NO CONFIDENCE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 164, 4 March 1932, Page 5

NO CONFIDENCE

• (Press. Assq.—

LABOUR MQTION ! MR. HQLLAND STATES POLICY GOVERNMENT- SHOULD ^DOBT REPLV BY ilR. COATEg

rBy Telegraph— Copyright).

; . WELLINGTON, Thursday. The debate on the Address-in-Reply Was resumed -in the House -qf Representatives to-day, when the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. H. E. Holland, riioved' a straigBt-out vote of no confidenqe in the Government. The task of replying to the Labour lea,der on behalf of the Government f ell to Mr. Coates. , , j Mr- Hqlland maintained that the . Government shbuld have had a pqlicy > rqady for presentation to Parliament Befere the commencement of the Ad-(Iressrin-tReply debate. Appqrently the Government did nct.haye a policy , §nd was wajting fqr the repprts pf the .variqus commissipns recently appointe.d. ... asseyted.that the rank and file of the Government Rarty Rad pqt been con^ultpd qp the Intlustrial .ConT ciliatjon and ,Arbjtr§tion Amfifidment Bill, bpt wqre pxpected tq coipe into the Ifqusq ^lin^lqlded and dumb. " t ' Cq^inuing, Mr.' §plland advbeateR iricrqas§i prqductipn, fypm .the land, ^be jnakiiig; of ^ertiiisers niqre qa§ilyavailable and generally, a reorganisation of industry and a comprehensive system of prqdpctiqn and distfibution. The best way pf proyidjng an in* ternal market fpr the farmers, Mr.

Holland said, was to p,ay high wages ahd keep everybody. in work. The effect of reducing wages was to threaten farmers with bankruptcy because they weye .upablq to sell their produce... Surely. there was st.atesmapsbip enoqgh i§; New .^paiand- tp find a way tp. bripg fq starving families the produce whicb the farmers were unable to sell. WBat was wrong in New Zealand was the loss pf purcBasing power. , .

, "pj.Z. the Best Market" Mr. Holland urg'ed that tBe principle market for all our prpducts was here in New Zealand. We had a ,bigr ger market locally- for New Zealajid products than we Bad overseas, cpris'equently we must pay first attenpion to our New Zealapd market. Our first duty was to restore p.urchasing power by getting men and women back into employriierit in industries of economic value, and not at the starvation rates proposed by the Government, but at wage stahdards that wquld enable the workqrs and their dependants to live in decency and comfort. There were no famine conditions in the Dpminion to-day, Mr. Holland proceeded. There was a superabundance of everything nien and women peeded to keep them alive. Why was it then, that people were starving in mjdst of plenty? Simply because the farmers could not sell their produce. Wage workers could not alford to pay for food because they were denied the right to work. The Labour Party insisted that the unemployed must be got back to work but it must be work of economic value to the country. He advocated a land policy providing for the settlement of not less than one million acres, and when land was ready for occupation those who had been engaged breaking it in should be given the first opportunity to settle on it. The Government must also reduce interest rates. Trade Guarantees Then, again, secondary industries must be built up, offering wide scope for empiQyMP11^- Trade agreements overseas should be entered into, guaranteeing approximately fixed imports and exports, and there should also he provision for guaranteed stabilised prices for primary products at, say, a five or seven ypar riioving average. Mr. Holland proceeded to criticise the reductiop of expenditurq in the Public T^orks Department and rqmarked that it meant at least £4,PQ0,r 000 yvas to ,be withdrawn frpm bB> culation, largely in the f orin qf w§ges: It did not require a mathematiciari tp recognise that the lccal market would be depreciate.d tp more than that extent and everyonq would suffer. The new. policy was going to throw the "whole, of the men "who were taken off Public Works on tq relief jobs apd would make the Pubiic Works Department a huge relief works scheme. It would make the Department practically a slave camp. The policy amounted to a declaration that New Zealand could not pro'vide meri working full time with sufficient remuneration to live above starvation level

and tBat was a libel on New Zealand. Replying the Rt. Hon J. C. Coates, Minister of Public Works, said it was contrary to fact to say that the two Government parties had not been consulted on the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill and other legislation. The members of both parties were familiar with the Government's proposals and although there might not be complete agreement in regard to details, all realised that in order to meet the present situation, measures of an unusual character and undreamt of a few years .-ago, were absolutely imperative. The Speech from the Throne indicated that the Government would fbi'ing down ariy measures it deemed necessary and surely that was wide enough. They had several measures o'n the stocks and they would be presented in due course. The Goverririient had been criticised for setting up commissions, but it was entitled to ask for what advise it thought fit. Russian Ideas Not Wanted Mr. Goates considered that New Zealand at present was in as good a position as any country in the world. From the remarks bf the Leader of the Opposition, otte would have thought that the country was a slave camp, but that pictur e was an erroneous one. The camps were a temporary shelter from a .storm which would soon pass: The Leader qf the Opposition had stated, that high wages were the solution of the problem and he asked whether that included the restoration of tbe cuts imposed on public servants and by. the Arbitration Court. The trouble with New Zealand to-day was that industry was no longer profitable and unti} profit ,in industry returned, there. would be unemployment. In Russia all fhe peqr ple wqrked for the State, but Sqviet principles were not wanted by British people, who believed in the system of private enterprise. Farmers' production costs were 40 per cent. above the amount they received for their

products, and until primary industry was placed on a stable basis, the country would not get out of its difficulties. Mr. W. Nash (Labour, Hutt) : Until they make a profit, we must go hungry." Must Remove Shackles • Mr. Coates said that it was the duty of the Government to help industry by removing the shackles wliich were hmdering it and at the same time to pf ovide as much relief as the country could afford. The decrease of £4,000,000 in expenditure on Public Works was due to the fact that New Zqaland could no longer draw upon the London money market and he did not think it would be wise to look to London for large sums any longer. Djscussing unemployment, Mr. Cqates said that the number of une^nployed in October last was 51,400, bpt by the last week in February tlje number had been reduced to 44,107. The Leader of the Opposition: ; "How many men were in single men's camp?" Mr. Cpates: "1066. There were also ; a, number qf men who were subsidised farm labourers. An interesting feature of the unemployment problem was the numher of men who had been sent to the gold fields. A year ago there were 1,800 men employed in gqld prospecting, but the latest return showed that there were abqut 4100 mqn un the gqldfields. Many qf the men who had been sent on to the goldfields were nqw in a position to maintain themselyes as they were earping as much as £3 a week. Some were earning muph more than that. It was absolutely imppssible to give -full rates qf pay under the present concIitiDri. Mr. Hpllqnd had. advocated the shortening of hqurg qf wqrk without ariy decreafee in pay. That was an utter impqssibility. It was nqt even sensible.