A Parliamentary Note-Book

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 187, 28 October 1927, Page 8

A Parliamentary Note-Book

Fa rmers ’Finance Agafa (THE SUX S Parliamentary K , ' WELLINGTON, It was surprising to find h c , w . members of Parliament wished ® about Farmers’ Finance when lif Rural Intermediate Credit Bill fore the House of Representatives , consideration at this sitting It took them till 1.45 a .m to h. their say and allow the second ing debate to conclude, and the .v title of the Bill to be disposed 2"? committee. The Government k hoped to get the measure throueh a nnal stages, but the House did lef reach the committee stage till 1“ -7* The Legislative Council sat rn"!!' sider local Bills. ' 13? rF Tourist or Deportee? Referring to the Rural Credits r mission, Mr. Martin said that ? son was sent out of the country w : cause he was not a convergent" | porter of the Reform Partv dnrinrrt£ | 4925 elections on account of his T „ ion agricultural banks. “He ' 5 I out to throw dust in the eves o' rS i people of the countrv.” \i r u.,T* declared. ' * mJ » Mr. A. M. Samuel: He was a wins—.deportee. ” Mr. J. A. Lee: A political toarist Spin of a Coin If two solicitors spin a coir si : priority in court does it constitute . ; breach of the Gaming Act? ts. Minister of Justice, the Hon. F i Rolleston. does not think so. u, v. H. Potter, member for Roskill coi siders it does, and asks that jiro«! eution should be instituted against tk. magistrate seeing that women » e » prosecuted for raising money Christmas comforts for children, aid newspapers had been prosecuted to. publishing crossword puzzles. TU Minister thought the spin of a coin was not dissimilar from the regul® process of balloting for priority, g any ease it did not come under tfij Gaming Act. ii: m A Long Procession “Every time the farmer comes foj financial assistance the Govemmant gives him a new Act of Parliament* this Rural Intermediate Credit Bill ft only one in a long procession of Acts of Parliament which the farmer his received at the hands of the state during the past few- years.” So muck for what the Leader of the Opposi. tion, Mr. H. E. Holland, thinks of tbs readiness of the Reform Government to spring to the assistance of the primary producer. ~1: rr. ~c. Mr. Martin’s Vehemence Did the farmers want an «grica& tural bank or did they .ask for rural intermediate credits? This question appeared to cause a difference of opinion in the House of Representatives this evening, when farmers’ finance was being discussed. The new member for Raglan, Mr. W. Lee Martin, blossomed out in spirited denunciation of the Government as anything but the friend of the farmer. “Where is your farmer’s friend?” he asked sarcastically, as he waved aloft the copy of a letter from a farmer who had failed to secure removal of a mort. gage, and who could not secure £2,200 from the State Advances Department on a property with a valuation of £5,400.

“The farmers want an agricultural bank,” he declared, “on the lines o< institutions that have been going la hundreds of years.” Government members: Where? Mr. Martin: Never mind when That’s what farmers want. This Bin is no good to them at all. It wss introduced for the purpose of block ing the aspirations of the farmers toward establishing an agricultural bank.