BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1909, 18 November 1913, Page 10

BOARD OF AGRICULTURE.

UNEXPECTED OPPOSITION. VIGOROUS REPLY BY SIR W. C. •"BUCHANAN. -. Tho Board" of Agriculture Bill (tKo , Hon. W. F. Massey), ,of. which the short title had already' been passed, tvas further considered in Committee. , Sir Joseph 1 . Ward,- .moved' an amendment to : Clausp.2 of tlio Bill to permit of ono mombor',each being ' ap- , pointed to tho board oh the recommendation at the Fruitgrowers'. Association, -tlvei'' Bcekeepors' Association, the Poultry-keepers' Association, aiiid the FJaxmillers' Association. Ho , thought that tho Government proposal, . by which members, woro to bo appointed'oiily oii tho recommendation of .the A. and P.' Societies-would lead to one section only of tho community being represented/; and tho Agricultural Department' was not concerned only, with ono section of the farming industry. ". /■' • Tho Hon. W.' F. Massey . said he could not accept the amendment, tho effect of which would be to increase tho, number' of members of the Board of Agriculture to make it too expensive, * and too unwieldy and unworkable. Ho did not know 1 whether this was the intention of the "mover. Ho sincerely hoped it was not. But did not the Leader of tho Opposition kiiow that '{: fruitgrowors, and beekeepers, and flaxmillers were represented on the A. and P. Associations? His own opinion was • that these industries would bo well represented on the Board of Agriculture by the selection of the Agricultural and

Pastoral Associations. ' Mr. G. Forbes and Mr. L. M. Isitt both suggested that tho object of' tho Government was to help tho "big men" in tho established sections of farming, and to neglect tho small, man in, tho email industries of agriculture. ' Future of the Small Industries. Sir Walter Buchanan said the object'of tho Opposition was obvious— to set class against class. But who had first started the .dairy industry in Now Zealand:' the largest sheop and cattle-owing concern in New Zealand, tho New Zealand and Australian Land Company? They had spent their money ill importing the best implements and tho best plant, and had oven brought an expert from Canada. It so happened that ho, a reputed large landowner and shepowner, was the first chairman of a dairy company in. the North Island. It so happened that he was & director, of a fruit-growing company situated in Greytown, which:-was setting about an enterprise of growing 100 acres of apples; Was it to be said of the pastoral and agricultural societies of New Zealand that wero not awaro as to the directign m which <"the land of this country could be best employed for tho good of the Dominion as a whole? Surely the hon. member for Christchurch North was not going to contend that?.- He happened to bo a life member of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Society; ho.had belonged to that society for 45 yeai'3. Ho happened also to be a member of two other societies in Wairarapa. Ho would be very much ashamed with the knowledge lie -had had in all these years if he had not realised the importanfce of fruitgrowing, poultry-raising, and the small industries connected with the land. The future of A>,v Zealand, he recognised, must 'be largely governed by: the cultivation of the small industries. • Was it .to be said that tho member for Christchurch' North was a better judge than the ordinary members; of the pastoral and agricultural societies, .which were the most important industries of New Zealand? He ventured to say there could be no question at all that the men who were engaged in the country industries, ; including the industries mentioned, wero much better judges as to who would be tho best members of tho Agricultural Board. He was sure the small industries would be iji the best hands if left to the members clected by the A. and' P. societies.

Mr.; G. Forbes persisted that the Government intended to give representation to only olio class. Surprise at the Opposition. Tho Hon. W. I'. Masscy said tho lion. member for Hurunui (Mr. Forbes) know it was not correct to say that it was intended to give representation to ono class alone.' Politics, lio thought, must have fallen to a very low ebb in tho Parliament of Njcw Zealand when a Bill such as that before tho Houso could not bo discussed without tho party issuo being raised. In the election of members of the board eight would be chosen by tho A. and P. Societies ' and four hv the Minister of Agriculture, and it would' bo tho business of the Miu-' ister to make tho board as representative of all the industries on the land as possible. Tho men selected by tho A. and P. Sociotios would be men with a -thorough knowledge of the agricultural and pastoral industries of this country. He was certain that tho men selected would be the men that members of the A. and P. Societies could trust to represent them.; And it would he his endeavour as Minis-cr of Agriculture to make the hoard as representative as 'he could in his choice of tho four Government nominees. Ho could not understand the opposition to tho Bill. He thought the Bill would commcnd itself to every agriculturist in the House. He was surprised at tho opposition ; ho could only put up with at. But the Government wore going to see the Bill through. He ielieved that the Board of Agriculture, though now; only an experiment, would become a very useful institution.

