Clashes in the House of Representatives on Communist Literature

Wanganui Chronicle, 16 July 1947, Page 6

Clashes in the House of Representatives on Communist Literature

(Press Association) PARLIAMENT BLDGS., July 15 A brisk passage at arms following an allegation by Mr. G. H. Maekley (Opp.. Wairarapa) that the Minister of Finance (Mr. Nash) had onee imported into New Zealand Communist literature, described at the time as encouraging violence and lawlessness, distinguished the Address-in-Reply Debate in the House of Representatives this afternoon.

At one stage during an animated discussion there was a crossfire of interjections and many points of order were raised. Mr. Speaker (Hon. R. McKeen, Island Bay) told the House that if debates were to be conducted with dignity they must observe the Standing Orders and must accept his rulings promptly. Mr. Mackley resuming the debate, said it had reached the final stages without any worthwhile revelation of Government policy. The Government, as always, was waiting for something to turn up to help it out of the very great difficulties it was in at present. The National Party had nothing in common with the Communists, but the Prime Minister and his colleagues had frequently played ball with them. Forces which the Prime Minister and his colleagues had set in motion were to-day overtaking them, threatening sever e consequences in the industrial sphere. There was need for that goodwill which existed on both sides to predominate in industrial relationships. Communism and industrial peace were as remote as the poles, for Communism had its very foundation in disruption and disturbance. COMMUNIST PAMPHLET Mr. Mackley referred to various statements attributed to Ministers in the past, and said the present Minister of Finance, when he returned from overseas in 1921, brought with him a pamphlet entitled "The Communist Programme of World Revolution,” which, according to a report of the day, was described as encouraging violence and lawlessness. The Minister also had brought a special message to the industrial workers of the world from the Communist Internationale at Moscow. Subsequently, when th e Minister was prosecuted, the magistrate described the literature as being "as dangerous to the body politic as typhoid germs placed in a city reservoir.” Mr. Nash, rising to a point of order and explaining the position regarding the pamphlets and the special message, said this story had been circulating around New Zealand and in his own electorate for ten years, but this was the first time it had been raised in the House in a manner which would give him the opportunity of stating his position. Mr. Nash said he had brought no special message from the Communist Internationale. He went to England in 1920 to obtain book agencies, and on his return to New Zealand met a person at Melbourne who asked him to sell some pamphlets, and he (Mr. Nash) consented Samples of the pamphlets were placed in a case in which there were other books which he had brought from England. On arrival in New Zealand he was met by the police and every book and pamphlet was examined, including pamphlets which he had not previously seen. These pamphlets included a Communist manifesto, which was in the General Assembly Library and every other public library. A magistrate fined him for importing these pamphlets, w’hich he had not seen. Mr. \V. A. Bodkin (Opp., Centra! Otago): Did you appeal to a higher court? Mr. Nash: 1 urged my solicitor to do so. but he said it was not worthwhile, and at the time it was not. Mr. Nash said that a leaflet containing statements made by the member for Wairarapa (Mr. Mackley) also contained another statement which was a lie and should be exposed. This was to the effect that he had been twice bankrupt.

position to improve still further. Mr. Mackley, rising to a point of order at the conclusion of Mr. Fraser’s speech, said someone had been drawing on their Imagination in giving Mr. Fraser to understand that he (Mr. Mackley) had been unduly plastic in his attitude after Labour took office. His first action as General Manager at that time was to go to the then Prime Minister and the then Minister of Railways and personally offer them his resignation. Was that the action of a man who was unduly compliant? However, the resignation was not accepted, and he believed he had served the Labour Government well as it was his desire to serve his country. Mr. R. M. Algi e (Opp., Remuera.) said that if the Government were prepared to make a bargain not to go back to the depression talk, he would agree not to talk of gaol days, and th e Opposition I would meet the Government on that basis.

