PARLIAMENT IN SESSION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2507, 7 July 1915, Page 9

PARLIAMENT IN SESSION

COST OP LIVING RESTRICTION OF EXPORT OE BUTTER \ COMMANDEERING DISCUSSED PRIME MINISTER REPLIES TO CR ITICISM

r < The House of Representatives sat at Jg.3o p.ni; ' , V-.:V-.". ■ . Mr. SPEAKER administered the oath . to the Hon. A./.T., Ngata, who had, not previously' sat in .the House; this:, see-' fcloiu Mr. W. Hi FIELD (Otaki)gave notice to movo for a return shoeing tho amount, expended by the Railway. Department in the upkeep of the - Boston •wharf, and the amount of nett revenue obtained from the wharf. - The Hon. J. AJjLEN. gave notice of ;.. I'.is" intention to introduce the' Expeditionary Forces Bill. v , The Hon.. W. H. HERR.IES gave notice to introduce the Drainage .Vesting tind Endowment Bill. . : ;' Three, days' leave of absence 'Was .'.granted to Mr. H. G. Ell.; : . FIRST READINCS. ■ : 'i The . Betterment Bill (Mr. R. M'Callum, the State Advances • Amendment •Bill (Mr. T. M. Wilford), and tho Fac-' ..:tones Act Amendment Bill (Mr. T. M. Wilford) were Introduced and read a first '. "time.. ; ' ' . TRADINC WITH THE ENEMY. ' : The Trading With the Enemy Bill (tho iHo'n.A. L. llerdman) . was committed, .• ( and■ reported ~ without !; amendments. 'Oiore was practically no debate." REGULATION OF TRADE AND THE PRICE OF BUTTER DANGER OF COMMANDEERINC. ; The Regulation of Trade - and Commerce Amendment Bill (the Right' Hon. iff.. F. Massey) was committed. . 1 Mr. T. M. Wilford (Hutt) said that Me'recent proclamation-prohibiting the. cxport.of butter had come too late, after ; tho price had been raised by the export «f iu,ooo boxes to Australia. ' • .' ... . The Right Hoii. W. F. Alassey-said Oie did riot agree with' this.opinion! He Lad instructed- tho Head; of the Dairy Division to watch very closely the 6up- . ... ;ply_of butter inNewZoaland/and to advise him. at once if: there was a shortage. ■ Tho Jiig'h-price of butter was op ! account, of the demand: from Australia, ■■ and. oil account of the greed of some ,»9f' the people in this industry. ! Mr. Witty:-You have hit it .now. -. . V Mr. Massey; said;, that an - attempt (B'as being 'made to. force the hands ' of •the .Government. He was perfectly cer- ; tain.: that in a. few'weeks' time there . .would bo plenty 'of.'-butter- in New >Zeai land, and l that there wa3 no shortage ;of,'.butter now... The fact was-that the butter trade of New Zealand- was in the ' hands of a very few men, and he-was afraid those people i were putting, their .' heads together. He would like to think :this was iiot;So, -but;he was- very doubt-' ful about it. Ho mentioned in conclusion. that it was an exceedingly delicate ; imatter'to, restrict the expert;: of butter* ; ..The price of, butter wad'snow/ 'out ; of- - jiprpportion to the price' of v cheese ;i for the latter could be made -more profitably than butter at tho ruling prices. If the . ..Government restricted hitter'- export,, itlio factories would all maka. cheese, I ' and the; Government.-.coild not prohibit ..V /thei export of "cheese .because' -it was ■used as an army ration.'. Mr. G. Witty (Riocarton) said that' ipower should be taken to compel hold- • ers of • butter to sell ai a reasonable price,V ' The Hight: Hon. W. F. Massey said ■•that; there could be no doubt that but,ter in six weeks? ; time would be much lower in price thau now.' In less than ,/ that time the Australian market would: be amply, supplied by Australian but- : ter. He was sure that tho. price would be something' like sixpence a pound . "less. : ; I. ." ' V iMr, Isitt':' How do you propose.' to ; : . :'jcheckmate"that, cheese idea? • Mr. Massey': I don't see how it is possible. .... . . It was wanted for : army purposes, aaidiit,is because lfs is • / wanted for army purposes that .the price ilias.gone up. s V :'■'■■ Mr. G. W. Rus33ll (Avon) raised i%he question of tho price of oats, and . ißuggested that tho Government should consider- the question of prohibiting exx port in the interests of our own coun;«y. • ■ : The Prime . Minister ', said''-., the export -of oats was except to the .Commonwealth, Government, which Beeded it for defeiice purposes. He be- . 'lieved-tliat all the oats the, export: of / .which was permitted had already: been shipped. ■, Applications had .been refused) recently from the Corporation of the City of Sydney,'wh'o wished to buy oats . 'and .chaff here.; In regard to' limiting tho prico of oats,- he would lemind lion- ■ ■ ourable members that there was a short- ; age of : 4,000,000 bushels'of oats'for-our owu consumption, unless the higli prices reduced consumption. He hoped this / .woujd be the . result, and l 'that thi'ro would be no inconvenience at the end of the season. ~ . Referring to the wheat and flourprob- . lom, ho recalled, how pressure was .' brought to bear; upon him to seize all ,!the 'wheat in the country': and fix the -jprice low. If he had uono that, the -result would have been to diminish the •area sown by the farmers for . the coming.' season. 1: But when farmers saw that there was, a prospect of getting a good price for their wheat they sowed bigger areas,; and'the :prospect, was that there would be abundant, supply of home-grown, wheat -for our own consumption , next - season; New South ; .Walesa had commandeered wheat at ss. a bushel, and New South Wales: was faced with a shortage again this season. / Farmers were cutting their green wheat into' wheaten hay, because-at £10 per • • ton in Sydney wheateri hay was worth ; more to . them than wheat' at- # ss. a bushel. ; : And the fixing bf prices for floiir.in New South' Wales had broken down. ; The price had been raised there recently by £5 7s. 6d. per ton. .He . ■ contended that, the:'average, prices of . necessities here were lower than in any other Dominions of the Empire. Mr; J. V. Brown (Napier) asked whether they would, put an export duty on cheeso. , Mr. Massey' said that :: the, uovornment, would not ask Parliament to put an export duty on cheese because cheese was needed for the .food of the soldiers of the Empire.' Instead' of curtailing the export of foodstuffs, it ■ was the duty of this. country to produce as great a quantity .of foodstuffs as possible, not only for ourselves, but ior the people on the other, side, of tho. . .world. Mr. Isitt suggested that the > Govierntoent should commandeer all-cheese at 'a fair price, and export it to England. .The Prinie Minister,'.replying to suggestion - that -, ho • 'should, comman-: ;Ueer tho, butter, and sell it at "a reasonable price," said that-although there .was now -no shortage of butter in New .Zealand, the maintenance of a sufficient supply here demanded the _ continuanco of production. Immediately the price was reduced, ' farmers would •jeduce .or, ceass production... In Aug- j

tralla all efforts ,to regulate prices had failed. Butter was at a higher price in Australia than in New Zealand. The policy ' the Government had decided to follow was to encourage production aiid export, and the result of the policy was .that New -Zealand felt the burden of war.less'.than. ; any, other part of the British Dominions. There was no unemployment and no distress in all the country. Tho Bill was reported without amendments, '- WITHOUT DEBATE. , The Statutes Compilation Amendment Bill was reported without amendment. The Enemy Contracts.-Bill was committed, and reported without amendment. •' . Tho Trading with the Enemy 'Amendment Bill was read a third time and I passed, .../ . -