UPPER HOUSE DEFENDED

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 176, 15 October 1927, Page 10

UPPER HOUSE DEFENDED

MR. LANG CHALLENGED SIR JOSEPH COOK’S RETURN Sir Joseph Cook, formerly High Commissioner for Australia in London. was entertained in Sydney by the Millions Club. Replying. Sir Joseph Cook said that when he heard Mr. Lang claiming that the banks in New South Wales were stronger, and that capitalism was on the increase, as a result of what his Government had done, he often wondered whether it was the voice of Mr. Lang or of one of the Nationalist leaders. He viewed such a claint as “excruciatingly funny,” coming as it did from such a political quarter. “There is an old saying," added Sir Joseph Cook, “that a statesman is a man who wants to do something for his country, while a politician is one who wants his country to do something for him. In the present contest in New South Wales, I have not been able to determine who are the statesmen and who are the politicians.” Referring to the Legislative Council, Sir Joseph Cook said that the people should be careful how they laid their hands on their institutions. It had been truly said that men made communities, and that institutions made States. New South Wales might suffer by injuring an institution that had served in good stead for so long. He remembered during his political days there had been a cry of: “Clear out the old fossils.” That institution was going to-day particularly strong, and it was his profound belief that the Legislative Council had proved itself to be the best working chamber in Australia. Sir Joseph Cook dealt at length with the financial position, and said that, in his judgment, all the Australian States were borrowing too much money outside the Commonwealth. New Zealand and South Africa paid two points, less for money than Australia, and one of the reasons for that was that the first mentioned countries went to London only once a year, while Australia was there all the time. On the subject of migration. Sir Joseph said that all the schemes for bringing boys to Australia were good, but be regarded the Dreadnought scheme as the best of any in the Dominions. Referring to the suggestion that the Imperial Government should pay the “dole” for 12 months after each settler arrived in Australia, he said that they did not want the “dole” in Australia. It was an evil they should endeavour to avoid. « “There are in Great Britain,” he added, “young men, who have received the ‘dole’ since they left school, and some of these men have grown into manhood and have married without having done a day’s work. I hope that Australia will not be drawn to such straits as to have to take men of that type. If I had my way I would cut the fare, and that would result in an extension of the nomination system, under which the majority of migrants now come to Australia.” **%%%%**;%****;**;**;#