community should be the first consideration, yet he knew of cases of two families livina in one building of four rooms. That sort of thing should sot be in a country like New Zealand. The recently disclosed conditions in regard to the accommodation of the miners on the West CoasT: were nothing short of disgraceful. The man who had to vfork underground should have a home fit to live in, and' situated amitfst congenial surroundings. Under Government control the position should be far better than it was to-day, and the remedy was obviously to nationalise the mines.

New Zealand's "Bit." As New Zealanders; we had just cause to feel proud of the part that New Zealanfi soldiers had played in the Great War. Those men who had given of their best to the country deserved the best in return. Repatriation should have been commenced far earlier than it had. The department should be able to do better work if it were under the controlof a single Minister. Far too much repatriation work was imposed upon the Minister of S-.nnds, w h» should not have to bear the double burden of settling soldiers on the land and of finding homes for others in the towns. The country wanted the purchase of land for soldiers speeded up. At the present rate some of the men would be too old to work before they got sections. The sum of £2500 was not a sufficient advance to a man going on the land. It should be at least £3500, and the advance for stocking should be at least £1250. The more men on the land the greater the production and the better for the country, which had huge liabilities upon it. He was not one to endorse'all that the Government had done in the purchasing of land,' but some very good purchases had been made.

New Zealand boasted that its pensions were liberal, but men who had come back maimed and suffering were earning, in some cases, less than half of what they had before they went away. Was the £2 per week paid as a pension to a soldier's widow an adequate compensation for the loss of the breadwinner? It was true that the pension for children was fairly liberal—lo/6 per week but he said that where the family numbered only one or two the total pension to the household was inadequate. We had plenty of wealth

in this country, and those who had not gone to fight—who could not ge —should he prepared to pay to provide proper pensions for those who had gone, and for their dependents. If our soldiers fell by the Wayside we must treat them kindly, guide them back on to the path, remembering 'what they had been through. Patriotic Funds. The hon. member believed in the nationalisation of all patriotic funds, but not in placing them under the control of the Government The control should be by a board of representatives of the different societies, but the funds should be lumped, for then every man would get uniform treatment. Some districts were richer than others, but the War had been the affair of the Dominion as a whole. He hoped to see the men paid a gratuity of not less than 10/per week. He said, and the country said, "God bless our women for their war work and for what they have endured." The living soldiers would Set their war medals; there should e some medal also for the next-of-kin of fallen soldiers, so that something might be handed down from generation to generation to show that a man had fought and died for his country. Limitation of Land Holdings.

Dealing with land, Mr Nash said that there should be a limit to the size of holdings. They had large areas of land held in New Zealand, axd the Government should have power to go to those large owners and say, "Your allocation is so much; we want the balance of your land, and vie want to take it on the best possible terms." If they could not get it otherwise, compulsion should be applied. Every man had a right to own land if he could pay for it and farm it

An hon. member: What are yod gokig to do with the man who can't pay?

Mr Nash: I would give him a start. That's what 1 would do with him.

Proceeding, the hon. member said that all remaining Crown lands shou'fl be opened up and roaded by the Government For the Workers.

Turning to industrial matters, the mover said that every wage earner in this country should be in receiot of a living wage. Connected" with all labour employing institutions there should be sick fund provision. There must be a better understanding between Capital and Labour. One of the best, methods, in his opinion, was proflt-shariqg. Mr J. Payne (Grey Lynn): An absolute fallacy. Continuing, Mr Nash said that superannuation should be made comwlsory in all institutions in which labour was employed. The old age pension should be increased to 1\ per week, rather than the present war bonus cancelled. The civil service of the country needed reorganisation,' so that experts like Mr Evan Parry, (late Government Electrical Engineer) would not be lost to the country through underpayment. ' ► It was time that the problem of the North-South Island ferry service was grappled with, also that of the Dominion's colliers. Combines were a curse to any country, and it was high time that the Government made a move towards owning its own shinping. He did not favour the proposal to hold four months camps in connection with, the Territorial training scheme.

Money for Education. . It was a pleasure to say that the cause of education was becoming oopular. The Education Vote should be raised to at least £3,000,000 this vear. They wanted better buildings, betters grounds and better pay for teachers, with special inducements to young people to enter that profession. They could not wonder that under present conditions men and jromen were leaving the profession. The upbringing and the future of the child depended upon the teacher. Tlae country was not acting squarely by its children.. Every child should be given an opportunity of reaching the University, but the country should begin on the lower .story and look after the child in ,fhe primary school before it boasted of its education. No teacher should be asked to teach more than 40 children—and that was too many.

He believed in the abolition of education boards, which were only glorified school committees. (Hear, hear.) A better system would be urban school boards, under a National Board of Education. School buildings should be nut under the control of the local authorities. There were so many comnlaints in regard to schools to-day that some drastic action would have to be taken. They had no right to call upon parents to keep the cradles full when they asked them to pay high prices for all school books. Those should be provided free.

Concluding, Mr Nash said that he ! intended, while he remained a memi ber of the House to look after the interests of the school children of this country. (Applause.) Coal Situation. Mr A. Harris (Waitemata), in seconding the Address, expressed the opinion that the next two or three years would be even more critical than those just passed, for many of the problems of reconstruction lay ahead. He referred to the "go-slow" tactics of the coal miners, and expressed his regret that that should be so in the present conditions. While the miners in private mines were "going slow," the State miners were "going slower," which did not look as though they favoured the nationalisation of the coal mines.

Mr R. Scrapie: You're talking through your hat I In view of the coal situation, continued Mr Harris, there was the more urgent need for development of the Dominion's hydro-electric resources, if New Zealand were to become great, either agriculturally or industrially. The Government had a right to make up for the time that had been lost in harnessing the water-power of the country. Splendid work had been accomplished in repatriating the Dominion's soldiers. Thereafter Mr Harris dealt fully with the question of land for soldiers, reviewing the whole position in detail. He agreed that it was the duty of the State to put men on first-class improved land, but the estates should not be purchased at boom war prices, else the State and the soldiers Would suffer. The first and foremost duty of any Government must be to the soldiers who had fought and bled, and to their dependents. (Applause.)