DEPARTMENTAL VOTE

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22460, 22 September 1944, Page 4

DEPARTMENTAL VOTE

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INDUSTRY IN PROVINCES WELLINGTON, Friday. The departmental votes of £12,960 for the Organisation for National Development and £354,386 for the National Service Department were passed by the House of Representatives yesterday. An Opposition amendment to reduce the latter vote by £5 as an indication that the House did not approve of the Minister administering the.-department, the Hon. A. McLagan, being in the Legislative Council was lost on the voices. The House rose at 9.43 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. today. Mr R. G. Gerard (Opposition— Mid-Canterbury) said it was wrong in principle that the Minister administering the National Service Department was in a place where he was not answerable to the elected representatives of the people. The Minister had the opportunity to come before the electors at the recent general election, but he did not do so. The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, said the Minister was appointed for the same reason that the other Opposition members had accepted office in the War Administration. The only difference was that the Minister had adhered to his decision, while the Opposition members resigned. Mr Fraser said that he would make the arrangement, if members were agreeable, for the Minister to come into the House and answer questions. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr S. G. Holland: We will agree to him coming here in a popular way. Post-war Industry Concerning the newly created Organisation for National Development, Mr W. J. Broadfoot (Opposition— Waitomo) said that planning should be on the lines of the Swedish system, where industrial planning was worked so that industry looked after itself and Government schemes came into operation only if a lag in employment showed itself. National development should fall under three headings, land settlement, housing and new industries. .

Mr Fraser said that the Industrial Development Committee embodying representatives of industry and workers’ organisations, was already busy and other committees dealing with various phases of development had been set up or were in process of being established. The organisation would not be an over-riding one. but its function was to collate information and statistics, formulate plans and make recommendations. There would be a committee of primary production and the Farmers’ Federation would be represented on it. There would also be regional committees. The question of the distribution of industries through the rural areas, particularly light industries, was a Vital one which the organisation would have constantly before it, said the Prime Minister. To that end the Government town planning officer had been transferred to it from the Internal Affairs Department. It was important that industry should be established in the provincial districts to the greatest extent possible so that the tendency toward overcrowded cities could be arrested.