He said that two outstanding features of’the Address-in-Rep!y Debate were th e indictment of the Government by the Leader of the Opposition on its failure to deal effectively with industrial wreckers, which had not been denied by Government speakers, and the ghastly blunder of the Minister of Labour. RAILWAYS CRITICISED

Mr. Algie criticised the operations of the railways, and said the right thing to do with them was to allow them to function as a business. Coal was the trouble, because if there were more coal more services could be run and the railways would earn more money. There were instances where the railway road services were running in competition with the railways themselves. He urged that more coalburning locomotives should be converted to oil-burning engines. The Minister of Works had entered the House "as it were, voice first,” but had no solution to offer so far as railways difficulties were concerned. Mr. D. W. Coleman (Govt., Glsborne)s discussed the Government s achievement in providing houses, and I said that in 12 years of Labour’s administration 74,00 C permits to build houses were issued, compared with only 54,000 in the previous 12 years. Mrs. G. H. Ross (Opp., Hamilton) congratulated Miss Howard on her [Cabinet appointment and said all women approved it. She hoped the new Minister, together with Dr. Doris Gordon, who is in charge of maternity welfare work, would rapidly achieve improvement in the situation confronting expectant mothers who found it difficult to obtain hospital accommodation and difficult to obtain baby clothing and footwear. She said that as recently as yesterday it had been reported that two more maternity homes would close.

Numerous points of order were raised in regard to the Minister referring to a matter which had not been introduced in the debate, and when Mr. Speaker had disposed of them the debate proceeded. The Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) said that shortly after the Labour Government was elected Mr. Mackley, as General Manager of Railways, had expressed his pleasure at being able to work for a Labour administration. Discussing Mr. Mackley's attitude at that time, the Prime Minister said: "The only exhibition of sycophancy we ever saw in the Public Service came from the honourable member for Wairarapa. It was not merely subservience. I would say it was sycophancy —disgusting sycophancy. This brought a protest from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition (Mr. K. J. Holyoake, Pahiatua), Who said that not even the Prime Minister could be allowed to make remarks of that nature about another member, even in th e latter’s private capacity before election to the House. Mr. McKeen agreed that the term was unparliamentary, and at his request Mr. Fraser withdrew it, saying that Mr. Mackley had been "remarkably compliant.” Mr. Fraser said the Opposition ha t offered no incisive criticism of the Government s policy. The House apapparently unanimously approved the Government’s rehabilitation plan, and the manner in which it was being operated, the only criticism having been of delays in land settlement. Mr. Fraser said he rejected Mr. Holland's statement that abolition of the country quota helped beep Labour tn office. On the contrary, he thought the Government's position in this Parliament would have been stronger had the law not been altered, but an Important principle was involved, and the Government had been determined to make the electoral law more democratic, irrespective of political advantage or disad-

Mrs. Ross said that the footwear being produced was inferior, and a prominent doctor had said we were storing up trouble for young people in the future. She advocated equal pay for equal work, equal opportunities for promotion and the right of appeal for women schoolteachers, and asked why were there no women inspectors in schools? Mr. T. H. McCombs (Govt., Lyttelton) : There are. Mrs. Ross: Very few; two or three in the Dominion.

Mrs. Ross asked why were there no women headmistresses in primary schools, and hoped the Government would seriously consider all the matters she had raised. She congratulated the Government on the establishment of the National Svmphony Orchestra, and hoped be the forerunner of a Conservatorium of Music in New Zealand.

The House rose at 5.27 n.m. until 7.30 p.m

vantage. Mr. Fraser said it had been suggested from Opposition benches that Maori members ought not to have voted on a Bill affecting the electoral law for European seats, but as Maori members many years ago voted for the country quota, surely their successors were entitled to Vote for its abolition. MAORI LANDS There were many reasons, such as joint ownership, why th e payment of rates on Maori lands was a difficult problem, but the fact was that in recent years, under the Labour Government, the Maori people had been meeting their rating obligations with much greater sense of responsibility : -i ever before, and as the individualisation of land ownership gradually proceeded, it would be possible for the