PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 31, 31 October 1918, Page 6

PARLIAMENT

THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY NATIONAL GOVERNMENT UNDER FIRE MINISTER REPLIES TO CRITICISM The Legislative Council met at 2.30 p.m., tho Acting-Speaker, the Hon. W. C. P. Carncross, in the chair.

Three weeks' leave of absence iras granted to tho Hon: C. Lmiisson on account of illness, and tho Hon. J. MacGregor was given leave for one week on account of important business. Sir John Sinclair was sworn in as a member of the Council.

The Hon. E. W. ALISON moved the Address-in-Eeply to the Governor-Gen-eral's Speech. He said that m connection with the world struggle it was quite evident that the-Huns were beaten. IV lien the hour of decisive victory was reached Germany must be made to pay for hor crimes. The German territories must nnver be restored. That attitude had been firmly nssumed by Mr. Mnssey and •Sir Joseph AVard when in the Old Country, and their stand had helped to rally some of the wavering elements among the representatives of the. Imperial Parliament. The Dominion's lenders had worthily represented Now Zealnnd at the Imperial Conference, and they deserved great credit for their work. The public debt •of the Dominion was increasing rapidlv owing to the expenditure for war purposes. On March 31, 1914, the total gross indebtedness of the Dominion was i! 99.730,000, aiid it had increased each year until by -March 31 in the present year it had reached a total of -.£150,840 000. At tho present 'time the iotal indebtedness was about .£167,000,000. The gross debt per head in 1914 was £91 10s., and today it. stood at a total of .£137. The total war expenditure amounted to ,£62,000,000. In two years, the indebtedness of the population of the Dominion had been increased by about per head. In three years the taxation had been increased by nearly double. There was every reason to assume that the value of the country's exports would be kept up until some time after the war. If exports did not keep up.Mhen serious results would follow. Under , harassing, conditions, the National Government hnd achieved a. very fine record, and it had done more than could poseibly have been achieved by any party Government. Carping criticism was to be deprecated and although mistakes had been made, they were not large mistakes, and the Government had loyally carried out its duty. The present was not the time to discredit the Government, nor to change the Government. There we many problems to be dealt with after he war, one of the chief of which was the plac°ng of returned soldiers upon land which would Lave to be suitable for■the, Minose. ' A Department should be set up to deal with returned soldiers and tno many difficulties■ which their' comms; return in large numbers would present. Mr Alison appealed for. all classes to '•Hml lovallv by the Government m as- & to bring" the war to a successful issue He moved that a roply be pree te'd to the Governor-General, the terms of which are simitar to those of tho reply framed by the House of Repreventatives. , _ P Tho motion was seconded by the ,Hon. A P Hawke and supported by Sir John Sinclair, and the Council' rose at fi.SO p.m. until 2.30 p.m. to-day.