THE FINANCIAL DEBATE

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1518, 14 August 1912, Page 8

THE FINANCIAL DEBATE

YESTERDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. . THE STATE COAL MINES. RUH-'-AT.. A MR. LAUREMSON REPLIES TO MR. FISHER. MR; MALCOLM ON THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

The' ti'ofking'week began placidly in the Housa. :.of . Representatives, yesterday afternoon; :.. Foi'ty minutes frero spent in transacting formal business, and during tho rest of the afternoon the financial debate i was controlled before a. thinly-popu-lated House,-which gave no signs of being .wildly interested. • . Mr.. Laureiison gavo notice of the Universal Saturday Half-holiday- Bill, And the Land and Incomo Tax Amendment Bill, which increases tlio graduated tax by 2a.per cent..at a'valuation of instead of £10,000, was introduced by Governor's message, nnd read a first time. The. subject of Panama ;Canal dues was introduced; /by Mr. ,G. , ,W. Russell, who -suggested that - the Commonwealth and New Zealand should jointly ask the Imperial Government to- mako represehtations to ; America with a view to.securing some modification in the announced scale of dues. The Prime Minister' replied, tlfiit the Government was considering the matter, diid—tliat he hoped to mate a statement to tlio House ou the subject before tb« session ended. A hricf-discussion arose when the Prim©

Minister moved, to add 1 the ; names of

Messrs. Coates; : Macdonald, ' . and himself to the • Lands.. Committee, and to strike/ out the name. of Mr.. Lang, ■, who \ lias been appoiutcd'Chairman of Committees. Messrs. Ell, Buddo, and'.other members of .'.tho Opposition complained'that there were ;no representatives of town interests on tlio ■comriiittee.'tlnd Mf. Veitch objected that Labour had boon ignored, fl-nd moved to add tho name of Mr.' Robertson.--' Tlio-Primo ilinister met.!.his critics%■ pointing out that the eommitteo had'been set up by tho previous Administration,■ that most of its members represented towns, and that lie was' himself'a representative (if the workers. He consented,"-however, to add the'names of Messrs'.- Robertson and-.Statham .to the committed.'" irk Veitch .'withdrew his amendment, and the amended motion was passed. The financial debato was resumed at 3.10 p.m. Mr. Russell claimed that "the Minister for. Alarino had misrepresented him in regard to tho wages paid iu tho Govei-nment-Trinting : Offico during his 1 Adiiiiiiistratiori, and quoted' from tlio Estimates as showing that ho had granted substantial . increases of salaries. Mr. Fisher laid omthe table the schedulo froin which he liad quoted. -'

It wn-s tho turn of the Opposition to put up a speaker in tho debate, but they were not very ready, in--doing, so.' Tho Speaker had called upon the.Prime Minis-' ter to reply boforo Mr. Macdonald rose to continue the debate. Tho member for the Bay of Plenty spoke, for an hour on land settlement, .Public Wprks policy," and'similar topics,; and was followed by Mr.-E. Nfewmah,' member for Rangitikei.

Mr. Newman spoko at length in .support of the: Government land policy jproposals and other subjects raised in the Budget. The"debate had dragged-somewhat during the aiternppn, but. interest feyived' H'hen,MK Thomson entered -upon, a searching criticism- of-tho State Goal- Department. "Ho'miiintaine'd that "by ignoring royalties and. wharfage,' tho Department had shown a"profit—albeit a (Jiminishiqg profit—during,, tie past, five years, when;,in fact; >it had been conducted ot ! an increasing -loss'/ .Resuming -after tho. ; dinner adjournmeiit—before full galleries • —.Mr v Thomson spoko interestingly, on the subject,..of.'bituminous coat deposits! no emphasised the necessity of conserving available supplies in this country, and quoted, statistics with intent to show that j supplies—at flip jireserit. rat'o of increase in consumption—would lie exhausted in fifty years. .i . Mr. Thoinson-Was followed by tho member for .L.vttelton, ■ who spoke (with moro than his usiial reserve, and touched upon ' a great variety .of subjects in the hour at his. disposal; "'He essayed to reply to some portions of tlio spcecli made by tlio Hon. ir._M. ii. Pisher, oil Friday last, and had some, passages,with, that Minister. . '.rhe'.la'st' Speaker of the day was Mr. A.' S, •Malcolm, who touched upon the tines-) tion of public siTvico re'fgriii," and- declared (hat by Hs proposals the' Government had in.effect passed a self-denying ordinance. ' . At 10.15 p.m.'Mr.-H. Gl Ell, at tho suggestion of . the Primo. Minister, moved the adjournment of . the debate, and the House.rose.'. To-day answers "to questions ;will -be, discufsfd. in the '-aftefnoohVarid'the Finnn- : pial Deba'to"wilt"iKTe»umcd at 7.30-p.m.—

