N.Z. PARLIAMENT

Taihape Daily Times, 21 January 1918, Page 6

N.Z. PARLIAMENT

A CANDID CRITIC

The response to the toast of the -New Zealand Parliament," by Dr. Thacker, M.P., at the Post and Telegraph Officers' Association social reunion in Christchurch, brought forth some characteristic remarks from tlie member for Christchurch East. "Of all the hole-and-corner places I have been in in my life," said Dr Thacker, "it is Parliament. Truth is the greatest jewel in the world, and for me to overlook the humbugging nonsense that goes on in Parliament would be to neglect that jewel. Our Parliament as at present constitutes is a mockery and a sham, and a member of Parliament is about the last person to hear about what is going on —things are ,dealt with in Cabinet and if there's anything it can't deal with, a caucus is held. The National Cabinet, he asserted, is frightened to face the music. The present Parliament should have existed for three years, and then there should have been an election to let you people tell us what you wanted. (Applause). I am quite prepared, as an individual member of Parliament, to face the music at any time. If the hotcnpctch, muddling National Government had faced the music, a lot of things would have been a lot cleaner and a lot straighter and we would not have the wire entanglements of war regulations and the press censorship. Why should the people of New Zealand be humbugged and censored? I say it i& wrong, and the huge humbugging of Parliament doesn't suit my taste at all in any way. I don't want to cast reflections on anybody. My chief is Sir Joseph Ward, and I will follow him always. We, as a party, rely on Sir Joseph Ward to steer us through the turmoil of this war. He is the man who holds the purse-strings, the man who has to find the money, and who has astounded the world by tlie manner in which he has financed the Dominion during the past three years But he ought to have a greater check on the expenditure. There has been arrant,.waste as far as our Defence Department is concerned —a wretchec: waste! Sir Joseph finds the money, but he has no cheek on the expenditure. I want the people to understand that the Parliament of New Zealand is going to get no bouquets from me, I'm not even going to give it a buttonhole! (Laughter).