Heated Exchanges in House

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 24, 21 October 1937, Page 3

Heated Exchanges in House

-Press Asiocistlon.)

minister's gharges

Member Asks for Full - Investigation s.!. — .

DEBATE ON BUDGET

Tftleersph-

'•WELLINGTON, Last Nigfct. The debate on.the Financial Statement was continued when the Hou«j resumed at 7.30 to-night, Mr. A. G. Hultquist making a plea for the nation* alisation of electric power supply on the Eaat- Coast. The Minister of Public Works (Hon. R. Semple) said logical criticism of the Government was justified, but the Oppositidn's attempt to convince the country that it was on the road to ruin «nd chaos was depaTting from the truth and was damaging to the country as a whole. He xeplied to.a statement by Mr. R. A. Wright on the previous evening to the eftect that-the Government did not represent a majority of the people by stating that no party in the jHouse had ever been xeturned to offico /With the number of votes which had bepn Tegistered in iavour of Labour last election. The last Government- had not been retuined to power on the yotes of the people but by political juggling. . Mr, Semple refuted the information that he had countenanced Public Works officers entering private property.in tha eourse of their dufcies without xef erence to the owners o£ such property. The Government had been criticised by the member for Central- Otago for w&steful ezpenditure, but there was no member of the House who had asked for more forvhis constituency than that houourable gentleman. If he had grant*ed all Mr. Bodkin had asked for it jwould have cost £1,500,000, said Mr. Bemple." .■>. • ' The Minister went-.on to lefpr.- to • a recent.request by the mexqber -for Cpn* (tral Otago to the Minister that he (Mr. Bemple) should provide money to build accommodation, either temporary or permanent, for a man in his electorate who was under notice to- quit his fesi* dence. Mr. Semple said he had had enquiries made into .the matter and had if ound out that" the member for Central Otago was himself -th.e owner of the house from which the tenant had reeeived notice to quit. Supposo the Opposition or Press had got h'old of a story where he as Minister of Public Works had used the public funds for the tenant of a member of the Labour Party who had-received notice to quit his house. Mr. Bodkin: Whv not tell the House. I gave the man a £50 section free to build a housel • Mr. Semple: I don't know what tho houourable member gave, but T do know tho documents proving my statement and I am prepared to show theso documents to anyone who wishes to seo them. ♦ Mr. Bodkin: You; never came to me for all the f acts. Mr. Semple continued that he agreed that more provision should.. be made to give access to badk-country settlers. They had been criticised for building roads which were speedwAys throughout the country, -but ie would point out that New Zealand was the second high•st motorised country per he&d of population in the .world and proper motor roads were a primary essential for tho aafety of the people. After the provision of these roads the next essential tras the proper contrpl of that traffic Ltself, The Labour Administration, he said, had no intcntion of "gobbling up," as it. has been put by members of the Opposition, all the transport services of the country, ■ but he did .not . think licenses should ever have been'issued to services 'which were comp.eting directly »rith the railways. A total of £75,000,000 had been spent on roads in tho Dominion and nearly • £70,000,000 on rail>vays. Was it a fair and reasonable thing, he asked, for the Government to allow private individuals to enter into direct competition with the railways and threatcn a service in- which .£7,000,000 of the'. country 's money had be.en expended? The Government had .been accused of unfairness in absorbing such competitors, but he could assure members that it was concentrattng on services wkich were in direct competition with the Tailways. He said the Government was out to play the game and not injure anyone 's business unduly. In conclusion Mr. Sempie said the Government 's objective was to have a monetary policy whiek would give effect, to tho needs pf the .people. On the conclusion of Mr Semple '1 speech Mr Bodkin rose to a point oi order, stating that tke Minister had completely misrepr.esented the positior with regard to Walker, the occupier oi the house mentioned by the Minister, and himself. The Minister had bees referring to a time wben the housi which Walker was occupying had been sold, but Mr Bodkin said he had given m a section valued at £50 adjoininj that property and had promlsed to en deavour to secure , money under the Government 's housing scheme to have a new residence built for Walker. Walkei had endeavoured to rent a vacant mar ried men's tent from the Public Worka Department to house him and his family, Uut his application had beeD refused. However, lie be'.ieved "VValkei had uow sccured possessiou of two single men's tents. Mr Bodkin said he would come oul of the investigation into the matter ia a mueh better light than the Government, which had failed to assist an old employee of its own. Mr H. G. Dickie claimed that he hac also been misrepresented by. the Minister, who had said that he (Mr Dickie) had attempted to lay at the Minister ;i ifigr ife mMsa£&&te grit%"gada

surveyors entering private property without permission. He did not mind the Minister 's vulgarity. Mr Savage also rose to a point of order, asking if a member was allowed to Tefer to the alleged vulgarity of another member of tho House. On a request from the Speaker, Mr {Dickie withdrew the mention of "vuH garity." . .. Mr Semple said he {had not accused' |Mr Dickie alone of the imputatioa to'1 iwhich he had referred, nor had he been jresponsible for any vulgarity. • Mr Semple, continuing, said as far aB Mr Bodkin was concerned he had! documents to prove his statements. Mr Bodkin: I ask for a full in-' vestigation. Mr D. McDougall congratulated theMinister of Finance and the Govern-, ment on what had been done during the past two yearB. The Government was! ithe most humanitarian one that had been/iu office, for 50 years. The Qppo-. sition had not played the game, he' said, and he was satisfied Mr Coates was the only man capable of leading the Opposition. Keferring to taxation, it would have been better if past governments had taxed more and borrowed less. The country was paying millions of pounds to "Uncle Moses" which were not necessary. There had been a lot of talk about Socialism, said Mr McDougall, but how could anyone be a' Christian without being a Socialist? ! .The founder of Christianity had preached socialism. "I'm not too pleased with this 5s 9d per bushel for wheat," he said, "for v I maintain that the man who cannot grow wheat at 4s 6d doesn't know his job." He hoped the Government would go on with the job of making laws to help those who were down and out. The Prime Minister was the only one who had done that since the days of the late Richard Seddon. The. Minister of Mines (Hon. P. C. Webb) Teferred facetiously to the facfc that only three members of the Opposition. were in their seats in the House when he rose to speak. For a while he said he thought he must be addressing the House after next election. He ivent on to refer to the service which the Minister of Labour had given the eountry in reducing unemployment and he asked the Opposition to be fair and give, the Government credit for tackling the problem in the way it had. Mr Webb continued that with the rapid development of motor traffic surely it was a reasonable and sane thing to- do to develop roads for that traffic, and he wished to congratulate the Minister of Public Works on the work earried out by his department in that direction. He also referred to the work that had been done in the direction of river protection. The Government was spending a lot of money on this objective -to protect farms from flood damage. He appealed to members of the House and local bodies to co-operate with the Government in having roading schemes put right into the backblocks. The debate was interrupted by tho' adjournment at 10.30. '