PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2818, 8 July 1916, Page 11

PARLIAMENT

THE ESTIMATES AFFORESTATION PROBLEMS MILITARY SERVICE BILL THE DISAGREEMENT REGARDING 1 AMENDMENTS. . ; ... . . The Legislative • Council. met at 2.30 V.m. .■■../• SIR FRANCIS BELL submitted a copy of the reasons for insisting upon all ihe amendments mado by the Council in tho Military Sarvice Bill, with, which the House of Representatives: had- disagreed. -The reasons, which were drawii up by the Committee appointed for the • purpose (Sir Francis Bell, the Hon. Morgan, and 0. Samuel) were as follow: 1. .Tlje eifcct of tlie amendments on Clauses 3, 5, and 8 has been carelully considered by the Council. . 2. Clauses 18 (e) and 18" (1) mid .11 (a) (dealing- with religious ebjectors),.. .because exemption from military service should bo granted, ill cases of . the very limited olass defined by .IS (©) and. the effect of 18 (4) and 34 (a) is to prevent man so exempted from escaping, full service to tho ■ State. • .■■■■■ 8; Clause 30. (3). There appears to be no special ■ reason for: oxcluding a parent employer from a right,conferred on all other employers;... Clause 30 . (a) is . permissive only, aud the Governor would only hereafter be advised to establish a Final Appeal Board if-the necessity for, or advantace> of, siiSh n tribunal beoomes. apparent during tho recess of Parliament. .• The Council considers' that such necessity- and advantage will beoome apparent, . . - , The reasons were carried on tho. voices. >• The Council rose at 2.35 p.m. THE HOUSE ; l The' House of Representatives met' at, 2.30 p.m. " ■ • _ Mr. Ct. WITTY. (Riccartoii) 'gavc.notico to ask tho Minister of Justice.whether lie -would remove front tho Commission of tho : Peace all '/Justices of alien enemy origin. Two days''leave of absence, was granted to Mr. .T. V. Brown (Nnpi'or). Mr. E. FLETCHER. (Wellington Con-! tral) gavo liotico to ask tho; Minister of Education what-were the methods employed, and on what principle, the Wellington Education Board promoted its toachers. .'. ..Ho. 'stated /that, it was . alleged that a considerable amount of-dis-satisfaction existed in regard to promo., tions, ■ and that a good: deal of injustice had been perpetuated., -. .. i ■ MILITARY SERVICE 'BILL! A. message was received from the Legislative- Council stating that the Council insisted upon its. amendments "made in the Military. Service Bill, with someol' which amendments the House had disagreed. The-mpssago set forth the "reasons for/.insistenco upon .the amend-; nients. ' ' - On the motion of tlio Defoncc Minister, thp reasons were disagreed with, mid-,the Hon. j„'Allen, the Hon. A. L. Herdman, and Mr.. G. Forbes were appointed managers to attend a fcouferencft. . ~ .'

THE ESTIMATES NEED FOR AFFORESTATION ' damage: by denudation " J .The Honse'-ivent into Committee of Supply at' 3' p.iri. to (SDnsider the Estimates, tho first class ,to be .discussed, bving that "of. tho'Department of Lands and Survey. " ' , ...- The Rt. Hon;'. W; E. ' Massey, ..<is. Minister , of ." stated .that .when tho remainder ! Estimates '.were, pa'sstjd hiei v p¥b])bsid'.' to r: ask" th'e. House!'®' adjourn.; '. . . ,'j 'v* Mr. H; G: Ell urged'that tho question, of afforestation should be removed from the control of the. Department of,'lands, and Survey and placed in nhargo of a separate., department. ■ Nothing in. regard to afforcstatioii,. ho said, had been dona., in .the Wellington, Taranaki, and." Hawke's Bay provinces.; ~Ali that was being- .done; was 'that in . the Rotorua district,*. In Canterbury, also, a great ' deal. might bo done, but all that had been done wa9 the little work that had'.'been dono at Hammer. Pinus . insignis might be planted qver many years. . ' • Mr. G. V. Pearce advocated that a part of inferior land on the West Coast between fKa Wanganui and Waitotara Rivers should be treated with trees. It would make a splendid plantation, and would help to. protect the coast. '■ Tho good land jn the Taranaki district was too valnab7e for £ho purpose.

