ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 56, 9 March 1944, Page 5

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE

Vigorous Attack and Defence

(Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, March 8. Numerous notices or questions addressed to Ministers, mainly by Opposition members, were a feature of the formal business part of to-day ’s sitting of Parliament. in one case the Prime Minister considered a question of sufficient importance to give an immediate reply, and in another case he replied at least in part by interjection. Miss Howard (Christchurch East) asked the Minister of Supply for a clarification of the position regarding meat rationing for children. She said she had received several complaints from women with children just over five and from one whose child was six on February 7. This woman had been told that she could not obtain the full ration for the child unless she produced a birth certificate. . That would mean that the certificate would have to be purchased before the ration was made available. Mr. Adcrman (New Plymouth) asked the Minister of Supply when it was proposed to make public the details of the larger quantities of meat to be made available for workers in heavy industries. He. pointed out that the Minister had said when broadcasting on February 7 that further details would bo given within a fortnight. Mr. Morton (Waitemata) asked the Prime Minister if steps would be taken to have a survey made of the staffing of the Security Bureau at Wellington so that category A men might be released for army duties. He said a preponderant number of such men were still on the staff. Mr. Fraser: You mean the Security Intelligence Bureau? They are being put off every day. Censorship Mr. Findlay (Hamilton) asked the Prime Minister if the Censorship Board of which the Prime Minister was chairman would issue instructions immediately that the censorship of mails for other than security purposes should cease. Mr. Findlay said he had information that private investment business mentioned in a letter had been passed on to a Government Department. Senator Ashley (Australian PostmusterGeneral) had said that the opening of letters for any other purpose than security smacked more than faintly of Gestapo tactics, he added. Mr. Bodkin (Central Otago) asked the Postmaster-General if it were possible to make better arrangements for the delivery of parcels to New Zealanders in the Pacific theatre. lie said letters from soldiers said that no parcels had been roceived although some had been stored on a forward island until the mailbags rotted and the contents had to be buried. Air. Fraser said the Minister of Defence had endorsed to some extent what Mr. Bodkin had said. It was not a matter the Postmaster-General could deal with. All that could be done was to make most urgent representations about the matter because the 'traffic was provided by our American allies. He asked for specific cases and said that investigations and representations would follow. Reports of Parliamentary Speeches Mr. Richards (Roskill) on behalf of himself and four other Auckland members addressed an urgent question to the Prime Minister concerning the relative amount of space given by the New Zealand Herald to reports of speeches made last week by the leader of the Opposition and the Minister of Supply. The questioners asked if the Prime Minister would consider the ad- ' isability of making representations to newspapers which showed marked unfairness in publishing the proceedings of Parliament and an endeavour be made to have some remedy applied. Mr. Fraser said that the advisability of making representations to newspapers which appeared to show such marked discrimination in publishing reports of Parliamentary debates would be considered as would also the question as to whether the facilities of the Press gallery provided by Parliament for the very capable representatives of the Press in that gallery were fully availed of by the newspapers represented. If anything of a lack of appreciation of the services provided were shown in the way of publication of unfair reports then the whole question would have to be discussed with those concerned. Mr. Doidge (Tuurangu): Does that apply to the Labour Standard too? Mr. Fraser: The Standard of anybody. J Mi-. Doidge: Two columns to you in the Standard and nothing for anybodv else! Mr. Fraser said he was talking about the Press gallery. Ho did not think the Standard was represented in the gallery. He added that he would not expect weekly papers published for a particular purpose to give a totally impartial report He was not concerned with weekly papers, but with the facilities provided for the Press gallery. lie added that they could not expect absolute accuracy, but they did expect at least an effort at fairness. Mr. Poison (Stratford): Don’t you think speeches should be assessed by their value? Mr. Fraser said lie did—if there were a fair method of assessment. “It ill becomes the Press talking about censorship to arrogate to themselves the right to such a complete censorship,” lie added, “and I am perfectly certain the House won’t stand it.” Mr. Denham (Invercargill) continued the Address-in-lieply debate, criticisinepropaganda which lie attributed to the National Party such as reports of the dumping of butter in Nelson harbour. The most damaging National Party propaganda he had seen was in a circular lie had read. He would not say what was in the circular, but it bore fruit. He considered the circular was nothing short of fifth columnist. It was over the fence. The Speaker (Air. Schramm), replying to a point of erder raised by Mr. Slieat, ruled Mr. Denham’s remarks iii order as he had not referred to any particular subject which had been barred from discussion in the House. Mr. Smith (Bay of Islands) said many of the older members of the House, particularly those in Cabinet had lost contact with the ordinary man! He hoped and believed that the new members would assist the Government to govern the country with the people. The Government had taken the voice of small militant sections as the voice of the community. Ordinary people asked for unity in these troubled times, but the Government clung to party government at all costs. Mr. Smith contended that Now Zealand had fallen down on the main aspect of tho war effort—food production. It was not the farmer’s fault. The Government had another think coming if it expected to take men from the army or anywhere else and put them on farms' at £4

