PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 July 1917, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

I . —; ■ ■ HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES}' By Telegraph.—Press Association..' Wellington, Last NigW,. The House met at 2.30.. Dr. Thicker gave notice of his iatm* tion to introduce-thfc Lyttelton Haifcor Amendment BUI. ' *di REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. ' r Replying to ! Mr. Hunter, who ■ east* -plained that one-day racing clubs 'been sacrificed in the arrangement msdfl for the reduction of racing, the «nn» G. W. Russell said ao many objections ■ cn/me in to the Government against fbo qontinuance, of- racing on the old feMls, 1 that the Government decided a. idbstantial roductipn must take place. Racing and Trotting Conferences were " asked to draft a scheme to effect ft reduction on the basis agreed 'on. Thirty v. recommendations' had been accepted- 'by Cabinet and were final. If any injustice ■ 'had 'been done the blame must teat e.t the door' of the Conference, not of the Government. He advised, Mr. Hitter to accept the position with good grft"* 1 Mr. Wilford asked the Minister of Defence if he would enforce the retribu - tions iigainst soldiers in hospital ■ served with liquor, and whether ]j»would supply soldiers in hospital Tfith'a special uniform to ena/ble them to distinguished. The Minister of (Defence replied thai it would ibe a difficult matter to get soldiers in hospital to wear a special uiji- 1 form. The whole matter might yet be considered by iPailiament, Replying to Mr. Lee, the of Defence said the question of.incrtw^ 1 . soldiers' pensions 'twas now under the consideration of the Government.

MILITARY DENTAL DHPARTMESfT.-1 The Minister of Defence }aid ott ftS' table a .paper showing the operatfoM of the dental department in c&mps. Mr. Payne complained that before tho Military' Service Act cajne into he . asked the Minister to assiftt hundred <£•' men who were ibeing turned down ooaocount of bad teeth. -'These men had noil been able to' afford £lO or £l2 to fcave testh put right. Be was glad to 1 Mp that Minister had since "seen fee

i light." 'ADDRESS-IN-BHPLY. - • i . t" , I At 3.30, Dr. Newman resumed the ' I bate on the Address-in-Replv. He «onii plained that Parliament litul been in re-- ! cess for nearly eleven months/ though' ! many vital questions remained to 'be de- • cided, and when the House was called together no lead of policy had been given. '■<, The Speech from the Throne w» & miserable disappointnsent, containing little else than some .piffle about theappointment of thfe Governor-General. What the people wanted to know 'was'. ■whether the expenditure of the (Dominion was going to be increased in con- . sequence of tlmt appointment. He - wanted to know what they were going,' to do about six o'clock closing. Were they voting against this change, wiiich ; was demanded by public opinion fjont'j one end of the country to the other. On ' the question of reinforcements h®. was - 1 bound to ask himself .whether we had-' not done enough. We had now about -' 95.000 men in camp and at the front, the pick and flower of the country. Would ' it not be better to devpto ourselves to the production of food than, sending',, inore men? .. British professional men *■ and tradesmen were going to the front, and aliens were remaining behind and reaping a harvest from businesses left' -■ by our own people. Surely these aliens : could foe rfiade to do non-combatant work. 'Nothing adequate had been done i. to cope with the cost of living, for while we had thousands of 'boxes of butter in store, people could not buy it for lesa than Is 8d per lb. Our meat mas being -manipulated by rings in the Old Country, ' and the only way to'check the Qjpera- *'• tions of the meat trust was for the . to take a hand in tho over'' ' seas trade. He made an appeal for more energetic efforts to stamip ou't , and other diseases, and asked the !3Mi. to look forward to .another three > i,»», of war, for which we must organise, 5 Mr. J. C. Thomson advocated State- w owned ships to counteract tho effecte'of : the recent merger of the Union Opm- '*?■ pany. He condemned tho butterrfat -•-« levy, which lie contended would have to be repealed, and declared that the ctar stitution of the efficiency .Boards was far from satisfactory, while t"e allowances '., for men of the Second IDiviaioij would' have to be increased if any serious at- i tempt were mads to send to the front' men of that branch of the service. Deal- i ing with the question of the employment of returned soldiers, he strongly, i. advocated attention being given to State ■

forestry. -• Mr, Harris made an appeal for more ■" thorough education of young people) a* ; f the surest way of restricting the. spread of venereal disease. Mr. Harris favored, careful enquiry before deciding upon Imperial preference. He advocated a nphGerman Pacific, and urged the annexation of Pleasant and the ocean islands, where there were most valuable deposits of phosphates, the acquisition of which would pay us handsomely for the war • expenditure. - > The adjournment of the debate was > •; moved by Mr, McCombs, and the House rose at i 0.30. ,