THE HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2845, 9 August 1916, Page 6

THE HOUSE

The House of Representatives mot at 10 a.m.

At 10.15 a.m. a message was received from the Legislative Council announcing 'that that Chamber /had passed the Appropriation Bill. The House then adjourned until the signature of the Governor to the Appropriation. Bill had been obtained. . At 11.5 a.m. the House resumed, and Mr. Speaker announced that His. Excellency had, on behalf of His Majesty, given his assent to the Appropriation Bill. A PATRIOTIC RESOLUTION WAR TO A VICTORIOUS END. The ik Hon. W. P. MASSEY submitted_ to the House the. following resolution:— "That on the second anniversary of the declaration of war, • the residents of New Zealand in Parliament assembled record their inflexible determination to continue • to a victorious end the struggle for the maintenance of the ideals of liberty and justice that are the common and sacred cause of the Allies, and that this resolution be forwarded to His Excellency the Governor for transmission to His Majesty the King." _ "Many New Zealanders have fallen since the war commenced," said Mr. Massey. ''New Zealand has poured out blood and expended treasure in its endeavour to assist the Empire. That wo have been successful in our assistance goes without saying. Besides those who have fallen on the battlefield many New Zealanders have lost their lives in other ways on account of the great war. On tho occasion of the ■ anniversary of Declaration Day this resolution was carried by 320 meetings in different centres of New Zealand. That fact, and I think it is n glorious fact, proves that the people of Now Zealand, tho citizens of our Dominion, have not gone back in the slightest from the stand they took up when the war commenced. They have determined, whatever tho cost may be in life or treasure, to see this war through to a glorious and satisfactory conclusion." A Creat Achievement. SIR JOSEPH WARD, in seconding the resolution, said that it was very gratifying to all residents of tie Empire to find- after two years of war that tho British Empire was stronger than it was at the beginning of tlic struggle. In regard to New Zealand, he said 'that it was a great deal for such a young Dominion to be able to point to the fact that 64,000 of its men had enlisted for active service, and that 110 fewer than 50,000 of these men had crossed tho seas to assist tho Motherland and her Allies in upholding the freedom of the whole world. To his mind, it was most gratifying that the resolution that was now being formally placed before tho House had been passed unanimously by 320 centres of population, as it showed the unmistakable determination of the people of tho country to do all that was possible to prosccuto the war to a final and decisive victory. He was suro that, whether it was men or monoy or both that was required, our Dominion would continue to do all that ,was possible to help the Motherland and her Allies to win l ight out a victory and an honourable peaco that would last for generations to come. (Heai', hear.) Mr. T. M. WILFORD (Hutt), supporting tho resolution, spoke of tho basis of tho determination of tho Allies, the peculiar psychology which did not allow tlicm to. contemplato defeat. Tho Spirit of tho Maori. The Hon. Dr. POMARE, member of tho Executive representing tho Maori race, supported tho motion on behalf of the Maori people who had sent sons to the war, and on behalf of tho Native race as a whole. This war, although it had beqii disastrous in some ways, had had some good cffccts. Ho thought that tho misunderstanding that had arisen between tho pakeha and tho Maori had been removed far. ever.

