DEFENCE BILL DEFEATED

Taranaki Daily News, 23 August 1930, Page 8

DEFENCE BILL DEFEATED

VOTE IN THE UPPER HOUSE AMENDMENT BY SIR J. ALLEN. SEVENTEEN VOTES TO NINE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. 7 The debate was continued in the Legislative Council to-day on the Defence (Temporary) Amendment Bill. Th© Hon. G. M. Thomson eaid he- felt th© economy would be a retrograde etep so far as defence was concerned, and h© supported Sir James Allen’s amendment that the Bill should be read in eix months’ time. He wanted to see th© young people brought up to a senee of their responsibilities. The Hon. W. Snodgrass supported th© amendment. His Imperial sentiments, he -said, were sufficiently strong, to lead him to support j.he present system rather than effect economies.

The Hon. G. Witty supported th© Bill. A standing army was of no use in New Zealand, he said. The cause of the last war was that every male German was a trained soldier. The Hon. L. M; Isitt supported th© Bill and said he was committed to oppose the territorial system so long as there was no conscience clause.

The Hon. W. Earnshaw declared th© Bill was. of a pacifist character. He had. great sympathy with the Government, which was faced with the necessity for finding large sums -of money, but th© question they had to ask themselves was whether tiie country should be left defenceless. The proposal of the Government was a wretched one. The Government was being carried along at th© chariot wheel of the Labour Party.

The Hon. D. Buddo supported the Bill as a temporary measure. He said h© would have voted against a permanent measure.

The Hon. A. S. Malcolm gave his support to the Bill. There was a tremendous feeling against compulsory military service in Britain, he said. There was not the same danger of war today as there was in. 1914.

The Hon. M. Fagan said the Bill represented only one of many necessary economies that the Government had had. to undertake. It had certainly not been due to the domination of the Labour Party. The Hon. J. B. Gow caid the Bill went farther than the mere suspension for one year of compulsory military training;* it enunciated the principle of voluntary training, and he considered it a preposterous proposal. Sir W. Hall Jones reminded tha Council that it was < not an elective chamber; it should hesitate to reverse the vote of the House of Representatives, which was elected by the people. Replying to the debate, the Leader of the Council, the Hon. R. Masters, said he was disappointed that-the members had not given close attention to the provisions of the Bill. Nothing could be clearer than that the permanent abandonment of compulsory training was not embodied in it. If it had not been for the need for economy the Bill would never have appeared before the Council.

A division was. taken and the Bill was defeated, the amendment’being carried by 17 votes to 9. The Council adjourned at 10.36 till 2.30 on Wednesday.