n by the Government. He hoped to mak v a statement to tho House on tho subjec v before the session ended. ° LABOUR BILLS.COMMITTEE. t- Tho PRIME MINISTER moved tlia g the name of Mr. Glover lie added to th Labour Bills Committee. The motion was agreed to. il t THE LANDS COMMITEE, s 1 — 0 LABOUR REPRESENTATION. ~~ - Tho PRIME MINISTER moved tha the names of Mr. Coates and Mr. Mac s donald and the mover-bo added to thi Lands Committee, and that the name o: ' Mr. Long, who has become Chairman o Committees and Deputy-Speaker, he strucl 2 out. Mr. n. G. ELL (Christchurch South), ask , ed whether tho committee contained anj s town representative. * . 'The Prime Minister said that he was p. not in a position to say. - _ Mr. EII suggested that in view of tin . importance of the point raised the motior , should be postponed;. The Prime Minister said (lint the. committee had been set up not by his Gov- > ernuient, but bv the lato Government. : -Mr. Ell said that there were no' workers' , representatives on the committee. ! Mr. Mtissey: I aril a -workers' - representative. and I am likely to be a p'romin--1 ent member-, of the committee. ■ Mr. Ell:.You . are too well-to-do a faiv rne'r'to be a representative, of tho workers. Mr; D. BTJDDO (ICaiapci) said that it wa.s true' tluit - the Prime' .'Minister 'was not responsible for "setting'up the Lands Committee. But the .Opposition was not responsible for political developments. (Laughter.) The committee would have been all right it. the political development to which ho had referred had not occurred. The Opposition would not have, one-third of the representation on the committee. Tlio Prime Minister stated that there were twelve members on the committee— six Goveirnmoiit. representatives, five Opposition members, and cue Independent. - Opposition members: AVho is'the Independent? ,' The Prime Minister:.Mr. T. W. Rhodes. . Mr. J. A. HANAN (lnvereargill) also complained that there were no town represjiitativos on the committee. Government members: Why didn't you think of that when you set it up. Mr. llarian: I didn't set. this eommitteo "P.!. ■Government members: Yoiir Govern- 1 ment did. . Mr. Human said that it did not matter twopence. There should bo some representation of the Radical element in tho House an tho committee. Tho Priuio Minister: Haven't you got it?, Mr. Hanau: "It's not much." Ho went on to arguo that;.the towns were.',being flouted,.aiid the Minister was setting up the feeling of town against country. Mr. C. K. Wilson: You're doins; that. Mr.' W. A. VEITG'II (Wangamy) complained that there" wits no Labour representative on the committee, because , tho land question was one of the mcst important questions to , all' sections of tho community. He moved, as an amendment, that -Mr..Robertson be added to the committee instend of. Mr. Coates. Mr. G. 'FORBES jHitrunUi) seconded the motion. Mr. L.: M. ' ISlTT(Christchurch North) thought, the change proposed got over the difficulty about Labour representation, but it did'.not provide for the in-clusion-'of a town member. He would suggest that Mr. A r eiteh bo added instead ■ of Mr.-Robertson.- ' Mr. D. Buiek (Palmerston) said the ibbato should teach tho Prime Minister tbat it was not safo to bring before the Housa anything that had been;considercd bjv the; Into Government. Apparently tho late Government did not know.-what it .wanted. If a change were to bo made, hi would prefer to havo Mr. Veitoh, a l-epresentative of one of tho towns. The Hon. W. E. MASSKY said that he was in no Way' responsible for tho personnel of the eommitteo which had been set up by the late Government. He had been surprised at some of tho objoftions raised, ono being that it was not sufficiently representative of the towns. Mr.. t liuddo represented Rangiora and Kaiapoi; ' Mr. Forbes, Kaikoura; Mr. Smith, Taihapo and Ohaktinu; Mr. Witty, part of Christchurch; Mr. Macdonald, a number of tonus; Mr. Anderson, Gore; Mr. Guthrie, Teikling: Mr. Nowumn, Marton; ifr. Nosworthv, Ashburtonj Mr. | Rhodes, Thames; and Sir. Coates, Darga- I l.ville. As for the Jlihister for Lands, ho j represented the iriiportant boroughs of | Pukekohe and Olahuhu. (Laughter.) 'Mr. A. M. Myers: There is not one city amongst them. s The Prime Minister:' No. I was going to meet tho objection. _ I am going to meet all possiblo objections, and I propose to add the names of Mr. Robertson as representing Labour, and Mr. Statham representing Duuediri city. He suggested that Mr. Yeitcli should withdraw his amendment. Mr. Veitch withdrew his amendment, and The Primo Minister moved that tho members ho had named should be added to the committee. ;