DEFENCE BILL HELD UP

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1058, 23 August 1930, Page 16

DEFENCE BILL HELD UP

DELAY SECOND READING GOVERNMENT NOT SERIOUSLY INVOLVED Press Association WELLINGTON, Friday. re drastic step of “killing” a Government policy measure was taken in the Legislative Council this evening when an amendment that the Defence (Temporary) Amendment Bill should be read a second time six months hence was carried by 17 votes to 9. It does not appear that the Council’s decision involves the fate of the Government.

Ttae Minister of Defence, the Hon. •T. G. Cobbe, when moving the second reading of the Bill in the House of Representatives, said it did not appear that it was absolutely necessary for the Government to bring down a Bill, as it had authority to suspend training under the Defence Act, 1903. Presumably Mr. Cobbe was referring to the section which states that the Governor-General may, inter alia, make regulations for the “dismissal, discharge or disbandment of any portion or members of the forces." The Defence Department estimates for the current year are £275,000, against a vote of £491.667 last year. These estimates have yet to be considered by the House of Representatives. If only £275,000 is voted, it seems that the temporary suspension of compulsory military training, as provided for in the Bill, will be unavoidable. If the Government is secure in the opinion expressed by Mr. Cobbe, that a Bill is not necessary to its purposes, it would appear that the “killing"’ of the measure in the Legislative Council will not matter. The amendment was moved by Sir James Allen, a former Minister of Defence, on the second reading stage of the Bill yesterday, and the Council adjourned immediately after he had spoken. The debate was resumed today. "A RETROGRADE STEP’’ The Hon. G. M. Thomson (Otago) said he felt that economy would be a retrograde step so far as defence was concerned. He supported Sir James Allen’s amendment. The Hon. G. Witty (Canterbury) said he supported the Bill. A standing army was of no use in New Zealand. The cause of the last war was that every male German was a trained soldier. The Hon. W. Earnshaw (Wellington) said the proposal of the Government was a wretched one. The Government was being carried along at the chario-t wheel of the Labour Party. The Hon. Mark Fagan (Westland) said the Bill represented only one of many necessary economies that the Government had to undertake. It had certainly not been due to the domination of the Labour Party. The Hon. J. B. Gow (Auckland) said

the Bill enunciated the principle of voluntary training and he considered it a preposterous proposal. Sir William Hall-Jones (Wellington) reminded the Council it was not an elective chamber. It should hesitate to reverse the vole of the House of Representatives, which was elected by the people. BILL NOT UNDERSTOOD In replying to the debate, the Hon. R. Masters, Acting-Leader of the Council, said he was disappointed that members had not given close attention to the provisions of the Bill. It had been assumed that the compulsory system was to be abandoned. That was not intended, as the Bill was purely a temporary measure for the purposes of effecting economies. If it had not been for the need for economy, the Bill would never have appeared before the Council, and the carrying of Sir James Allen’s amendment would mean that it was the wish of the Council that there should be no economies in the defence rate. Sir James Allen: I deny that absolutely. Mr. Masters said that by introducing the Bill, the Government had taken the Council and the House of Representatives into its confidence. If it had wished, the Government could now put £500,000 on the Estimates for Defence, and only spend £2O, but that would not have been an honourable thing to do. The amendment was carried by 17 votes to 9. Details of the division are: For the Amendment—l 7. Allen Rhodes Bell Scott ' Clark Sinclair Collins Smith Earnshaw Snodgrass Garland Stewart Gow Thomson Lang Triggs McGregor Against—9. Masters Hawke Buddo Malcolm Fagan Stevenson Hall Jones Witty Hanan Pairs. —For the amendment: Carrington, Moore, Alison, Reed. Against: McCallum, Trevethick, Isitt, Sidey.