PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1918, Page 4

PARLIAMENT.

. • LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, LasJ; Night. The Legislative Council met at "2.30. Sir Francis Bell gave notice of the introduction of the Legislative Council Amendment Bill. The Council adjourned till 2.30 p.m. on Friday. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The House meat at 2.31) p.m. NOTICES.

Mr. Pearco gave notice to ask the Gov ernment if, after the war, thov will en deavor to purchase in England secondhand motor lorries, and offer the same to local bodies in New Zealand, where they are rfiuch required. Mr. Massey gave notice to move tomorrow for leave to introduce the War Legislation Bill. Mr. Isitt moved the second leading of the Christ< College Ordinance Amendment Bill. Mr. Hanan said he might have to take exception to some of the provisions in the Bill. Mr. Mc'Combs said the whole question of our education system must soon be co-ordinated, and he thought it but courteous to the House that the member in charge of the Bill should explain its provisions. Mr. Isitt said the Minister for Education seemed to have some objection to the Bill, but evidently the Bill was a radical measure am! aimed a democratising the governing body o£ the college. The Bill was read a second time and referred to the Committee on * Private Bills. REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. Replying to Mr. Newman, the Minister for Defence said that, owing t'} the unfavorable seaion and the consequent delay imposed upon the agricultural industry, lie would be pleased to do everything in his power to release from camp all men aciustomed to farm work. Replying to Mr. Craigie, the Premier said he was not able to give any information as to when the Peace Conference would be held, but indications were tliat it would be at no distant date when it would be calied together. There w'as no doubt New Zealand would be asked to send one or more representatives, but before anything was done Cabinet would have to consider the whole questionReplvin" to Mr. Noswortliy, the Premier said that matters in connection with commandeering wool had Tea died a satisfactory stage, but he was of opinion that the commandeering should go on for at least one clear season after the close of the war. As the woolgrowers were not unanimous on the points at issue, in all probability legislation would be necessary. Replying to Mr. Veiteh, Sir James Allen said he could not make a general promise at once on the question of releasing men from camp, but, whenever there were urgent reasons, he would be prepared to let them'go- The whole matter was under consideration, but he honed circumstances wtrnld soon develop in such a way as would enable him to let them all go. Sir James Allen gave notice to introduce the Military Decorations Bill. INFLUENZA EPIEMIC. Sir James Allen said that in consequence of the influenza epidemic now raging in the Dominion, it was deemed unsafe to embark any reinforcements for the present. The next two reinforcements would, therefore, not sail ou the due date. Replying to Mr. Craigie, the Hon. Herriea said that as a precaution against the spread of influenza, all railway carriages were being disinfected where the Department deemed it advisable. NEW BILLS. The following Bills were introduced ai\d read a first time:—Napier Harbor Board_Loan Enabling Bill (Sir. J. Findlav), Inglewood County Bill (Mr. C- A. Wilkinson), New Plymouth Borough and Harbor Board Exchange Bill (Mr. S, G. Smith). ADDRESS-IN-REPLY. The debate on the Address-in-Reply was resumed by Mr. W. T. Jennings, who laid it Was rather difficult to ibegin to speak in this debate after the events of the past few days, but it was imperative that the Premier, and the Government as .a whole, should be made aware that there was grave discontent prevailing throughout "all parts of the country. The main causey of this discontent were the cost of living and profiteering, closer settlement of the land, remedying of military grievances', increase of pay to men on pviblie works were mentioned as remedies for the discontent, and the reduction of freights on coastal vessels as a meaas for reducing the cost of living. He instanced the case of one steamer trading between Dunedin and Manukau, which "made a profit of £40,000 last year. There was evidence of a shipping monopoly which required attention from the Government, as it meant an enormous increase on the foodstuffs of the people. He .had supported the National Government since its foundation, and he was prepared to go down with it, but Ministers, must justify their supporters, and there was no doubt the people were looking to the Government to reduce the cost of living and put a stop to profiteering. Mr. Isitt congratulated the Premier and Minister for Finance on the gqod work they were able to do at the Imperial Conference. Personally, he read with great pleasure the strident and steadfast note they struck against any suggestion of Germany's re-occupation of Samoa. We should leave Prussia nothing with wliioh she can break the peace of the world for the next century. We should send our Ministers back to England. Whoever else weakened, lie hoped they wquM insist that before Germany was received back into the Council of Nations of the world «lw must not only show meet repentance and make full reparation for all hurt done, not only to Belgium and France, but to all other parts of the world. The National Government had stuck doggedly to the work of winning the war. In the face of its composition no sane person could expect any heroic policy from the National Government. Mr. Payne: And we have not been disappointedContinuing, iMr. Isitt said the Government had not. done all they might have done- They had been terribly slow in the uptake. They permitted waste to go on in all directions.' We had tramway men. railway men and others pointing out ther -were unable to live on their wages. How Government was go-

