Long Talk Starts

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 398, 5 July 1928, Page 10

Long Talk Starts

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY DEBATE

Opening Speakers are Grave and Gay

(From Our Resident Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. RESPLENDENT in evening dress, the immaculate starch of their shirt-fronts and waistcoats contributing lustre to the more sober sartorial scheme of fellow members, Mr. F. Waite, Clutha, and Mr. Allen Bell, Bay of Islands, opened the Address-in-Reply debate by initiating the motion that a respectful address be tendered the Governor-General in response to the Speech from the Throne. In the two hours devoted to the formal opening of the debate, Mr. Waite and Mr. Bell continued to traverse most of the subjects of political interest, but their categorical examination did not uncover any new combustible material wherewith to feed current political controversies.

Both speakers were content to read the bulk of their speeches from prepared papers, Mr. Waite sticking closely to a logically constructed manuscript. Mr. Bell did so in his opening stages, though in his closing remarks he explored unprepared arguments which incurred a certain amount of Labour interruption, in the face of which he preserved a majestic calm. On such an occasion as the opening of the Address-in-Reply debate, the usual time limit is extended and the ripple of unfamiliar applause for the speakers, on the opening and termination of the addresses, gives a more than usual formality to the proceedings of the House. Usually, in deference to the occasion, members refrain from interjections. This custom was faithfully observed till the closing phases, when Mr. Bell was subjected to much good-humpured banter. There was a good attendance in the galleries. In the House itself the attendance also was good. UNEMPLOYMENT NOT NEW It was inevitable, said Mr. Waite, touching on Samoa, that the protection of natives should have annoyed trading interests. Unemployment, lie said, had always been a recurring evil, occurring first in Auckland in 1842, when the surplus among a party of Scottish immigrants was set to work on the formation of Shortland Crescent. Another wave of unemployment enveloped Otago in the’ sixties, over 1.000 men petitioning the Otago Provincial Council in 1861, when their

petition, protesting against the rate of five shillings a day offered on relief works, said that this was no time for trifling with public affairs. Referring to the world demand for wool, increased dairy yield, and the general tendency to greater production, Mr. Waite predicted for New Zealand, an early return to prosperity. “To those Jeremiahs who say the country is stagnating, our healthy, well-dressed people are the answer,” he said. In a lighter mood, he said, that perhaps the most serious charge to which the Government was open was that it had allowed Rugby to decline deplorably, but even in 1905, when the Liberals were in power, the All Blacks had lost the test against Wales. BREEZY NORTHLANDER Mr. Bell’s ringing tones and breezy manner at once secured him the attention of the House and galleries. After paying a tribute to the Governor-Gen-eral, he said how pleasant was the interest shown by Lady Alice when revisiting the scenes of her girlhood on the far-flung Hokianga River. On policy matters Mr. Bell carried the attack to the enemy by declaring that the attitude of the Opposition on the Samoa question was most regrettable, and had fostered much insubordination among the natives. Still carrying the fight to Labour territory, Mr. Bell expressed the belief that industry here would never progress without the introduction of a free labour market, where man is paid for what he produces. Further, he deplored the Opposition’s determined effort to saddle unemployment on the Government, which was no more responsible than they were. Touching the past struggles of settlers, Mr. Bell recalled the time when wages were about 6s a day. A FEW SALLIES Labour Member: That’s what you want. Mr. Bell: It’s not what I want. Hearing the lion, member, I cannot help thinking of the ancient historic hirsute animal owned by Balaam. This and other sallies by Mr. Bell, who scored repeatedly off the interjectors. threw the House into fits of laughter. In roading, said Mr. Bell, the Government had 40 years’ leeway to make up. The Ballance land policy was good as far as it went, but it did not go far enough. Any land policy was worthless unless the settler were given a metalled road. Mr. Bell was sorry the GovernorGeneral’s speech had not mentioned the principle of prolonging the life of Parliament from three years to five. Mr. W. B. Lysnar: Plenty of time for that. Mr. Bell: The hon. member will probably be in heaven then, or somewhere else. In closing, Mr. Bell dilated, after an extension of time had been granted, amid much merriment, on the motion of Mr. H. E. Holland, on the glories of the winterless North, of which, just earlier, he had said, “There we measure the rain in feet not inches.” The speaker’s obvious pride in his own territory gave the House ample cause for chuckles and brought the evening to a good-humoured conclusion. The debate was adjourned, on the motion of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. H. E. Holland, who will move his no-confidence amendment to-mor-row afternoon.