NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2197, 9 July 1914, Page 4

NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION.

A DIVISION TAKEN.

OPPOSITION AMENDMENT DEFEATED.

, Tho debate on the No-Confidence Motion wits continued by Mr. U..M. .THOMSON (Duuedin North) said that the Department of Agriculture had got out of hand on account of tho immense.' field it covered. Recently a .Board of Agriculture had

• been set up to adviso tho Minister to control it. Whilo tho Opposition had been raging up and down the country in tho recess he also had travelled through the country, hut ho had tried only to advir* farmers ns to tho necessity for providing for a supply of phosphates for uso. on their, land. A General Manager of Railways had beci. appointed, and ho hoped that'tho new - Education Hill would provido for tho appointment of a Director of Education " '.to bo assisted by a Hoard of Advice. Now from tho point of viow of its monetary importance, the Hoard of Agriculture deserved even more consideration. 'Ho -would liko to sco a director of ngriculturb set up. Ho went on ■to criticise tho report of tho Cost of Living Commission of two yoars ago, and his criticism was for tho most part 'adverse. Ho strongly advocated tho putting of'tho .whole Forestry Departs ment under a qualified expert. Blame the Government. Mr.' J. C. THOMSON (Wallace) condemned tho Government generally for being friends of tho nioncyed classes, and.for boing responsible for the in. creased cost of living. Why, oven tho price of tobacco had gono up sineo tho Government took office, and a man had ! to pay nincpeneo for a'hair cut. Everywhere was ovidenco that the .Government wero increasing expenditure, instead of reducing it. Tho country was being over-run hy boards and experts. Ono could not get on to n railway train now without boijig met by an expert of Bomo kind. Expenditure was being piled, Up, and there wtro proposals to , increase it Still more. Ho would liko _ to know, where, the reform came in. Ho ■-•'• -maintained, that..tho Government in maintaining tho nine million acres of National Endowment land was acting in , . a manner inconsistent with its own ' freehold policy. Ho did not think tho "•■ Government would propose this'year to .further ihcrcaso' tho graduated land tax, Mr. Thomson ridiculed a statement reported to havo been made at Duucdin'by tho Hon. Jas. Allen that it ;. Was inadvisable to forco moro land into .'.' the' 'market' at' tho present juncture p.s '-.. the ; roading of tho Dominion was fivo ri ;;., years' behind settlement. Tho Oppositioiiroxpectcd tho Government to carry .: '.out. its "roading. and settlement coii- . ':..:temporaneonsly. . ■ -Mr. Okey:'That'will bo done. '' ' Mr. Thomson said that tho system of land taxation in voguo was -wrong and '"' ~'should"havo hbeii amended before an .'..army of valuers was let loose'upon tho country to clevnte tho values of rural land to an unreasonable* extent. In Hie cities, Mr. Thomson contended, values had been unduly reduced. . If the Government went to the country on its "'.oral navy" proposals, ho declared , •the'public'would forget everything else ''and sweep them from those benches." Mr. J. A. Hanan's Views. . : ":Mi-J. : A; HAN AN (liivercargiH)attacked the Government for tho repeal ;; "flf"tho:Sccmul liallot without providing a substitute. Ho accused the Government of starving tho Advances Dcpart- .... -jncjita, compelling people, in need of 77)rtOJrrey to'.'hnrroty at high' 'rates from ■ ".priy.'ito firms..and individuals. The iofiiiister'a object all along had been to ~,',.5a.v0 up uiuucy to make-.a. vain boast ~ " U>"'the electors"ifi election year that the Treasury was well supplied. lie also accused the Government of withholding public, works money from expenditure) in order |oUi)nki> a show in" election year. Generally ho accused the r Government of inconsistency, alleging that the Government had had in tho end to come to the penitent-form of tho Liberal Party and admit that all the progressive legislation of tho Liberal Party was good. A.Southern Member. .', Mr. G. J.,ANDERSON (Mataura) said that it was clear to him that tho defence vote must continuously increase, and all scnsiblo men in the House knew this. He was fairly sure, however, that the money already expended on defence had been wisely spent, for not even the Opposition ever said of Mr. Allen that he was a plunger in finance, lie commended highly the system of rontrol of the Civil Sen ice by tho Commissioners. They had heard a lot about llawke's Hay lands from tho Opposition, but. it was u fact that tho present Administration had done wondeis in bringing about tho cutting up that had taken pla/.'o. Tho Liberal Party had '_'l years to i'orco the land into tho market, but failed to do so. lie wanted to refer to tho Post and Telegraph balance-sheet. It showed a profit oi t"(i,000, but it did

not take into account interest on capital invested, an amount of nearly threo millions. Tiiero was na amount for depreciation either. Until they got those two items charged up they could not ex-pect-to get a proper balance-sheet. Tho 'taxpayer did not know what tliat hugo institution was costing. He did not say chov did not get value, but it was idlo a profit of £00,1)00. and not allow'tor proper interest and proper depreciation, jrhc same remarks applied to tho Railway Department. They did not get a proper balance-sheet,' did not get interest charged up, and did not get depreciation. Thcro should be a bal-ance-sheet drawn up to properly show tho. amount of capital invested in tho linesi and what thov were costing. Ho heldlhat there should lie little difficulty in the way of the Arbitration Court deciding what should bo a proper living wage, especially for women workers. Girls should not be open to temptation in any way. The position of overworked clerks also needed consideration. He was pleased to see that the Government was taking up the question of back-country loading m a determined way. lie wanted to enter his protest again against their "silly system of party Government." Surely (hey could devise some means of conducting the business of the country, without frittering away the tinle. He would suggest proportional representation to tho House and then they should elect the executive from the members. Otherwise tho pcoplo were not properly represented. Tho Division. No member followed Mr. Anderson in the debate, and at 8.3" p.m. the House went to a division en the No-Confidence amendment. Following was the division list:— For the amendment (31): Atmore, Brown, Buxton, Carroll, Colvin, Craigie, Davev, Dickie, Ell, Forbes, Glover, Hana'n, Hindmarah, Isitt, M'Callum, M'Combs, MacDoimld, M'Kenzie, Myers, I'arata, Payne. Poland, Rangihiroa, Robertson. Russell, • Seddon, Sitlev. R. W. Smith, J. C. Thomson, Veikh, Ward, Webb, Wilford, Witty. Agaiest tho amendment (.'?!)): Allen, Anderson, J. Bollard.. 11. F. Bollard,. Bradney, Buchanan, liuick, Campbell, Coates," Dickson, Escott, Fisher, Frar.er, Guthrie. Harris, Hcrdman, Ilorrios, Hine, Hunter. Lee ; , Malcolm, Mauder, Masscy, A. K. Newman, Nosworthy, Okev, Pearee, Pomare, Reed, R. H. Rhodes, T. W. Rhodes, Scott, F. H. Smith, Statliam, Sykes, G. M. Thomson, Wilkinson, Wilson, Young.

Pairs :— For—Huddo, Ngata. Against-rE. Newman, Clark.