Mr. W. T. Jennings referred to the scarcity, of money, for public works, and urged that the suras set apart v for reading what', wore, termed'block lands, such as the Wnnganui River lands, should h» expended as far as possible. Air. W! H. Field agreed with Mr.-Ell that' more attention should be . paid to. afl'oreatntion. There were considerable areas of waste sandy land along, the. West Coast which might bo'put to pood uso in this respect. This-land ■utilised not only for; tree-planting, but, attention should, also, bo paid to the question' of preventing further damage bjr sand drifts. Ho thought that bush reserves and new , forest -plantations should be 'exeriipted from' taxation after the' end of the war.' There were many areas in which scientific afforestation' might be'carried out. . He. thought that the, kohekoho, which had been > almost entirely " destroyed in "many districts, should be conserved. ' It was a quickgrowing tree, an<l it would bo-wise to plant many of thß vacant, areas'\iiuited to this timber's growth. ' ■ s The-Hon. D. Buddo said that Canterbury had practically no timber reserves left. , He referred to an article recentlypublished in tllo Journal of the Department of Agj-iculturo regarding tho advantages of planting certain varieties of eucalyptus. ,

What the Government is Doing. Tho Eight Hon. W. P. Massey said ♦ hat more had been^dono by the Government in tho matter of afforestation than members were aware of. War timo was'.hardly a suitable timo for urging a 'much greater expenditure in this direction. About 2000' acres annually had been planted during the past few years. More, he admitted, might be dono by locftl bodies and private individuals. An application-from the Department; for a considerably increased expenditure on, afforestation was now awaiting fho consideration of'tho Cabinet. It was suggested that returned soldiers might bo profitably employed in this matter. lie had no doubt that the Cabinet would <10 what was possible under the circumstances. Professor Hutthens, an expert, had made a tour of tho Dominion at the request of the Government. His report had not yet come to hand, but informed him (Mr. Massey) that ■Wostland, on account, of its moist climate, was particularly suitable for afl'oresfation work. sand dunes had sot been forgotten. Last year a contract 1 had been let for planting an area of about 12G acres hear the mouth of tho Rangitikei River. The contract- did not pay the contractor, and he had to- bo relieved of it, but not'before a considerable amount of work had beon done. In tho Waitiku district, near Auckland, a great deal was bciiig done in planting sandy strips of coast. As to provision for exemption of land planted with trees from taxation, ho pointed out that there ; was- already provision for this to somo extent in the Valuation of Land Act of 1912. Mr. W. H. Fiold: Native bush Te«orvC9 do not come under that? - Mr. Massef; I fancy thoio in soi/ioUiing to that effcct, but I cannot re-' member it at the moment. Mr. Massey, continuing, said that an area of land in tho Canterbury district, near Culvorden, which was regarded as suitable for afforestation, had been offered for sale to the Government, but' owing to the lack of funds nothing had been dono. Hi regard to Mr. Jennings's remarks ho said that a considerable sum sf money had. been expended on tho

class of roads "referred to. He believed, that the kohekohe tree was a very valuable one, He also spoke of the value of the, puriri and a certain variety of acacia, which was grown in the Waikato district. The Ruahine Ranges, Mr. George Hunter said that l e realised that it was very important that trees "should be planted, but ho believed that it was more important still that we sliouui" pvteervo tlie trees wo now have. Ho to urgo upon tho Minister of Lands tho necessity for the preservation, of our native bush in various parts of the Dominion, aud particularly ho referred to tho bushgrowing on tho slopes of the liuahines. Ho asked tho Minister not to allow settlement on those slopes to interfere with the bush. This busli had & great inlluenco oil the climatio conditions of the country, aud no •settlement tliat could be. mude on the slopes of tlio Ruahines would bo (if comparable value to tho country. Ho considered that the Government was acting wisely in planting trees, but the; -. Government should-'be more active in the preservation of native forest still standing. Jlr. U. Forbes thought that the Minister should rely more upon the advice of experts than upon tho opinions of members of Parliament in regard to afforestation. Ho referred to the Ruhipuhi forest, in the north- of Auckland. Ho had been told that ithis land was very unsuitable for the purpose. Mr. D. 'Buick referred'■ to'the scenic beauties of the slopes of the Ruahine range, This land .was not very suitable, for grazing purposes, and as the forest and scenery was amongst tho best in the Dominion it should be preserved.

