CEMENT COMMISSION’S REPORT

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 70, 15 December 1921, Page 8

CEMENT COMMISSION’S REPORT

END OF THE DEBATE TALK ABOUT INFLUENCE MINISTER DEMANDS FAIRNESS The interrupted debate on the report of the Cement Commission was resumed in the Houso of Represi-1 tatives yesterday afternoon. Mr. 11. Aiinore (Nelson) continued his unfinished speech. Mr. Atmore said that in his own district, and in the district represented by Mr. Masters, h? had found clear indications that the public accepted Mr. Masters’s statements as having been correct. The commission had accepted as accurate the statements of the chairman of tho Board of Trade, whereas (hose statements were not accurate. Mr. Masters’s exnosure of the cement business had done more than anything that had happened previously to shake public confidence in the Board of Trade. He hoped that as a result of the inquiry the Golden Bay works would bo reopened and the men formerly employed there restored to their occupation. Fhe finding of the commission was iMSed on faulty information. He believed that th« general public would give credit to Mr. Masters, to whom it was duo , Mr K. S- Williams (Bay of Plenty.) said that he and members of lit’ fnnl ' had been mentioned as shareholders in the Wilson Cement Company, and the inference had been made that they had tried to influence the Minister of Jus ice or the Government to tioik on account in this matter of cement. He wished to give the inference a most emphatic den?al. He had never men boned r the Minister or the Government that ’ 17..£S"i*r. ...a -it'”''-”; his relatives had ever suggested to any member of the Government that they tipuHpc! dnv protection. , Air Masters (the member who made fhe charges into which tbe commission nauired) said that he had never suggested tlmt Mr. Williams had approached Sh/Minister in charge of the Board of Trade for the purpose of influencing him He had simply, in answer to an interioction by the Prime Minister menboned tho name of the honourable genii n nnrl of th? honourable gentlethey had. He made no sng"osfion t n H,ey had attempted to influence the Mr St H M Campbell (Hawke’s Bny) said he understood there had been -an insinuation that tbe Government had been influenced hv the shareholders, and he had been cred-fed with being a . • holder himself. He hnd never mentioned cement to any member of H’o Govern7 nt -iX d ; Xt™ « ?<y! diavns was hevond his , Tho Minister in charge of th» Boo'd of Trode (Hon. E. P. T J? said the member for Nelson _ sneges that, the finding of the commission had been based on incorrect ovidence_ W a did the member not accept the find, e of the tribunal that hnd been demanded? "Give us a Judge.” the member making Dive 11S a a , , b(s „ n the charges had said. A .iW r-e given and there had 'been a full m qn The Lender of the Opposition: Do you read the verdict as one of not gm -y Ol 'The t Minister asked why the Gpposf Hon members should not act h* "sports” and take their beating. He had not° done anything to provoke Hie de hatC I that nd’ I Se Smt P S-saJ e wsiat HcS on the referread a the ence. j commission, in proceedings before Masters order to demons rate that Mr. M evidence on all to ” n(lpr evi dence upon, pressed ad ■ _ T)Tec i sc ly answered the 7° J mn e de bv Mr Masters that, the charge made y it wag not „ s . JTd 111 The Judge had found that. Hie tilled. . e , . r „j The Judge had also rise was justifi . charge that „ iven a finding upon the , fnal J e , thought one thing oi an . t - on Ra y districts? W1 ! ( ?." a fllo ..„hU > The newswhat the public tl o igl • the papers had approved the fin<tin D C ‘"^Xrr e iu bj Eta lii u.. »«»'" wo>•« * >"• T nreside. Ministers and officials na rig P ht to be treated fairly and criticised fairlv. When a suggestion is I ,'. I was influenced, I give it an emphatic denial. . • There has been an unwarranted attack, an unwise attack flamed in extravagant language. Not one cl >ai-, has been proved. On the contrary, the Judge has found that what the boaid did g was in the interests of the publie, and that, if anything, it was rathei haul on the cement companies. _ If chaice-. o this kind are to be made in tns Hoi. e, and the decision of (he l]oyal Comm, sion is not to bo acc*pt«L "’hat is the use of asking for inquiries at all. The Leader of the Opposition said that tho Minister, had misrepresented him. What, he hnd said in regard to the order of reference was that ns drawn up by the Crown for fhe inquiry, it prevented Mr Masters’s charge from being ’’'vestigated. and that the wording allowed the Judge to bring in a finding about something that Mr. Masters had never stated. He had made the point that whereas Mr. Masters’s charge had reference to fhe price of cement at fhe works, the order of reference related to prices ex store, "Wellington. The Minister: What I said was that tho order of reference covered the charges made bv the member for Stratford. If the Lender of the Opposition is not satisfied by what I have said and by what. I have read to the House, he would not be satisfied, “though one lAore raised from the dead.” MENTAL DEFECTIVES BILL The Mental Defectives Bill makes extended provision for tho handling of the estates of mentally defective persons by tho Public Trustee. It. has many tec'llthc<il clauses relating to procedure and ■administration. The House put it through all stages last night and passed it without amendment. ONE SAINT EXCEPTED. Sir Walter Buchanan, M.L.C., yesterday asked the Attorney-General a question about, bank holidays. "Ought, wo not to abolish,” ho said, “the three bank'ing holidays that are anything but useful to business and other members of tho community—St. Georce’s Day. St. Andrew's Day, innd St. Patrick’s Day ” Sir Francis Bell replied: About St. George’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day I | agree; but not about St. Andrew’s.