HEATED DEBATE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20055, 29 September 1939, Page 10

HEATED DEBATE

VIEWS IN HOUSE LABOUR PARTY POLICY ATTACK BY MR. COATES REGIMENTATION SYSTEM REPLY BY MR. ERASER (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Heated exchanges crossed the floor of the House of Representatives between. Government and Opposition benches last night during a bitter phase of the discussion on the second reading of the Customs Acts Amendment Bill.

The first shots were fired by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (Nat., Kaipara), who saicl that the difficulties facing production, trade and business in the country--'to-day were due to the policy of 'restriction enforced by the Minister'of Finance, the Hon. \V. Nash. With restrictions on imports and restrictions on exports, the country had been regimented into a stage where it almost had to get a licence to move, said' Mr. Coates. The. Minister of Finance was directly responsible. He had ignored for nearly four years every suggestion made by the Opposition. Questions had been sidestepped and half answered when ; a frank And open statenicnf l of the country’s-position could have settled many problems. Mr. Nash was even now trying to tie the country in' a Worse knot than ever.

Taking the first opportunity of defending 1 his colleague, the acting Prime Minister, the • Finn. P. Fraser, described the speech' made by Mr Coates as a vindictive' and unexampled personal attack on Mr. Nash. Seeking Co-operation

“I have, not heard anything like it since I came into this House,” said Mr. Fraser. “We have been seeking co-operation, but even co-operation is too big a price to pay for the sacrifice of one of Our members.

“I .am , not going to stand by and see one of the Government members singled out for an attack on policy. Every member of the Government is equally responsible.

"We can go on with the co-opera-tion off the other side, but we go on whether we get it or not. No part of the policy of this Government has been responsible for any handicap in defence.”

Firmly siding with Mr. Coates, Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (Nat., Waitorno), said that he had heard many vindictive speeches made by Labour Party members when they were in Opposition and Mr. Fraser could not complain on that account. Only that afternoon .Mr. Nash had refused to give an answer Jo a question put to him by Mr. Coates.

Mr. Fraser interjected that the question had been answered by Mr. Nash the previous day. Mr. Broadfoot retorted by asking why the Government had not adjourned Parliament for three weeks, so that it could have brought its war legislation down in proper order. The Hon. W. E. Parry: He is a good little chap at heart. Mr. Broadfoot: They should adjourn for three years, or get out of office' when there is a man’s job to be done. Thousand Put Out of Work

He added that 1000 men had been put out of work as a result of the petrol regulations and business had been paralysed. The new war finance proposals were also samples of class taxation. Events took a new turn when Mr. H. S. S. Kyle'.(Nat., Riccarton) rose and declared that Mr. Coates had been cut off the air when lie said that people were saying that the war was a Godsend to the labour Party, but immediately the acting Prime Minister began his speech he was on the air.

Mr. F. L. Frost lLab., New Plymouth), who had entered the chamber at that moment, said he had been listening in and had heard all ol the words of Mr. Coates. Mr. Fraser: It is all nonsense. Nobody was cut oil the air.

Adopting tlie attack from another angle, Mr. Kyle said that Mr. Nash had taken the responsibility for the Labour Party’s policy when he told the people of England that the policy operating in New Zealand had been laid down by himself many years ago when he was a member of the Burgesses’ Association in his home town. Mr. Nash: That is silly nonsense. Mr. Kyle: I have seen it in newspapers and I have not heard of it being denied. Asked by the Speaker of the House to confine his words to the bill, Mr. Kyle retorted that he had heard, a number of speeches that had made no reference to the bill. An explanation was then made by Mr. Fraser that the speech of Mr. Coates had been interrupted on the air by a surge caused by a local fault, but that he had only been off the air for a short time.

"No one is going to play fast and loose with this House,” he added. "It is on the air for the equal benefit of ail members.”

Mr. ’ Coates interposed that as the speaker directly concerned he did not care two pins whether he was on the air or not.

“How did the member for New Plymouth manage to hear you when you were Off the air?” inquired Mr. Kyle to the amusement of many members