THE HOUSE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 32, 1 November 1918, Page 6

THE HOUSE

The House of Representatives met at 2.*j p.m. After formal business had been transmitted and 6ome questions without notice had been asked, the Prime Minister

Mid that owing to deputations and interviews the Cabinet work had fallen very seriously into arrears. Ho proposed, therefore, to move the adjournment o'? the Houso until 7.30 p.m., in order that Cabinet might sit in the afternoon. The House adjourned until 7.30 p.m.

ADDRESS-IMEPLY ' A TAEANAKI VIEW. Mr. C. A. WILKINSON (Egmont) re-' sunied the debate on the Address-iu-Keply. He said ho had been glad to hear the mover of tho Address urging that the iimo had come to cease sending married ,men into cam]). Tho conclusion of peace seemed to be close at hand, and it was highly undesirable to put men with three children into camp. Referring to the recent by-elections, ho said that the member for Grey had quoted figures ta show that in the by-elec-tions u great majority of votes had been cast against the Government. But these calculations were not sound. In the Taranaki election, for example, the Labour candidate supported military service, aud tho votes given him were not cast fcigalnst the National Government in that respect. The member for Grey, who sat in the Houso as the successor of a man who had refused to servo his country, had complained that men who would not, fight were being punished. Did ho stand as the champion of the shirker and (ho deserter? Tho leader of the Labour Party had propounded a laod policy which could only bo enunciated by a man who knew nothing about land. Ho said that no man should be allowed to hold more than £M 0 worth of land, but in Taranaki that would mean less than 100 acres of land. The suggestion was absurd. Mr. Wilkinson condemned the butter-fat levy, which had been a class tax designed to provide cheap butter -for, tho public at the' expense of the farmers—often the small farmers. It. had been an unconstitutional tax, imposed without the authority of Parliament. Mr. B. M'Callum ' (Wairau) suggested as a point of order that the member ought not to contradict the decision of the Judges, who had held that the levy was legal. The Speaker held that there had been no reflection on the Judges.

Butter Production. Mr. Wilkinson said the production of butter at Is. Id. per lb. before tho war had never paid. The price had been made possible by tho arduous woTk of families who drew. practically no wages. I Tho present price of Is. sd. was not particularly profitable. Most of the increase had been absorbed by the increased cost of production. The farmers had not been allowed to get the full value of their products during the war. Wool, butter, cheese, and wheat had all been subjected to restrictions and the producers had been given smaller prices than\ they could hare'commanded in an open market. It was unfair that >while many restraints were imposed upon the producers, the exporters had been allowed to make big profits almost -unchecked. The Government ought to have given effect to some of the recommendations of the Cost of Living Committee. Mr. AVilkiiison said that the National Government had fulfilled its purpose and en-J ablcd .New Zealand to play a notable part in tho war. He asked if a comprehensive repatriation scheme had been prepared, and if it would be presented to Parliament.

Mr. Mnssey: Yes, this session. "Sir. AVilkinson said the details of the 6chenic would require most careful consideration. A great land settlement system certainly would ho required. Tho paying off of the gold-braid officers who had not been to the war would be ono of tho repatriation problems. Every employer should be compelled if necessary to put returned soldiers back into, their billots. Tho local bodies did not alwaya do their duty in this respect. Referring to the liquor question, ho said ho was out to get rid of tho liquor trade. But Parliament would have to put a fixed limit on the amount of compensation to bo paid. Ho believed a liquor poll and a general election should, bo taken at the same time, the Trade to go out of business in eighteen months and Parliament to have a life of four years. The people could then recousider the liquor, issuo after 'experience of prohibition. Six o'clock closing should be made permanent. In connection with the land question he contended that the time had come when tho question of the freehold tenure might be considered. A man should not own more land than he could work. Aliens should not be allowed to own land. The present position in regard to education was most unsatisfactory. Teachers' pay was most inadequate, and in his district no males wore applying for employment on account of the poor remuneration. Attention ought to be paid to tho teeth of children, and free dental treatment for school children should he provided. Classes wero too large, and many schoolrooms would . not comfortably hold the children. In some' cases subsidies were not' 'forthcoming as expeditiously as might be desirod. Ho hoped that when considering the matter of taxation the Government would not unduly penalise the small landowner. Under the present system of taxation tho larger the estate was the less was the increase in tax. Exactly the opposito should be the case. Burdens should bo placed upon wealth; whether the wealth was in cash or land made no difference. Matters in connection with railway administration were not satisfactory. At the present timo they had tho spectacle of empty trains running past racecourses. From a revenue point of view thoso people who wanted to go to the races should be carried on tho railways. If| the Stale adopted a compreliensivo scheme there would bo no need for the GovernmentJto bring down a Bill providing for ' local hydro-electric schemes. (Hear, hear.)

