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Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19994, 20 July 1939, Page 14

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BURDEN OF COSTS GOVERNMENT CRITICISED DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS J'UBLK ' WORKS PRAISED MEMBER’S COMPARISONS (Pcv Pro.is Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. When the Address-In-Repiy debate was resumed in tiie House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, Mr. E. B. Gordon (Nat., Rnngitikci), continued his speech which had been interrupted" by the adjournment o. the House the previous evening.

Mr. Gordon contended that since the Government had come into office the Dominion’s exports had decreasec and farm production and the .farming area under cultivation had also decreased. The Government hac said that these decreases were du to climatic conditions, but climatu conditions could not be responsible for the reductions in the number; of cows, pigs and sheep in the country. Increases in farming costs had increased rates and taxes On the farming community who were the responsible factor, tie asserted.

He accused the Government o breaking its contract with the daily farmers in that it was not talc in; into consideration increased tarn costs in fixing the guaranteed price The Government was not prepared t< stabilise farmers’ costs, though it hac stabilised their incomes.

Mr. C. F. Skinner (Lab., Motueka) making his maiden speech, said the member for Mid-Canterbury, Mr. A N. Grigg, had stressed the difficult,' of getting shearers. Mr. Skinner sair he had had considerable experience of shearing and would say the

scarcity of shearers was due to the action of the woolgrowers in the day. gone by. To-day, the squatters wen paying the penally because they would not give the men the opportunity of learning shearing.

Conditions at Wailaki The Leader of the Opposition, th< Hon. Adam Hamilton, had stated tha. the previous Government had uscc some of the money borrowed overseas on hydro-electric schemes. Mr Skinner said he had worked on public works since 1931, and would lik-. the House to know the condition: that were in force on the Waitak scheme. There were 18(5-4 reportec accidents on the job and the department paid compensation for 11 deaths, live of which were due to lack of safety measures. Altogether £27,505 was paid out in compensation and 75 per cent could have been saved if safety precautions hac been taken. The men were compelled to work with faulty gear and in every way, tHe job was carrier on in a slipshod manner because the Government would not spend the money on up-to-date machinery. He hoped that when member: •started criticising .the public' works they would remember these things The public works were a heaven today compared with what they were in the past. The men had confidence in the safety of the machinery they were using, and had a free hand as to what precautionary measure; were to be taken. Dairy Farmers’ Position Mr. .1. Robertson (Lab., Masterton) compared the living and financial conditions of the farmers to-day with those existing under the previou: Government, and stated that it wa: pure nonsense to say that the dairy farmer was no better off under tin guaranteed price than he had beet under the hid system of the rise and fall in prices. The Opposition was exaggerating the position when it said that high wages were responsible for many farmers' difficulties to-dav. lie contended that compulsory military training, as ii had operated in New Zealand in the past, was valueless. Tile Minister of Defence, the lion. F. Jones, referring to the Leader of the Opposition’s point in the amendment tb the Address-in-Reply relating to defence, said that when he had heard his (Mr. Jones’) outline oi what had been achieved, Mr. Hamilton would probably ask to have the reference to defence deleted. It was the present Government, the Minister said, which had asked for the recent defence conference which had discussed many problems. II was impossible to slate publicly ail that had taken place at that conference, but he cculd assure the House that the conference’s work would result in greater co-ordination and security of the British Commonwealth. Major-General P. J. Mackesy had been one of the British delegates to the conference and the British authorities had been _ asked, and had agreed, to allow him tc stay in New Zealand for a few weeks to report on the land iorces. His report had been presented to the Government and many of his recommendations were at present receiving consideration. Response to Recruiting In connection with the land forces of the Dominion, he challenged the Leader of the Opposition to mention any acceptable .suggestion that had been put forward by his party. If was true that they advocated compulsory' training, but tncy were not prepared to adopt it as part of their election platform. He had yet to hear of any assistance the Opposition had given towards recruiting, said Mr. Jones. Reports received showed that recruiting had been good and infinite a number of districts the number required had been exceeded. Me referred to the .splendid response which had been received from the Maoris and continued that lie had been surprised and disappointed at remarks of one member of the Opposition regarding the formation of Scottish units throughout the Dominion.

Ho wen] on to deal with the defence position ns the Government found it when it came into office and said that to-day both officers and men were showing greater keenness

than they hart ever done in the past. During the year, .special attention !i.id been paid to building up the land torces to the full establishment of figures —950(1 of all ranks. This had been achieved, and in many districts (lie units had exceeded their establishment.