Mr. T. A. H. Field urged' that rJelson was moi'e. suitable than AVestkuul for growth of trees, Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh spoke of the land being lost by erosion. He said that thousands of acres were being washed away, annually. Mr. Wi ;H. Field agreed th'at 'hundreds of ' acres were, lost every year through, erosion,. and if unchecked.it might Tim into thousands of acres. / Prime Minister Replies. Mr.' Massey, ill reply to-Mr. Jennings, said that the time spent by Crown tenants as soldiers on active service lyould.bq allowed to count as part of tho. perioaof. their occupation' of o.r.p. lands. Mr.. Okey had referred to the danger threatening from the very heavy export? of meat, and especially of. beef. . Tho honourable member had pointed .out that it might be very t'ifficult for 'returned soldiers to make a suiwss of the lands provided for them, if they could not obtain stock, 'lie v.as'ii.'xr fled that we had in New Zealand 350,00u moro head of cattle than wo had £ve years ago. This was better *,!ian most people believed, but it -W.-s ipi so good as it might .be. If settlement was to bo kept up, then a great deal more stock would have; to be reared. He had oh two occasions recently ■■vion. tc was addressing gatherings of farmers urged farmers to rear all their young stock. One of the circumstances uperac,ng to prevent this was the very heavy demand for cheese, for ffhon cheese was made of the milk there was nothing on wiach to feed ,ealvcs. At; present the could not do any -inoro than to encourage farmers to rear youag stuok and appeal to their sense of patriitism., ■Ho approved of tho suggestions made by several honourable.n'.ciubers that certain experts in afforestation should be engaged by the Government to help farmers witn advice in regard to tree-, planting.' A good deal nad been said about ttie loss of valuablo land by erosion. This , was one of tSo most serious difficulties with w.liich tho Lands Department had'to deal.' It was quite true that muoh> valuable land was washed away..every year, but most often it was due to the carelessness of settlers.

He quite a£reed ; with everything that had'been said by the members interested about the' conservation of tho bush on the slopes of. the Ruahines and in the basin of the Wanganui River. It was much, to be-"regretted that so much beautiful'bush had been destroyed, leaving' very often only sleep barren hillsides, which, ■ being too poor to carry grass or other vegetation, wero worn, away by water, untilihey,became scarred and ugly. Examples, of' this wero apparent Tound; abojit. Wellington. i The'Department'.of Lands, and Survey. Vote f fra3'.piVsse(l7afc'Y.3o-pimv: • ' . DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR. EMPLOYMENT' OF-' SOLDIERS; ; The' Laboyr Department's 'Estimates, wore then considered. ' Mr. Aveitch referred to the presence of a 'large number of returned soldiers in; the labour market-as' a, factor that now had to be. considered. In referring to the Minister of Labour, the Right Hon. W. I'.. Massey, he said that the latter did not"'possess tho confidence of the wage-earners to the extent to which ho should' possess it. When tho right lion, gentleman took the position of Minister of Labour ho wondered how ' the Tsar/of Russia would shape as leader of the Nihilists. v , Mr. Massey: You don't comparo the Labour Party to the'fNihilists, do you?. Mr. Veitch said that of course tho right hon. gentleman was a very bnsy Minister, but ho did not think that he took the close interest in labour matters that he should take. . . Mr. Hindmarsli referred to the position of Mr. Scott, the employers' representative on the Arbitration Court. He drew a salary .from the employers, which was not satisfactory. . . In reference to .permits to work at an under-rafe scale being granted to returned soldiers. Air. D. Buick quoted a letter of protest-hie had received from the Palmerston. North' branch of tho Amal-r gamated Society.of' Carpenters and Join-, ers against a particular caselin that district of'a man receiving a permit to work at sd. per hour less than the regular rate. Ho thought, said Mr. Buick, that this letter was a disgrace to the society, and if this,6ort of thing-were to become general in unionism it would do more to kill unionism than anything else. The unions should encourage thoso men who had fought for their country and do what they could to help them. He could assure the unions that if tho Germans got hold of New Zealand they would not. have the same rights 'that they had now. They had no right to protest against a man- .who had sacrificed his blood to light for his Empire being given'.a permit to work at a little less than the union rates. Though: such, a man had a pension, it was.no reason why be should not work and got a little bit' moro irfoney. - Mr. Glover urged the Minister to devote greater, attention in his Department to tho inspection of def&tive gear and machinery. Insufficient care was, taken of human life, and whilo we had inspectors of milk' and bees we had no inspectors of human life. ,

