TEST TAKEN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20001, 28 July 1939, Page 11

TEST TAKEN

FIRST DIVISION 45 TO 23 VOTES MOTION OF CONFIDENCE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY TALK ENDING OF LONG DEBATE ALLEGATION IN HOUSE (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Address-in-Reply debate in the House of Representatives was • coninued: yesterday by Mr. W. T. .Anderson (Lab., Eden) whose speech had been interrupted by the adjournment on Che previous evening. He continued his criticism of British foreign policy, .and said that if Britain had made an agreement with Russia, there would have been peace in Uie world to-day. He also denied the contention that poverty existed in New Zealand at present. Enlightenment as to the method to be used by the Government to meet the deficit in the dairy account, was sought by Mr. H. G. Dickie (Nat.. Patea), who said that a deficit already existed in this account and, with the prospects for butter and cheese none

too bright, there was a possibility ot a fur her deficit of £2,000,000. Would this be a charge against the producers, he asked, adding that he did no.t think any one of the Ministers couid provide an answer. The Minister of Education, 'the Hon. P. Fraser: The debt is against the _.e.pre of the Dominion. The Government has ..'he right to say how it will be met. Mr. Dickie contended that they should be told how the Government proposed to finance the deficit. He add'ed that the Government had succeeded in landing the country in a financial mess and 'the only way out seemed to be in the devaluation of currency. He contended that if the exchange A’ere not pegged down and was allowed to rise to its proper level, there would be no debit in the dairy lund. Air. Dickie also dealt with the losses made by ifhe New Zealand wool pack industry at Foxton, despite substan•„ai assistance by the State. He was •n favour of establishing suitable secondary industries in New Zealand. Me iaid, but he was afraid that a ...ca. deal of money put into them by he Government wouid be wasted. Antediluvian System Mr. C. A. Barrel! (Lab., Hamilton) ■alci ..he monetary system to-day was antediluvian and the financiers themse.ves realised there had to be a change. New Zealand, he thought, might lead the way in this direction.

Mr. Barrell asserted that New Zealand was being better catered for in connection with defence that ever before in its history, and the present Minister of Defence bad done more for :he country in this respect than ny of his predecessors. He also defended t-he guaranteed price for dairy produce, quoting ’gures to show that the payment of rates in the dairying districts was ,e.;ter than ever before, and he added that the dairy farmers ishould be even an opportunity to say whether they wanted the present system to continue. After the tea adjournment Mr. J. O’Brien (Lab., Westland) said that honourable members of the Opposition had been telling the Government how wrong it was, but they had been very careful not to say what they would do themselves in relation to the country’s finances. Their past actions, however, told what they would do. If returned, their first act would be to stop a great number of public works. Probably they would sack about 5000 civil servants, 4000 railwaymen and 10,000 employed on housing construction. Unuemploymcnt Comparisons Before we knew where we were, the shops and factories would be closing and we would soon be back in the position where there were 50,000 to 70,000 unemployed, he added. Mr. H. S. S. Kyle (Nat., Riccarton) said that the Minister of Public Works, ihe Hon. R. Semple, had stated that there was more unemployment in New South Wales than there was in New Zealand, but the Opposition could not i.et the figures that applied o New Zealand.

While New Zealand had granted during the past year almost £6,500,000 on relief, the New South Wales Government was actually reducing taxation. There were probably between ;;5,000 and 40,000 unemployed in New Zealand to-day, he said. The Government contended it could carry on the work of stock and station agents better than those firms had done, said Mr. Kyle, but the stock and station agents had carried out a very great work for this country and had assisted in its development more than ever the Labour Party had done. He criticised the Government for not do-

ing more in an attempt to eradicate tuberculosis from New Zealand dairy Marketing of Eggs In conclusion, Mr, Kyle asked that in inquiry should be made into the allegation that a certain civil serant was receiving £2OOO a year in

connection with the marketing of eggs and was also a guarantor for a Christchurch company from which he received £566 last year. One of the directors of the same company had recently'been appointed as the Government nominee on the Poultry Board. There seemed to be a sinister inference in this and an investigation should be made. The debate then concluded and the first vote* of the session was taken on the Opposition’s no-confidence motion, which was defeated by 45 to 23 votes, Ithe following being the division list. For the amendment: Allen, Bodkin, Rroadfoot, Burnett, Dickie, Doidge, Forbes, Goosman, Gordon, Grigg, Hamilton, Hargest, Holland, Jull, Kidd, Kyle, MacDonald, Massey, Ngata, Poison, Ransom, Roy and Wilkinson. Against the amendment: Anderton, Armstrong, Atmore, Barclay, Barrell, Boswell, Caar, Chapman, Coleman, Combs, Cotterill, Cullen, Denham, Fraser, Frost, Godgens, Hultquist, Jones, Lee, Lowry, Lyon, McCombs, Mac/Farlnne, McKcen, Martin, Meachcn, Moncur, Neilson, Nordmeyer, O'Brien, Osbbrne, Paikea, Parry, Petrie, Richards, Roberts, Robertson, Schramm, Semple, Skinner, Mrs. Stewart, Sullivan, Thorn, Tirikatcne, and Williams. Pairs for the amendment: Coates, Cobbe, and Endean. Pairs against the amendment: Savage, We'bb, and Mason. After Mr. R. M. MacFarlane (Lab., Christchurch South), mover of the motion that a respectful address be tendered to the Governor-General, had briefly replied, the motion was carried without a further division. During the debate, which approached a record for length, ex.cncung over four weeks and 15 sitting days, a total of 73 speakers had taken part, including ad members oi j.ne Opposition. The only members who had not taken part were the Speaker, the Hon. W. E. Barnard, me Hon. W. E. Parry, the Hon. P. C. Webb, the Hon. F. Langston and the Hon. W. Nash, the two last named ao -n, ..rain the country, Mr. F. W. Schramm (Lab., Auckland rAsi), and Mr. A. S. Richards (uab., Roskill) On the motion for the adjournment, the deputy leader of the House, the Hon. P. Fraser, in reply to a question from the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Adam Hamilton, said that to-day would be devoted to a discussion of questions and their answers. The House rose at 9.50 o’clock until 10.30 a.m. to-day.