weekly. Farmers should be paid a juice sufficient to enable them to pay wages equivalent to those received by other sections of tfie community, including watersiders. There would not be any difficulty in getting farm labour if it were paid for at Ss 4d an hour while others did the job. Air. Smith said the Government’s policy in recent years toward the Maori people had not been in the latter’s best J interests. It catered for their weakI nesses, amounting to selling their birthJ right for a mess of votes. The pernicious system of something for 110thi ing meant tragedy for the Maori people i who must be taught that cooperation meant pulling their weight in the team, not loafing on their mates or living on i family allowances. [ Air. Lowry (Otaki) said only four [ million acres of native land remained ’ when the Government took office and ! it was stupid to try to .blame the 1 present Administration for the Alaoris’ i loss of their birthright. Mr. Lowry l said there was an almost parochial 1 attitude taken on manpower by some l of the Government’s critics, who talked j of over commitment despite the global ; nature of the war and our undimiuished responsibilities in it. Taking every- ! thing into consideration, the Govern 5 mont particularly and the country generally could take credit for the . great war effort to date. This natur- • ally involved hardships for farmers and other groups, but the sacrifices at home did not comjjare with the supreme sacri- ’ lice made by the soldiers, lie preferred to be charged with doing too much for the war effort than too little. At tli€ time of the Japanese crisis the Govern- ! meat was compelled to mobilise every possible man. It would have been nc use leaving men to produce butter and cheese if the Japanese had not been stopped. Some critics sought popu- ; larity by taking the line of least resistance and advocating things not in the best interests of the country, but the Government had to consider all the factors and would face the issues as the circumstances changed. Air. Lowry said the leader of the Opposition, referring to the miners, had called for the law to be upheld. Did Air. Holland want a minority of men who perhaps were troublemakers put into prison? That was not the way to get the coal, as Air. Churchill and other war leaders had to acknowledge. The solution of the problem was difficult to arrive at, but it certainly would not ,be achieved by castigating the Government for alleged lack of initiative or by abusing the men for their shortcomings. He said tho House of Representatives should be the focal point of our democracy and in Parliament the laws of the land should be shaped ami given their final and binding form. 'Whether Parliament to-day retained the power and authority which once belonged to it was open to doubt. It was not possible for Parliament to deal with a mass of details of day-to-day Government. Parliament must of necessity delegate some of its functions, but they should see that Parliament should never be debased to being a mere machine for the endorsement of an all-powerful and contemptuous executive. The House no longer held the respect and esteem which was its due. Democracy meant popular government, not executive dictation and control. Air. Chapman (Wellington North) said that, apart from Aressrs. Hamilton and Poison, none of the members of the Opposition had done anything for the war effort. There was an outburst of protests from Opposition members, and Air. Chapman said ho was not referring to war service but to political cooperation. Only two had given genuine cooperation and the others had given nothing but carping criticism of the Government’s war effort. After quoting coal production figures in detail. Air. Chapman said New Zealand had had very little industrial trouble compared with Australia and Britain, but what stop-: pages did occur in New Zealand were magnified by the Opposition for; political purposes. Mr. Chapman said Air. Holland in his election broadcast from Christchurch used words of such a character that young men in the army were misled and adopted a course which was most regrettable. Fortunately the difficulty kau been overcome, but no help was received from tho leader of the Opposition. Air. Holland, rising to a point of order at the end of Air. Chapman’s speech, said the latter had grossly misrepresented him in saj'ing no help was forthcoming from him in the solution of certain {problems engaging the Government’s attention. He had been in constant contact with the Government ana had been thanked by the Prime Alinister and Alinister of Supply for his action. He also conferred twice with the War Cabinet in an effort to find a solution to the problems in question. Air. T. C. Webb (Ivaipara) expressed concern lest the Government by regulation —of which some measure was admittedly unavoidable in war time—should be continued on an excessive scale after the war. He said the point of cleavage more responsible than an) other for the decliuc in the Government’s popularity was misgiving over the relationship of the Government to Labour groups. Recent events haa shown the Government’s unwillingness to enforce the law against those on whom it depended for political support. Workers in wartime should not be able) to use their privileged position in industry to hold the community to ransom. What would happen if the men fighting m Italy and the Pacific took similar action or demanded danger noney. The Opposition, however, dia stand for the highest possible wages for those who did their work conscientiously and there was an unanswerable case for a better deal for the lower grades in the Post Office and Railways Department. Air. Langstoue (Waimarino), declaring that the Opposition stood for private enterprise,, said he would show how private enterprise operated. He quoted the income of insurance companies from premiums and the amount paid out on claims. “The fire brigades of this country are so efficient,” he said, “that it is impossible to have a fire anyhow.” Air. Atmore (Nelson): Is that a complaint? Air. Laugstone: No. He added that insurance companies received money in premiums and then j>ut it out on loan to the local bodies that supported the fire brigades and the ratepayers had to pay the interest to support private enterprise. The State FireOffice was made a stool pigeon and smokescreen for other insurance coiupanies. If the State Fire had been operated properly there wouiu not be another insurance company in business in New Z.ealand. Years ago the State had made provision for £IOO,OOO ot capital for the State Fire, but not outpenny had ever been used. There was no need for capital for insurance companies or for banks either. In 38 years the assets of the State Firo had grown to £1,547,103 and the State had not g<ft a great amount of business. It it were functioning as it should the insurance companies would not be extracting premiums from the public to lend them back to them again. Air. Bowden (Wellington Suburbs)

