PARLIAMENTARY POINTS.

Shannon News, 31 July 1923, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY POINTS.

Land that will carry a cow to the acre is. generally regarded as worth £IOO an acre, and a. man can make it pay at that price with present values of butterfat and other produce.—Hon. E. Newman.

Some people now say the soldiers should go into the backblocks. One soldier said to me, “I have been in the mud of Flanders, I want no more mud. My ambition is to get an, improved farm,.” This man expressed the general opinion.—Hon. Mr Parr.

What is the reason that we. cannot get cheap houses, and why there is unemployment tor our people? There is one solid reason for it, and 1 am going to say straight out here what it is. It is. that we have trusts anu combines controlling the prices oi building material, and the prices oi foodstufis, and they are unquestionably acting in a way detrimental to the people of this country.—Mr WUford.

In the Borough of Te Kuiti the total amount o.t rates levied on Native lands, and which should be collected, is £599 15s 2d, but the amount which was actually collected at the end of the year was. £l6 10s 9d. In the* Otorohanga County the: total amount levied, and which should have been collected, was £lOOl 16s Bd, but the actual amoun collected was £2O 14s Id. In the: Waitomo County the amount levied, and which should have been actually collected, was £3279 10s, but the amount actually collected was £2l 98 6d. The law at present provides for the collection of Native: rates, but the process is. so cumbersome and so expensive, that local bodies have given up trying to collect rates. —Mr J. G. Rolleston. . Words fall to express one’s feelings of admiration for the late Sir William Herries, and, as I speak, I am reminded of the words which I understand weria written by Robert Burns and placed on his father’s tombstone:— Few hearts like his with virtue warmed, Few hearts like his with knowledge so informed; If there he another world, he lives in bliss, If there be none, he made the best of this.—Mr J. A. Young.

1 say here and now that, while the Opposition have on the. basis of these gentlemen’s speeches, charged the present Government with having neglected the dwellers in the backblock, I can say without fear of honest contradiction—l emphasise the word “honest”—thait no Government has done more for the backblocks than the Reform, ministry.—Mr Hockley.

If the Agricultural Department does not take every possible step to prevent it we will some day have the cattle tick finding its way into the i’ananaki district. I know the Hon. the Minister of Agriculture will say that every precaution is being taken —that thieiy have regulations for inspection and all that kind of thing, hut all the Government regulations in New Zealand will not catch a tick. This is a most serious matter, and I think the Prime Minister will agree that it is a serious matter—this spread of the cattle tick.—Mr Smith.

The mortgage system under which toel farmer has been working lor many years past is unquestionably an unsound and most expensive system. He has borrowed money for short 'periods, and in many cases without, any right of repayment being provided, or. rather, any compulsory repayment. Farmers, therefore have got into the habit, instead of making their land their bank, of investing in other concerns, and spending the money carelessly.—Mr Hawken.

1 shall bei extremely glad to see something done to assist the farmers, but I do not think there is much hope for such a thing as an agricultural ■bank in the country. If I had time I could show what the State Advances Department has done. It has. lent an enormous amount of money. Altogether the Government has actually advanced about £30,000,000 to farmers, workers, local authorities and soldier settlers, and at a maximum rate of 5 per cent. The Department, indeed, is almost taking thief place of an agricultural bank. —Hon. E. Newman.

I am one of those who believe that the under we can spread education among our young people, and. bring them to a. better state of thought and mind, and to a high cultivation of the mental powers, the better iit will be for the nation; and I want to say I do not think enough is yet being done on the technical side. What I want to see in'this country is that the boys who- have had four years at a. technical school should he so well qualified when they leave that school they may go into a machine shop, or a carpenter’s shop, or a plumber’s shop, and not go there as first year’s apprentices, with the advantage that two years at a technical school should count for one year in the shop.—Hon. Mr Garland.

I. want to tell the Houise what the skim-milk industry has cost the fcrullers of Waikato. The company which I supplv built and equipped a factory at a, cost of £128,000. We ran it for three months and made a loss. We have had a special report prepared with estimates to see whether we cannot improve the running of this factory. This is a factory which is up-to-date in every respect, with a plant which is practically new, and the shareholders have agreed to pay the bank lid per lb. on the butierfat in the reduction of their debt. I am going to fight all the time for a reduction of freights on. dairy produce, and particularly skim-milk powder. If there was a. reasonable reduction in the freights ou.tih.el railways, and on ocean-going steamers, I am confident w;ei could manufacture the skim-milk powder, and not have that expensive plant lying idle. To,d.ny, however, it is a burden on the farmers—Mr F. Lye.