ing to find tU« money to tUig tion, he did not know, but if titere >Yat no other way of 4piug.it they miut ifeft? script wealth, and give u to'evety head of a family who was trying bring up the family on an lusufflclewi wage. Ho advocated indicating ft efllf'ife of patriotism amoggst the children sf the Dominion, and deolaring that iw man who was guilty of sedition should be eligible for election to tils Sotws QS any local body.

EVENING SITTING, The House resumed at 7-30, Mr. Payne said the National Govern* ment stood self-condemned. Whatever justification thero might be for raising the prices of imported articles, there W(W no justification for raising tile price of looallv-produced articles. He advocated a large expenditure on education, Mr. Statham said that' at a time of trial and stress like this the country was looking for a lead from the. National Government, yet thero was no light and no leading in the Governor'®' Speech, Their career was remarkable only for, want of action." f Neither the House riof/the cftuntrf could get any guidance fro A the Govern* ment. He advocated reform of the cdu« cation system, a display of increased energy in connection with forestry, en« couragement of gold mining and raiaiing of the gold staadard, wail* out taxation system and electoral law were obsolete. The country had been considering tie question of the cost of living for four years,'but nothing had been done. The oly thing that would save the life of the National Government was reconstruction. If they did not reform themselves from within, he was confident that at the next election they woutyl dUappear from the face of the earth. The Hon. W. D. S. MaeDonald eaid members were complaining that the Government had done nothing, but, lie fi"ked, What had , members done to assist the Government? Jhe fact was that during the recess they had been asleep, and When Parliament met, and there were a few votes to tie got, members came down and told,the Government what it ought to. do. During the recess there had been many important changes with which the Government has to deal, and he instanced the control of Trusts. He denied there was any exploitation going on in connection with the wool and meat deals with the Imperial Government. Whe>he was asked whj people were paying such a price tor meat when the coo' stores were buretbg witlv.carcases, hie reply was that that was the exportable surplus of this country, and if we dii l not. keep up our exports, where Were we going to get the revenue to keep the country going He denied that thir was an advantageous time for the Government to purchase steamers. As to the Government not keeping up ordinary activities, the staffs were depleted in all directions, and no one with administrative experience would say that the Government could do more than it was doing. He denied there was anything like a "go-slow" policy on the part of the farmers, for thej. had raised the wheat acreage from 890,000 acres before the war to 1,544,000. Tfle fanners had not been making money out of wheatgrowing. He was satisfied there had been no exploitation by the farmer, the miller, or the bakers. The fait was, we were better'gfif than any ijther country at war. We* had practically made no sacrifices and suffered practically no hardships, which fact he attributed to the control exercised by the National Government. The coal question Was now under consideration Tty the Board of Trade. The Government had been blamed for not encouraging the iron industry, but no one had yet been able to show how iron can be produced profitably; perhaps when the hydro-electric power was fully developed this might be possible. The timber" industry was now being carefully considered by the Government, and regulations had just been completed for a scheme of re-afforesta tion, and, in future, no timber can be exported except under license. The mining industry and hydro-electric schemes were being carefully thought out, The object of the Government was to keep the country financially sound. Mr. Yeitch, in reply to the Minister's contention that this was not a coveient time to purchase ehips, pointed out that the control of the Union Company had passed to another company by purchase during the war. If it paid the* Peninsular Company to take over these steamers, it would have paid the Government t® do it as a war measure. He denied the Minister's statement that the prices of local products had not risen, and quoted the price .of locally-made flannel. What, liowever, was most necessary was a general electionMr. Anderson replied to several speakers, and the debate closed at ilLft, when the House rose-