L said the War Risk Insurance Fund was an example of exploitation equalling t anything cited by Air. Laugstone. Iu March last year there was £2,500,000 in \i tho fund and only £995 had been paid out in claims. Tho fund was now approximately £4,000,000 and the premiums were higher than in Australia 1 which was right in the war zone. Air. Bowden said despite the splendid production record in such industries as biscuits and clothing shortages in some essential goods remained while less essential industries carried on. There was need for more men and women in essential industries or l’or increased hours. There should bo a drastic reviewing of the strengths held in the Army, lie knew tho Army had made many releases, but there could be more including substantial releases from the women’s uniformed services. Redundant staffs were also held in Government offices. Mr. Bowden, speaking of the coal shortages and industrial stoppages, said said where any section holding privileges proved unworthy or callous of the needs of others those privileges should be removed. For instance, privileged workers should be compelled to open up their unions and allow others into the industry. Also there should be proper efficiency teats and standards in all industries provided for. After the war he advocated a standing army. Now Zealand would ulso have to contribute to the point of sacrifice to the reconstruction of European countries. To achieve these responsibilities we needed another 2,000,000 people residing iu the country—including a million men for defence. To introduce this number of peoplo and doubling our population would mean revising our ideas about everything in New Zealand at the present time. A redistribution of land, for instance, would be necessary in a few years if we were going to establish two farmers where there was one to-day. The sum and substance of the Opposition claims about the farmers during the debate had been that the farmers had more land than they could manage and they would have to disgorge some of it in the postwar years.