PARLIAMENT

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 July 1924, Page 5

PARLIAMENT

ADDRESS-IN-R EPL Y. NO-CONFIDENCE DEBATE. ATTACK ON LIBERALS (by TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION.) , WELLINGTON, July 9. Ihe debate on the Address-in-Replv Wa rt, co ginned in the House to-dav. * f T Q !f on - C. J- Parr said that out ot 80 members of the House 31 were farmers, and in the Government itself the majority of the Ministers either iieie or had been farmers. Under tliese circumstances it was strange that asmali misguided section of farmers sou Id want to create a farmers’ party. Iheie were already three parties in Mouse and there was certainlv no need f ? ul u th i es P eciall y when the Govei nment had never failed with the + requirements of farmers. ment h« to -ft 11( ?- c ' 01lfi dence amendment, he said the obvious obieefc of that amendment was to eject the GovernontLT ° ffice i and £ llstal the liberals I th ® /.reasury benches. He therefore had a ught to ask where they would get their Ministry from. He saw no prospect of a Ministry being formed uhicb could L°ld office for a day without the support of Labour, hut the °f n l6 9 pp ° sition h «d cut himf t} ? afc support, because dec | a i' ed over and over again La £° ur "'ere as far apart of T T f S ' , IV,or we L re the Prospects hriJjt , Llhera!s * n the country very bright because it was generally considered their leadership was weak, and J”*? 0 event of a. general election thev must come back as a diminished third party. Jhe Liberals talked loudly about agricultural hanks, but so far no conbl et +L P1 ° POftal i bad - ever been submitted by them, and until they showed that smmJrT Sa C T ld be made financially sound the country was not justified in considering it. Pensions for the blind m? mentioned, hut he must point mt that the Government was under an ohhgntion to subsidise the Pearson Tund for the blind, which would then amount to about £IOO,OOO, which would he administered for the benefit of between 000 and 600 blind people of the Dominion. It had been said that the Government had failed in the matter or housing, hut he pointed out that since the Government nassed its Housing Act nine months ago they had fES^V 260 ?- iW"®*’ and haJ made tJTs ldowo e * tum am ° ,,l ' t ! n s r.of ri i J -, La "g sto »c (Waimarino) deprecated the Premier going into electorates by invitation to perform a public ceremony and then taking advantage of the opportunity to make a political speech. This was what the Premier +ii ,i* en ie U ent *° Taumarunui, and t^ d the peopJe he had taken the tax ott tea but who put the tax on tea? He told the people he had reinstated penny postage, but of what benefit was penny postage to the working classes who perhaps wrote only one letter per month? The Premier also told them hou he had reduced the income tax mt who got the reduction in income tax. Not the workers, none of whom paid income tax.

The debate was adjourned, and the House rose at 10.35 p.m. till 2.30 p.m to-morrow. 1