Their "Burning Desire." Mr. D. Buick said lie was surprised at the discussion 1 that had arison. He did not for a moment think that tho object of tho amendment was destruction. v Rather, the amendment was proposed owing to the burning desire of the Opposition to have a finger m the pie. The statoment that A. and i. bo-

cieties only represented 0110 class simply showed ttyvt tlie persons who mado it did not know what they were talking about. Why should not tho strawberry growers and the potato growers bo specially represented, if t'lie classes mentioned in tho amendment were to lie specially represented? Theso classcs could be best, represented through their A. and P. Associations, and if.they.did not caro to join the A. and P. Associations in their district they were r.ot worth consideration. '

Mr. G. Witty said that if tho number of members representing tho A. and P.' societies was reduced to two from each island tlio associations mentioned by Sir Joseph Ward could be given representation without increasing tho strength of the board. /Under the Bill as it £tood, ho contended, tho big A. and P.. societios would monopolise representation on tho board,, and this would mean that the members of the board would be sheop-farmei's rather tflan small farmers. Mr. L. spoko in a similar strain. Ho declared that tho Promior's objection to' Sir Joseph Ward's amendment was that it came from tho wrong sido of. tho' House. ! The Small Farmer. Mr: J. A. Young said that the amendment would make the Bill unworkable and would increase the cost of the board's operations. In his district the members of the A. and I'. Association wore mostly small farmers. Ml - . •T. E. Y. Seddoii said that ho was against the Bill because ho saw no way, under its provisions, in which the West Coast of tho South Island could secure representation on the Board of Agriculture. _ . Mr. G. V. Pearce said that in Taranaki tlio dairy farmers would absolutely control the election of members of the Board of Agriculture.. Emphasising the desirability of setting up tho board, Mr. Pearce pointed out that although tho present Minister of Agriculture was a good farmer, tho position liad been filled in the past, 1 once by. a draper, and on another occasion by a lawyer. Mr. H. G. Ell. said that tho money that the board would cost could bo •moro profitably spent in adding to tho number of itinerant scientific instructors." . , , | ' Mr. Massoy In Protest. \

Tile Primo Minister; speaking short-' ly after 10 p.m., said that he was given to understand i that the lengthy discussion, }upon this Bill had an intimate connection with tho.-.Nativo Land Bill: which was on the Order Paper. An understanding had now been entered into'by Sir J as. Carroll and the Native Minister that the' latter Bill should not be gone, on with that night. He was : going-.'to do the business of tho country,' arid- the -House would not rise until ho cousidered that a fair amount of business had been done. ' Sir J. Ward said that he regarded the amendment as a very important one. He complained that the Primo Minister had not extended the usual, courtesy of telling the .House what business would bo gone on with.* If they were to sit there till Christmas—(tho Prime Minister: Hear 1 Hear!)-—he was prepared to do so. The Prime Minister: We are prepared to sit here till June. • Sir J. "Ward went on to defend 1 jus amendment in detail, and denied that, in moving-it, ho had been actuated by any ulterior motive. The Prime Minister: Why don't you take a division, and abide by the will of the majority ? Sir J. AVard: Wo can speak on it, can't we? . . Tho Primo Minister: Oh, certainly, you can obstruct if you wish, and waste the time of tho House and of iho country. -- Sir J. Ward said that he was only doing what tho Prime Minister had done-many times in-his history.. The Prime Minister: 1 have never obstructed a good Bill. Sir J. Ward:-1 question whether it is a good Bill. The Primo'Minister: The country will judge! , Sir Joseph Ward said tliat the country would judge themi all at the proper time. He was not going to be deterred by any fear of tho country. Ho went on to ask how the fruit farmers would secure representation,if the Bill became law. : " < Mr. .Coaxes: They are in the A. and P. Associations. Sir Joseph Ward: Did you ever hear of one of them being elected outside his own partioular occupation? . .. ' , The Prime Minister: Yes; one of them was president of the Auckland A. and P. Society. • ' Messrs. Smith and W. D. S. Mac Donald supported the amendment. Mr. W. A. Veit-ch urged that there should be at least one political economist on the board.

A Blockade. Long before cloven o'clock the dobato had degenerated into an o.bvious blockade. Speeches were rarely in point and the Chairman called speakers to order for irrelevance very frequently. It was quite apparent that, for some object not quite apparent, the Opposition wero determined to delay tho progress of the Bill. J Progress at Last. The Houso went to a division on the amendment at 0.8 a.m. The amendment was defeated by 26 votes to 19. Mr. G. Witty moved the addition to olause 2 of the following sub-clause: "No member of the General Assembly shall be qualified for appointment to the board and any member of the board who becomes a member of the General Assembly shall "thereupon cease to be a member of the board." ' Mr. Massey : Is this put up for the purposo of discussion?

