THE GOVERNMENT IMPEACHED

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 213, 29 August 1908, Page 6

THE GOVERNMENT IMPEACHED

THE ME.MBEK i'Oll PATEA OPENS KIKE. lu his speech on the financial dcfbafe Air. Waller S,\|mes appears to' have run the gauntlet between a heavy fire of interjections on the part of those occupying tho Treasury beaches mid tlie House generally, "it was n somewhat remarkable speech (says the Post), coming as it did from one who was considered to have nailed his colors to the mast of the Liberal snip, and was looked upon as sale lo accept without ijiic.-lioii nil llie present Government -uggesicd or did. Jt is not to he wondered at that the Prime Alinister got mi the member for Paten's truck when the buter gave expression lo thi! opinion that tlie linieminent was not desirous of settling tlie peopl■; upon die land in a speedy manner, and on the easiest possible 'terms. Jnslead of helping those who wen "unable, to help themselves Air. Symes Said the (.iovermncuL was catering for those who already had plenty of money, and wilo could go nuo the open market and buy for themselves. Later o-i Mr, Symes delivered a broadside that nearly shattered the Treasury benches. "II am not going to add much to the liiiunal-adiniiatiun society,' he said, ■'because I should think, if members wanted anything lo nauseate them, liley have Had just about as much 'jam' as tiiey can possibly carry ai. one'sitting.' Air. Svm;'s then came to tic old hobby-horse of Freehold v. Leasehold, the Premier in the meantime gradually recovering from tilt shock of tile broadside. I'nder severe cross-lire, the member for i'aica reaeued tile baekbloeks. "We are to ge, £250,000 for tlie baekbloeks,' lie exclaimed. "1 hope iJul t the money wol be well spent. 1 am not going to blame tiie .Ministers, dough they ought to take some of tiie blame. Tliey ar-3 working Liberal measures with Coaiscr-., vativc machinery. They have the biggest- lot of fossils at the head oi .several of the different Departments that it is possible to iind; and, unfortunately, these men are running the Department and running the Ministers. The Ministers are not running them and running their Departments. If they would insist upon these fossils getting a move on and doing some work, and seeing that the votes were spent, they would do some good lor the country." !Sir Joseph gasped; sheer astonishment prevented him at this particular moment from giving expression to his feelings. "Why,'' continued Mr Symes, ''there are a lot of old fossils knocking about, and tiie sooner they are pensioned off the belter, or l-'hat. they are called to a higher place, 'where the wicked cense from troubling'"—an honorable member interjected "and the weary are at rest." Air. Symes advocated doing away with road boards, their functions to be performed by county councils; he dealt with the national annuities scheme, and said it would have to be grafted on to old age pensions, or vice versa; and cams to the advances 'to settlers' scheme—"A subject th.it has become so hackneyed that 1 am not going to speak about it. It is all right; it speaks for itself." In answer to an interjection " asking 'him to give an opinion on the scheme, tiie member for Patea replied: "I will not do t'hat. They will not give me any money. I asked the Superintendent the other day, but he said, "Where is your security';' and he said he would not give me anything." Sir Joseph, who mid been waiting for a chance, here chimed in: "He necessarily always has a good look al the applicant." With the leader of the Opposition on one side, the leader of the Government ' on the other, and members all round interjecting, Air. Symes asserted thai ■•Personally. I would as soon make a dishonest pound out of a leasehold as out of n freehold,'' to which the Premier's "Hear, hear," gladdened Air. Semes' heart, and be expressed his np- ■ .ireciation. Sir Joseph denied the soft impeachment, and allirmed that the "Hear, hear" was not in the sense Air. Synies inferred. "1 do not agree with your 'view as to making a dishonest pound," he added. Finally .Mr. (Syncs got on to the railways. "I have got fourteen miles of railway in my district,'' he said, "and after opening the line the Department issued a timetable w ; hich took you a fortnight to go and come back on that railway. You bud to go out one week and come buck • the next; you could not do the journev in the same week unless vou walked on.'-third of the way, and yet the railway was supposed to be in .he interests of the country and seitlers. . . . . Vou can do the distance now in two davs." Air. Alnssev was startled into ejaculating, "What, fourteen miles in two days! ' And Sir Joseph suggested that the member for Patea should put a portion of bis district },:- to the Colonial .Museum. After likening some of the carriages on the line to a special kind of dog-box, Air Symes sugge-ted to the Premier that th-y be sent down and put in the. museum: but Sir Joseph retorted that "the niemWer" would be a better subject for that institution.