Education and Railways. The Hon. D. BODDO (Kniapoi) said tho education system needed remodelling. The control should bo more direct. An hon. member: Abolish all school boards. '• Continuing, Mr. Buddo stated that ha did not care what was abolished provided the system,was improved. The railways of the Dominion were not earning enough money.. At race times many opportunities were lost of earning revenue. Ho could never understand why the system of differential rates was continued. Thero was a lack of political courage on tho part of the Ministry which would not face a general election. There was not a singlo member of the House who was afraid to go before tho people. (Hear, hear.) As Sew Zealand wns Clio only portion of tho Empiro which had not had a general election during the war he was sure that if there was an election in tho Old Country during November then New Zealand would not be left behind. Tho working people of the country were loyal to the Mother Country, and they had proved that in tho way they had responded to the calUof the Empire. Ho was pleased to see that some practical steps wero to be taken to conservo the forests of the country. Good land should bo selected on which, to plant suitablo timber's, and care should be taken to see that such was acquired. On tho question of hydro-electric power he could sco no dilfe.renco between local body supervision and State supervision, and ho was glad that the Government was going to bring down legislation on tho point. Whether the local bodies controlled their own systems, or the Government took charge of the scheme, the peoplo would benefit. Although he could not join with somu hon. members in saying that the Government was without popularity, yet he wns aware that the Government had not stretched out a hand to assist those peoplo who could uot help themselves. The Defence Department was most unpopular at tho present time, but that was a matter which could not bo helped. Returned soldiers should bo brought into touoli with the officers of tho Defonco Department as littlo as possible. In many cases the men should he kept as far away Iron; tho officers as was possible.

Too Many Reinforcements. Mr. J. ANSTEV (Waitaki) thought that it would have been better if tho Dominion's lenders had made their visit, to the Old Country in 1919. Thoy had been absent from tho country foi* too long a period in the last two years, and had como hack almost as visitors. They were almost entirely ignorant of tlm pressing affairs of the Dominion, ami it was most unfortunate that they had been away so long as they had been recently, their absence had been tlio cause of.much dissatisfaction with tho National Government. Land aggregation was still going on in tho country, and no attempts wcro being made jio stop it.

Tho graduated laud tax, M.v. Anstcy urged, should not bo imposed on tho owner of the land-it should be paid by the occupier, and should be sufficiently drastic to prevent the aggregation that was going on. It had beeu said married men with three or more children should not be sunt to the front. They should not tako another married man, as already too many men had been sent away. The speaker contended that the formation of the Fourth Brigade was a great mistake, Keinlorceiuents had been allowed to accumulate at Sling Camp, and were simply wasting their time, and were a nuisance to the'authorities. Thousands of men had been sent into a certain action, against tho advice of experts, by a man who had since been decorated, with the .result that many hundreds of them had perished. At the present time there wore 11,000 men iu uamp, and if they had an accumulation of reinforcements suliicicnt to meet the needs of the next twelve mouths why did the. Government want to go on destroying tho industries of thecountry by' taking more men into camp? Little /businesses were being broken up aud ruined because the only remaining man was being taken. If there was any necessity to take those men, tkon he would say: "Tako tho last man and tho last shilling"; but, as masters now stood, it was a criminal thing to tako more men out of the country. Too many reinforcements had been sent away. The farmers had done their share- in tho growing of wheat, but- had not had proper encouragement from the Government. An enormous amount of waste was going on in the country, and large numbers of people wore drawing huge incomes and escaping taxation. If that were allowed to go on it would bring about a crisis, and in his opinion that crisis was very near. Our industries were being crippled while large numbers of people were doing no useful work aud paying no taxation. Tho Government would have to face that problem very soon. Now that the war was Hearing its close ho could not see much good in holding a goiicral election, but he would liko to see a reconstruction of tho Cabinet. At tho present time the Government had no policy. The exigencies of the moment i required a statesman w.ho could define a policy which would as strictly as possible repair the ravages of tho war. At present he knew of no one in the House, who could define such a policy.

Mr. T. W. KHODES (Thames) said too much praise could not 'be given to tho Prime Minister and the Minister of Defence for the work they had done on behalf of tho Dominion during the war. Ho knew that reinforcemont.v wore needed to keep our fighting forces ,up. to strength, but thero was such a thing as over-reinforcing, and ho thought that the Government nad erred in that direction. He urged tho prosecution of a vigorous public works policy, especially in the northern part of tho country. Something had boen done in the way of settling returned soldiers, but not nearly enough had been accomplished. He was afraid that the Government was n'ot yet ready with a scheme of demobilisation. He believed the State should put in hand a hydro-electric power scheme, because if the matter were left to tho option of tho local bodies some localities would benefit whereas others woudd not.

At 11.33 p.m. the debate was adjourned, on the motion of Mr. W. T. Jennings (Taumarunui), until 2.30 p.m. to-day.