Mr. Witty: No. Mr. Masscy: If it is not I will accept it. The amendment was agreed to on the voices. ' Mr. Witty and Dr. Newman both urged- the Prime Minister to include within the scope of-tho duties of tho Board of Agriculture tho control of all animal pests, besides tho rabbit pest. They specially urged tlio need for a campaign against stoats and weasels which w'cre destroying the birds to such an extent that insect pests were increasing. ■.' . _ Tho Hon. W. F. Massey said ho was anxious not to overload the Bill at first, but ho promised to consider tho matter during tho recess. Eventually the Minister accepted from Mr. W. H. D. 801 l a general amendment which provided that the functions of the hoard should not bo too straitly limited by the definition in tho Bill. This amendment was agreed to. ' ' Mr. H. G. Ell called for a division on tho clause giving tho Public Service Commissioners power to appoint a secretary to tho board. His opinion was that the appointment should he made by tho Minister. The clause was retained, by 26 votes to 18. In reply to a question, the Primo Minister said that it) was not proposed that' the meetings of tho hoard should all bo held in Wellington. They would bo held at various ccntres or districts in rotation. Tho Bill was finally disposed of by 0.40 a.m., and reported with amendments.

FOOTWEAR REGULATION. Tho Footwear Regulation Bill (the Hon. F, M. B. Fisher) was committed. An amendment was introduced by fhe Minister to tho eirect that the Hill should como into.forco on July 1, 1914, instead of, as the Bill proposed, on a date to be lixed by proclamation. A number of technical amendments having been inserted, the Bill was reported. Progress was then reported, and tho .Speaker resumed the ohair at 0.47 a.m.

THIRD READINCS. A PROTEST AGAINST OBSTRUCTION. The Bills which had been dealt with in Conimittco camo up at once for third reading'. On tlio Board of Agriculture Bill, tho Lender of the Opposition (Sir Joseph Ward), Mr. (J. Forbes (Hurunui), Mr. G. Witty (Riccarton), and Mr. EL. Atnioro (Nelson) put on record their arguments advanced in Committeo in favour of the amended constitution of the board for which they had pressed in Committee. Mr. J. H. BRADNEY (Auckland West) said ,ho felt ho would .not be doing his duty if ho did not raiso a protest against tljo unwarrantable waste of tinio that had taken place in tho House. Surely there had been no great principle in the Bill to take up the timo of tho House from 7.30 p.m. until after 1 a.m.? When tlio Prime Minister refused to accept the amendment moved by the Leader of the Opposition, surely it would have been enough for members of the Opposition to protest and let it go to a division. Mr. Witty: Wo aro not dumb. Mr. Bracwey: No, you are not ; you arev worse. I havo never listened to such piffle in my life as I have heard to-night. -It was idle, he continued, to say that fruitgrowers and other small men would-not be represented on tho board. To waste tho time of tho House after Parliament had sat for 130 days was not creditable to the House, and he felt sure tho country would resent it.

The Hon. A. T. NO ATA (Eastern Maori) declared that up to 9.30 p.m. Government members took up as much time as Oppositionists on tho Bill. After 10- p.m., lie added, thero might have been a little delay owing'to differences of opinion between the Primo Minister and tho Leader of tho Opposition. Obstruction Denounced. The Prime Minister, in replying, said that thero wore no moro democratic institutions in the country than tho A. and P. Associations. Ho had been very to observe the attempts made that evening to raiso class distinctions in connection with tlio establishment of the Board of Agriculture. He wanted to protest against the wasto of time* -that took place upon the Committee stage of this Bill. Although he know the game of politics tolerably well, ho was uii'iblo to'account for tho wasto of timo between 7.30 and 12.30 that night. It really seomid that tho longer the session lasted the nloro members liked to hear the sound of their own voices. For some roasoh or other, a great deal of obstruction took placo' which very few people understood anything about. Mr. Witty: Why don't you take us into your confidenco more? ' Tho Prime Minister: On what? Mr. Witty: Oifa number of things. The Prime Minister: Give mo an assuranco that obstruction will cease, and I will tell you to-morrow what business I intend to put through*

Mr. Witty: Tell us first. (Government laughter.) Tho Prime Minister, dealing with a complaint, that some districts would not bo represented on, tho Board of Agriculture, said that it was not intended to be - a parochial institution. The aim would bo to get members of the highest possiblo attainments. The Bill was read a third timo on the voices at 2.15 a.m. The Footwear Regulation Bill was read a third timo without discussion. Tho House rose at 2.15 a.m. '