PARLIAMENT AT WORK

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 146, 16 March 1921, Page 6

PARLIAMENT AT WORK

THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE

MR. MASSEY AND THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE

THE WOOL REALISATION SCHEME

The debate on the Address-in-Reply in the Legislative Council was completed yesterday. The Attorney-General, replying to the Hon. W. H. Triggs, made some Interesting remarks regaining the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. A Bill extending the moratorium until the end of this year was introduced in the Council. The Prime Minister made a statement regarding .wool realisation in the House of Representatives. He said that the Imperial authorities were holding a . credit of £8,000,000 from profits made on wool sold during the last months but they expected this to be extinguished by losses on the £22,000,000 worth of New Zealand wool still in their hands. He was making representations, and believed that some part of the accumulated profat might eventually come to the producers. n j, „ i The House continued the Address-in-Reply debate during the afternoon and evening and did not adjourn until about midnight. Most of the speeches were made from the Opposition side of the House. The Prime Minister indicated that he accepted as a want-of-confidence . motion the amendment that had been moved by the Leader of the Opposition. The debate will be continued to-day.

WOOL REALISATION THE SITUATION STATED BRITISH GOVERNMENT’S HOLDINGS The Prime Minister made a statement in the House regarding the wool realisation fund, in reply to a question put by Mr. J. R. Hamilton (Awarua). He said that the Imperial Government was holding New Zealand wool that had cost .£22,000,000, some of it in this country, but most of it in Britain. Against that amount there was a credit of .£8,000,000, being the profits on sales of wool that had taken place during the last eighteen months. The gentleman in charge of that branch of the (Imperial Government’s business took up the position That the loss on the remaining New Zealand wool would be equal to the £18,000,000 profit now in hand, and that therefore there would be nothing coming to the producers of this country. If the loss on the remaining wool exceeded £18,000,000 that would be the affair of the Imperial Government.

Mr. Massey added that he did not thins the loss on' the remaining wool would exceed £18,000,000, and he was not satisfied with what was taking place. He had exchanged lengthy communications with the British authorities on the subject, but he did not wish to lay the cablegrams on the table of the House nt the present time. Another message was ■ bei’ffg drafted that day. He was anxious that the British authorities should hold on to the £22,000,0'00 worth of wool ns long as possible, partly in order to permit of the sale of the new clip and partly because he believed the market would improve later. He thought that the New Zealand producers would be entitled to loonie share of the £B, 000,000. They would get a share if the market improved. Mr. J. V. Brown (Napier): Has all the wool gone to England or is some of it still here? Mr. Massey: I don’t know. Mr. Brown: Is any of it stored in Gis''borne'? (Laughter.) Mr. Massey: I don’t know where it is stored. CLEANING THE ESTIMATES GRANTS TO BE STRUCK OFF. The report that grants made to local bodies and not taken up by them were to be struck off the Estimates was referred to the Minister of Public. Works (Hon. J. G. Coates) yesterday afternoon by Mr. J. Bitohener (Waitaki), who asked for an assurance that this would not be done. Many local bodies, he said, had not taken up the grants owing to the impossibility of obtaining labour and material for the past few years. Mr. Coates said that many of these x grants had been on the Estimates year after year. It was with the idea of cleaning up the Estimates and making way for grants of real importance that he had told the local authorities that their grants if not applied for would be struck off. Even if that did happen the money could be applied for again. This did not apply to votes on. the Estimates for the last year and for the year 1919-20. They would appear on the Estimates next year. If any local body desired any particular item to appear again it would appear. He could give a definite assurance that that would be the position. DEBT VERY LITTLE OUTSTANDING. In. the House of Representatives yesterday the Hon. J. A. Hanan (Invercargill) asked if, in view of the serious financial position of the country from both a State and a private point of view, the Primo Minister would make a statement regarding the floating debt of the Dominion. Mr. Massey baid that, speaking from meinorv, he did not think there was . any floating debt. He was under the , impression that .the Treasury ’biHs-the usual form of floating debt-had all been redeemed. If .they had not all already been met, they would be met within the next few days. Mr Hanan:. There are other items. Mr Massey: "We owe some money to the imperial Government, but that has not Wen, funded, and is not floating deb in the ordinary sense. The Imperial Government was willing to make any reasonable arrangement. If any new arrangement was made, the country would have to pay n. higher rate of interest than it was paying now, so therefore it was decided to leave well alone for the time being. He would Santee that nothing would be left, untold when the Financial Statement came along He wished to satisfy members that the financial position of the country itself was perfectly sound, and that the Government was prepared to meet any difficulty for quite a long time to come. Din-in- the present debate he won d be able to give, hon, members some infermotion on the point. LAND VALUATIONS " REDUCTIONS SUGGESTED. "Tn view of the enormous reduction in the productive value of land, broughabou? by the sudden drop in the prices aiiout o.v „ j R Hamilton of produce sa ’ d nouM . « will the Govern'™™ consider the advisability of allowin'’ the present, valuations of land, t remain in operation until the depression parses away and the values return to something like the recent l« vals . The. Prime Minister replied that ne would be willing to look into the matter. He had no doubt that, the I ablation Department .would take into accoun • tf£ fall in the value of land compared with the values of six monllhs ago. The Department would look for the present value, whatever thatl might be. Mr. Massey added that it was interesting to notice'that instead of being urged to put dp land values, the Government was B «w being asked from many quarters do reduce them. The Government in this mutter, ns in all other motors, would do pn injustice, to the people concerned. It did not wish to tax land on any value, but the actinal value.