■ Workers' Homes. •A discussion was-raised oil tlio subject of workers' homes by the' member for Grey Lynn, who urged the Minister to follow, a vigorous ihilL\v of construction, in order to provide working men witir hopes at a reasonable price. ill'.' E. Nbwman also urged the importance of finding proper homes Tor' workers, and giving them an opportunity to purchase them'., JTowevor, lie coulil nut tuguo that Hie Government should go 011 building homes now when tlio prices- of materials were so high. Men .should bo provided with good liomes, but not'with homes costing, say, <£700 each. Tie urged the Government" to offer inducements to architects in New Zealand to design houses which would be cheap in construction and yet healthy, comfortablo homes. Air. Newman also spoko of tlio desirability of establishing rural colonies for workers, even adjacent to the big towns. Dr. A; K. Nowmmi drew tlio attention of tlio Government to the overcrowded condition of Wellington, and nrged. that the Prime Minister should authorise more workers' homes; There hail beqn a good deal ;of building,' but it had not, been sufficient to relievo the congestion, rind pijivatij contractors were not willing to go on building any more.. Tlio only solution was for tlio Govornuient lo build houses 011 the sections already acquired. Criticism Answered. The Prime Minister said that tlio Labour Department had never run so smoothlyaas it was just. now. ■; .. Mr. Veilcli: It doesn't run fast enough to get hot. ( " "Mr. Massey: X think the honourable member would lilce" to see some friction. Mr. Veitcli: Oh, 110. Mr. Massey, referring. to a question asked by Mr. Veitoli, said it was not posEible for him to mu. .nhother tlio Arbl-

tration Act would bo amended Tins session. He. said .that nothing gave him moro satisractiou than the building of workers' homes, but tho cost of building .material' was'now so high that building could not go on indefinitely. The Department was .trying to keep tho cost of every house down to about <£550, including the ccst of. land, but now the man was not getting as good valoo as he would have got before tho wai*. Tho Government had built in 1911 IG2 workers' homes. Tho n&t year money was scarce, and the number was reduced to 83, but this year 97 had been arranged for.

The member for Wanganui had referred to tho nnder-rate worker's permit questioi) as affecting returned soldiers, and condemned the Government's scheme. The honourable member had seemed, to suggest that ho (Mr. Massey) was anxious to reduce wages. This was not so, and ho challenged the member for Wanganui to show whore ho had ever advocated anything of the sort. But there was a big problem ahead of us. When our soldiers came back work would have to.be found for .everyone of them. Ho did not think the Government's scheme for ' under-rate permits to allow men to learn skilled trades was goiug to be very effective, and tho main reason was that the soldiers themselves did not seem to want it. But neither did he believe that any abuses of consequences 'had arisen or were likely to arise. There had been only two cases reported of employers practically "collaring" the pension of the man employed, and giving him wages below the award rate.- ' Replying' to Dr. Newman, Mr. Massey said that up. to date the Department had liA houses in and was now commencing eleven more at Kilbirnie ahd Lynll Bay. He hoped in the near future to induce Cabinet to authorise..anotlier twenty.

State Coal Mines. '■'Mr.-A. H. Hindmarsh inquired what was the position in relation to the output of coal. In Wellington it,was sometimes, impossible to get coal. There must :be some extraordinary bungling somewhere.- The people relied to a great extent upon State coal and now its supply was falling off. Was this.due to tho decrease in tho.output or to a shortage of miners? , The Hon. W. D, S. Mac Donald replied that there had been no fallings)® in the o!>i»)ut—as. a. matter of fact there had been an. increase of 31,000 tons last year. The difficulty at present was that tho Railway Department had been short of coal, and under tho Mines Act that Department and shipping had a claim prior to that/of th<S householders. Tlio Railway; Department had claimed tho whole of their output of. screened. c0a1—25,000 tons per week—for a period of 12 weeks. There were more men omploycd there now than at any period before, in spito of the war, and tho output was larger. In reply to Messrs. I'oolo aud T. W. Rhodes, the Minister said that ah expert was now making inquiries in the Auckland district in order to report nnon the question of establishing a State, coal mine in tho north.

, The remaining classes of the Estimates were passed without alteration. ■ ■' . The House adjourned at 11.3 p.m. -1111111 7.30 on Monday. '.