(Hear, hear.) "Tho pakeha and Maori] to-day," he continued, "are standing! side by side with one common object, i The blood of the two races has been; commingled in the trenches of Gal-j lipoli. To-day tho Aegean breezes stir I the grass over the graves of mine and| yours. Wherever the Maori hears tho ( moaning of tho wind or the booming of j the guns it reminds him that awayj beyond the seas 'utu' has got. to bei brought about for his dead." For this, reason, continued Dr. Pomaro, tlioi Maoris' determination to end the warj victoriously was jusl as inflexible asj that of the pakeha. He also thought! that tho war would bring about acohesion of the different portions of thoj Empire and a better and complete un-, dorstanding amongst all the raoes thatj lived under the British flag. Tho spirit; of Rewi and the other big figbtera of the past lived in the Maori to-day,! and the same spirit that moved Rewi; to hurl defiance at his enemies at thebattle of Orakau moved them to-day to ; repeat the words of that great fighter "Alee! Ake! Alee!" and to declare "Wei will fight on for ever and ever." (Hear, 1 hear.) After tho War. The Hon. J. ALLEN (Minister of De-' fence) said that he wished to endorso; the patriotic sentiments expressed byj previous speakers. But he could notj let the occasion go by without asking, the House and the country to accord' some recognition to the men who had; been compelled to remain behind here [ to do work of great importance. To the, staff who had the work of training, our, troops every credit was duo. He'didi not think there was a man among them! who was not desperately anxious to goj to tho front, and they were possibly) losing good chances of promotion by l , remaining here. But they had donoj their work extremely well, achieving a] wonderful result in a four months'] period of training. One could not help-, thinking that all this sacrifice mustj not bo made in vain. We all looked] for a permanent peace, but this was, not all. If the Empire was to remain! an Empire there were problems to be] faced after the war, problems to tho: solution of which he would appeal to! every member of the House.to give his! thought. The problem was to create a] constitution for the Empire that wouldj staud for all time. Ho believed thati this question must bo faced now, but; lie believed that it would be faced,-andl that a solution of the problem would. 1 be found. j Messrs. J. T. M. Hornsby, A. H.j Hindmarsh, J. Payne, and D. Buick also spoke. . The motion was carried, and the * members sang "God Save the King." ; ' "i VALEDICTORY SPEECHES; EXCHANGE OF COMPLIMENTS]' THE MISSION TO ENGLAND ' ! The Rt. Hon. W. F. _ MASSEYj (Prime Minister), in his closing speech,' congratulated Mr. Speaker on having! presided over another session with hia| customary firmness and courtesy. A!-i though the session had been shorter! than usual, it had been quite rs itrenu-, ous as any that had preceded if for a number of years. The session in many respects had been tho motl im-j portant in tho history of the New Zea-j land Parliament. It was a session i fchafi would live in history. It was I particularly memorable on account or; the passing of the Military Service i Act-. In this, as in many other mat-i tors, New Zealand had led the_ ro-1 mainder of the Overseas Dominions. The financial legislation that had beenj passed was also of a most important; character. He also congratulated thej Chairman of Committees (Mr. A. S.j Malcolm) and tho officers of the House,-i particularly the clerk of the House;. (Mr. A. F. Lowe) and the clerk-assist-' ant (Mr: E w W.. -Kane) on the very! satisfactory manner in which they hadj carried out their onerous duties. Hoj thanked lionourablo members for tliaj courtesy extended to him and his col-, leagues, and for tKo good wishes cx-| pressed in respect to tho visit to bej paid to tho Old Country by himself) and the Minister of Finance. He was! unable to give any particulars regard-] ilig this visit other than the informa-; tion already possessed by members. ( His colleague and_ he were not looking! forward to the trip as a pleasure trip or as a holiday. Their stay in Lon-,-don would be of very limited duration,! and whilst they, were there they wouldj have very important work to do._ Theyi were gou'ig at the urgent invitation ofj the Imperial Government. _ Ho thoughts it was only, right in a time of crisis! such as the present that the leading] members of the Dominion's Ministryi should have an' opportunity of confer-j ring with the statesmen of the Old, Country. He did not think that any-| thing in tho nature of an Imperial', Conference would be attempted their stay in London, although it was; quite probable that the representatives, of other Oversoas 'Dominions would be; there. The British Constitution, as; had been said, had broadened downj from precedent to precedent, andj now precedents were being createdj every day. The indissoluble ties- of, blood, of"race, and of sentiment wouldj continue in the future to bind tho Em-j pire as in the past. The British Em-j pire was. more united to-day than it. had ever been in any previous period of its history. Before tho next scs-| sion opened he hoped that peace wouldj have been arranged; if not, he hoped j that it would be in sight. v He con d not say when the next session wou'd open. It might be necessary to call! Parliament together early in the year, or it might not meet until tho usual J time. r He hoped when Parliament reassembled to find all members in good health and good form, and to renew the friendships of tho past under tho most pleasant circumstances. (Hear,! hear.) ! A Remarkable Session. j SIR- JOSEPH WARD said lie wished) to add a few words to those so well, expressed by the Prime Minister. No, Speaker, he said, had ever presided over such a remarkable session as that just colicludcd. Two years ago, or even six months ago, it would not have been believed that Parliament could have agreed to a law calling upon the manhood of New Zealand to bear arms, and demanding that they should givo those services willingly or unwillingly. No one would have believed that the Parliament would ever have pledged thecredit of New Zealand for so many millions, sixteen millions to carry on the 1 war for a year. Ho was sure, too,! that Parliament would agree, if neces-j sary, next year to raise another six-: tcon millions. Taxation had been im-j posed which would uot havo been thought'possible a few years ago. And ho wished to pay a tribute to the splen-j did spirit of generous patriotism shown by thoso people who were to find this! enormous sum in taxation. However,! there was no doubt among tho peopty. as to the merit of the end for whichthe money was required, and it was a; glorious thing that members could kno'"i that in their constituencies were people who so freely accepted and bore the) bunions and sacrifice, i He had never] received from his own constituencv a:; single protest against the Military Ser-s vice Bill, or against the imposition o£i heavy taxes.

