WELLINGTON TOPICS

Hokitika Guardian, 28 October 1932, Page 3

WELLINGTON TOPICS

LABOUR’S VIEW OE OTTAWA EXPRESSED BY DEPUTY LEADER (Special Correspondent). \ WELLINGTON, October 19. Speaking in the absence of Mr H. E. Holla ml, as deputy leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives la»t night, Mr M. J. Savage, the member ior Auckand . West, acquitted himself but passing well to an expectant body of' listeneis. The motion for the, ratification, of New Zealand’s trade with the iMother Country, in;, the. terms of the Ottawa conclusions was } an occasion- for capricious speech. ‘'While every other nation is rapidly moving to wards economic independence,” said Mr HollJnd’s substitute, “New Zealand’s industries are to be sacrificed for a spurious brand of Imperial preference. This Dominion is committed to :a thorough overhaul of its productive tariff duties in -order to put Britain in a better position to compete with the effect of the compact for a time, but it cannot bo its ultimate development.

Warming to his subject, and still keeping an eye on the Mother Country and its designs upoi the Dominion, Mr Holland’s deputy, declared that a statement by the Right Hon. J. G. Crates in introducing this subject last week simply teemed with evidence of a definite policy in the direction of making .this country still more dependent on externa J 1 markets for the sale of its products. It this is the sort of political economy Mr Savage : s propounding during the absence of his chief, Mr Holland shou’d lose no time in gettng back to. Jiis seat in the House.

GOVERNMENT CONFIDENCE The Hon E. A. Ransom, Minister of Lands in the Coalition Government, and -one- of its closest observers, reply'idg to Mr Savage, said it w'ould have been absurd to assume that the Ottawa Conference ivould forthwith remove all the ills that were besetting :the world. The process of recover} ; would be slow and necessarily tiresome; but already it wag, on .the horizon and would be accelerated by expending courage and effoit, Mr . Ran..soni/ thought for himself that one of the most important things.to be con-, sidered at the approaclung world economic conference would be the determination of currency and production. Party interests bad not entered into the .discussions of tee New Zealand Parliament while great world w’ide problems were being solved. Mr Savage had complained that New Zealand’s secondary industries had been neglected. Then, gp.id Mr Ransom, let us get together arid look a fter them. :

BLIND OPPOSITION. Under this heading the local morning- paper, not, without reason, takes exception to the . persistent efforts of the Labour Party to discredit the efforts of the Coalition Government tc surmount the difficulties by which the country is beset. “To oppose the Government, right or wrong, seems to be the settled policy of the Labouj Party,”, it says. “Thus it was not surprising although it was disappointing, to find that Mr Savage, in opening the debate on the Ottawa agreements in the House last night, had nothing good to say of them. The deputy leader of the Opposition was reduced to some queer shifts of arguments to maintain unbroken hostility, but he managed it. Whether that is to hir, credit or that of the party he spoke for on an Imperial question may be left to the public to judge.” , This criticism, though a little primitive, was obviously in accord with the sentiments of a large majority..