STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 30

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER.

WELLINGTON, September 10. On being asked by a New Zealand Times reporter whether he had anything ! to say in reply to Mr Masaey's latest statement, the Hon. Geo. Fowlds said :—: — . " Mr Massey continues to harp on the> j question of my telegram on the Chamber- . lain resolution, and insinuated that because he, aa Leader of the Opposition, was informed that the resolution was. being brought on I also ought to have known. To anyone acquainted with parliamentary procedure 'such a contention is eimply ridiculous. It is always understood that no very important business will be brought forward on the early I Monday night sittings of the session, and | that the business on the order paper will , be strictly adhered to. No mention wa& : made on the order paper of the proposed resolution. The reason why the Leader ,of the Opposition knew of the intention ' to bring it forward is that -he was asked to second it, and before calling on the orders of the day the late Mr Seddon had to ask the leave of the House before he could move the resolution. Regard* ing Mr Maasey's remarks about my trying to shelter behind Mr John Duthie, I have only to say that I have no desireto seek shelter behind anyone in this connection. Mr Duthie held the same view as I did with regard to the motive underlying the resolution, for in the course of his speech he said : ' It, (the resolution) is moved by the Prime Minister not to console Mr Chamberlain, bnfc to influence the British public in favour of his fiscal proposals.' I don't think much profit will result from a discussion between Mr Massey and me on our rela-s tive knowledge of economics, but I cannot allow his misrepresentation of wha" I said as to the effect of a drop in the price of wool to pass unnoticed. Mr Massey s friends on the platform and in the press have made statements regarding my remarks on that subject which it is sufficient to say were about as accurate as Mr Massey's emphatic denial of my statement that he had deplored the folly of New Zealand in not joining the Australian Federation. In M» Massey's latest reply certain words ar* given as mine within quotation marks. As the words have been wrested from their context and put together in a different order from that in which I gave them tt would be proper to apply a pretty strong term to the attempt to pass the quotation off as one from my speech. What I did say was as follows :— ' It is true that some of the prices of our Jeading products have been less last year than they were previously, but you have got to bearin mind that in one particular item — wool— the fall in price does not so readily reflect itself on the condition of the people as do some other items of our products — flax, for instance. The larger proportion of the woo] revenue goes into the pockets of those who have been spoken of as the " wool kings "" — wealthy people, who even in a bad year have more money than they can spend in the ordinary course of business. A drop in the price of wool simply means that they have so much less money for inveetmenfc A fall m the price of wool does not so directly and speedily affect the people as a whole as does a depreciation in the price of flax, because in the latter case v mone y 1S PasßingP as Bing almost directly intothe hands of a large number of workers, whose income mainly depends upon the returns from that particular product,' laken as a whole the statement is unimpeachable, but mangled and twisted as it has been by Mr Massey and his friends it would justify the criticism that ha.« been levelled at it. I notice that Mtt Massey discreetly omite all reference* to his emphatic denial of my statement that, he had deplored the folly of New Zealand not joining the Australian Federation. I think that the public hay» a right to know whether he admits that his emphatic denial was wrong and tha'iti 1 have a right to know whether he graciously absolves me from the necessity ef withdrawing and apologising."

Asked what i^ei'i^ lw» had, a Torquay hawker. fincH for obstruction, replied that he had a smr of clothes worth £50, with 10,950 peirl buttons on it.