Political Notes

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 126, 18 August 1927, Page 11

Political Notes

(Continued from page 8)

Soldier Farmers In impressing upon the House of Representatives thd” unsuitability if

some of soldier settlers, Mr. V. H. Potter said to-night that these settlers had come from every walk of life, from blacksmith’s clerks to drapery assistants. Mr. J. S. Dickson: And good men, too. Mr. Potter: Yes. good men who had been cutting up cloth for sale at an exorbitant price, but when you get these men on the farm and find that they do not know the milking end of a cow, nor the tilling of the crops, and find that farmers’ hours are not eight to five, but five to eight, the only thing that can happen, if they cannot seil their farms, is for the land to go back and finally be abandoned. Mr. McCombs: But qualified farmers are going off their farms. Some of them got big money for their land. Mr. .Potter: Yes, big money but little cash. They would be glad today to honour their mortgages if they could get back the cash they paid for it. Mr. McCombs: Those who sold to the Government received cash. Off the Fairway The language of the golf links seldom creeps into the dignified, and, to some extent limited, vocabulary of the House of Representatives, but the use of a golfing term got Mr. T. M. Wilford, Member for Hutt, into a bunker this afternoon. Mr. Wilford was making a personal explanation regarding some remarks on the Singapore Base question, which the member for Christchurch South, Mr. E. J. Howard, had quoted him as having made. Mr. Wilford said that he had quoted the Hon. L. C. M. S. Amery, in the British Hansard. Mr. Howard interjected that he himself had quoted from “Brassey’s Naval and Shipping Annual.” Mr. Wilford: I think Amery is as good as Brassey. Mr. J. A. Lee, Auckland East: He’s brassey, all right. Mr. Wilford: Yes; he’s a niblick. He’d get a man out of a bad lie. Mr. Howard: Mr. Speaker! Does the hon. gentleman say he has got me out of a bad lie? Mr. Wilford: I was using it purely as a golfing term. The Speaker, Hon. Sir Charles Statham: If the hon. member will assure the House that lie was using it entirely as a golfing term ? Mr. Wilford: I will give that assurance. It’s not original. It was a quotation from the House of Commons. * * * Backblocks Settlers A request for consideration of the claims of backblocks settlers who, are badly served by roads was made this afternoon by Mr. A. M. Samuel, Ohinemuri, who gave notice to ask the Minister of Public Works, Hon. K. S Williams, whether, when compiling the Estimates and Supplementary Estimates, he would set aside a sum of money for assisting such settlers.