PUBLIC FINANCE STATEMENT BEING PREPARED. A request for as full a statement as possible of the financial position of the Dominion for the year ending this month was made in the House of Representatives by Mr. A. S. Malcolm (Clutha). The Prime Minister replied that a document was being prepared and would be submitted to Parliament. “I am prepared to give the House full details of the financial position of the country,” added Mr. Massey. "While I know that care and economy .are absolutely necessary if we are going to get through the present stringency without further difficulty, I see no reason to be anxious as far as the finances of the country are concerned." loanFrenewed MR. MASSEY FINDS NO DIFFICULTY. Replying to a question put by Mr. G. Witty (Riccarton) in the House, the Prime Minister (Mr. Massey) stated that arrangements had been made for the renewal of loans that fell due at the beginning of this year. The Treasury had been able to arrange at. the same time for the conversion of quite a large parcel of 41 per cent. fre_e of income tax debentures into 51 per cent, debentures bearing liability to income tax. Ho did not think that there would be much difficulty about renewing a larger amount of loan, falling due about the end of this year or the beginning of next) year. BOYS’ AGRICULTURAL CLUBS A FRESH PETITION. Mr. W. Stuart Wilson. who last 6es ' rten petitioned Parliament for t a grant to promote the establishment of boys’ agricultural clubs, has presented a fresh petition this session, asking the Government to proceed at an early date with the expenditure of the £l5OOO voted fol the scheme. The petition runs as follows: —"Whereas during last session a petition was presented! praying for the promotion of boys’ agricultural clubs as a means of increasing and assuring the prosperity of Now Zealand in. the future, and in accordance with the prayer of the petition and the recommendations of a Parliamentary Committee a sum of £5OOO was voted by the House of Reprosentativee for the establishment nf boys’ agricultural clubs, your petitioner declares that action should have been taken as soon Sis possible by the Minister of Agriculture to give effect to the decision' of th*l Government ami the House of Representatives. Th© delay in this matter means an immeasurable national loss. It is admitted by all thoughtful people'that despite the present decline in flic value of primary produce the prosperity of New Zealand demands a vigorous observance of the axiom of production, more production, and still more production. It is only by an increase of production that the enormous direct and indirect. costs of the war can be met, and it is only by increase of production that a good standard of- living can be maintained by the Dominion’s people. It is .admitted by all classes of the community that wise qsjpenditur'ei ntn t the establishment iof boys’ agricultural clubs would be nn"investment which would l repay itself a (thousand fold. Procrastination with such a project is the worst kind of false economy. Your petitioner hones earnestly that the House will direct, the Minister of Agriculture to carry out its decision without further cfelar." inaudiblFspeeches COUNCILLORS COMPLAIN. So bad are the acoustic properties of the new Legislative Council chamber, aud so distracting arc the noises that penetrate into the chamber from without, that it, is almost a matter of impossibility for the pressmen perched high in the gallery to make out with any degree of certainty what speakers are saying. Yesterday it became apparent that the reporters were not the only sufferers, but that listeners on the same level as the speakers found it impossible to hear distinctly. After spending a couple of hours tn hearing little but the drone of stonecutting machines and the sound of hammers, the Hon. O. Samuel rose during the afternoon and protested. He described the noises ns intolerable, and asserted that it was quite impossible to follow the speeches from any part of the chamber. He wished to know whether something could not be done to stop the marble-cutting and the knockings and hammerings. Sir Francis Bell made a reply which . was wholly inaudible at the Press table. The Speaker undertook that the hammering should cease. Sir William Hall-Jones said he had been told that the marble-cutting machines were engaged in cutting stone for other edifices than the Parliamental Buildings. Sir William Fraser replied that he did not believe that, was correct. He thought, however, that arrangements might be made to have the cutting slopped during the sitting hours of the Council. mortgageFjxtension AMENDING BILL INTRODUCED. The Mortgages Extension Amendment Bill introduced in the legislative Council yesterday, extends for a further term the two principal provisions of thte Mortgages Extension Bill, 1919, already once extended by the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill of last year. The present law stipulates that a mortgagee shall not exercise nnv of the powers conferred upon him by the instrument he holds before June 30 of this year. The extension proposed in the present Bill is until December 31. Another provision of the existing law gives the Supreme Court discretion, if application be made before June 30 next, to extend the term of a mortgage to June 30, 1922. The Bill proposes to extend the term within which the application may be made to December 31, and the period for which the extra protection may be granted to December 31, 1922.