He believed he was riesht: in pro-' phesying that tliero would not awin j lie in tlw history nf New Zealand a'( session similar to that just concluding; unless, unhappily, in the years to'come; it should bo necessary, to legislate for) another great war. ITp was one of j those who had a strong, belief tlmt this was was not going to last until Par-' liament mqt again nest year. And after' the war thero would be,great problems-

i !to bo solved. He believed that the | > Umpire was on tho evo of great '.changes'. He did not believe that the ' ! Empire would ever again allow a coni i dition of things to arise which would ) again . allow our enemies to become , strong enough to menace the safety of i our country. Our first duty was to •win the war. Our next duty was to consider how to do our part to furthor Jcement the bonds ,of Empiro—to mako them even moro strong than thejv.wore 'to-day. Ho spoke, also, of tho oblitora-% tion of party conflict in the - Houso, stating his opinion thaf such an oblitI eration of party was necessary to enablo tho House to pass tho two great .measures of the session, tho Military • Service Act and tho Finance Act. He '.concluded by offering congratulations - 'and proper compliments to Mr. Speaker ' 'and the Chairman of Committees, and by extending good wishes to his fellowmembers.

' Cood Name of the House. Mr. SPEAKER thanked the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance for their very kind remarks concerning himself, and thanked members of the 1 1 House tor tho assistance tliev had given ■ him in tho. conduct of the business of 1 the House. He believed that the House * had kept up the reputation it had enjoyed for many years past, and he ; wished to thank honourable members '■ for what they had ddno to cnablo that roputation-to be maintained. The present circumstances under which" members lived were not conducive to comfort, and ho hoped that next session they might meet in the new Chamber. 110 wished tho Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance a pleasant journey and a safe, return to New Zealand, and ho was sure their visit to England could do nothing but good, not only i to Now Zealand, but to the Empire. • Hie also, thanked the officers of the House for the efficient manner in which' they had discharged their duties, i Mr. A. S. MALCOLM (Chairman of Committees) thanked the Prime Minister and tho Minister of Finance for their kind remarks about himself, and .in turn extended good wishes to them i for a pleasant journey to the Homeland, ' and a successful mission there. ; The House rose at 0.8 p.m., after ihe usual ntr.ck-division, which members insist upon on the motion for adjourn? ment at'the'end of-every session.