PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1919, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The Legislative Council met this afternoon. The debate on the was resumed by Siv Wm. Sinclair, who advocated assiduous attention on the part of the Government to the wants ojf returned men. ' The Hon. Garland urged the pushing on of the hydro-electric schemes. Hon. Michel discussed the question of profiteering, and on the motion of the Hon. J. T. Paul the debate was ad»' journed. The Council then put through all stages the Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Loans Bill, after protests had been made toy Hons Paul and BaTr against the methods of raising money and a general discussion regarding alleged profiteering. The council adjourned at 5.65 p.m. till to-morrow. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

EVENING SITTING,. Wellington, Last Night. AN ATTACK ON SOLDIER MEMBERS. When the House met at 7.30, the Premier and Sir Joseph Ward referred in terms of the strongest condemnation to a paragraph from the Maoriland Worker, referring in a disrespectful tone to four members of the House who enlisted for active service, to which attention was drawn by Mr. Isitt. Mr. Holland said the Labor party in the House desired to dissociate themselves from the paragraph complained of, and he regretted its appearance in the columns of a Labor paper. COAL POSITION. Replying to Mr. Myers, the Premier Baid he would continue the practice of publishing the quantity of coal stocks held by the railways. His information was that the coal position had considerably improved during the last week or so, and, but for the threatening outlook In the Dominion itself, normal traffic might be resumed almost at once. He hoped to reach this position ne-\t month. ADDRESS-IN-REPLY.

Mr. Nash moved that a respectful address be presented to His Excellency the Governor-General in reply to the speech delivered to the House at the opening of Parliament. In doing, so he referred to the Bpirit of relief which followed upon the declaration of peace, out of which the (world was to have bequeathed to it the League of Nations, which was first suggested by General Smuts, one of the most generous opponents Britain ever had, and one of the most brilliant statesmen of the present Empire. He referred to great work done at the peace conference by Mr. Maßsey and Sir Joseph Ward, defending them against the asperBion that they only went on a holiday jaunt The National Government having come to an end, he expressed that party strife would not result t 'lie detriment of the Dominion. He ihen proceeded to review circumstances which contributed to the unpopularity of the National Government, chief amongst which was profiteering, which was rampant from end to end of the country. What amazed him was that there should been no prosecutions for profiteering by the Board of Trade. He did not blame Mr. MaeDonald, the Minister in charge of the Board during its existence, but he looked for more vigor on the part of the Board. He paid a tribute to Sir James Allen, and to Sir T. Mackenzie, v.ho had done splendid work on behalf of our soldiers at Home. To much could not be done for these men, who wer l ) coming home. The problems in connection with the repatriation of our men were amongst the greatest that erer Mew Zealand statesmen were called upon to solve, one of the most important of those being the housing question. Five thousand houses were needed to put matters right. The municipalities should do the work, but they should be subsidised by the Government. The living conditions at the coal mines were scandalous. Improvements must bo made, and he thought this would be better done by the Government than private ownership; therefore, he favored nationalisation of the coal mines. Ho urged the speady completion of the hydro-electric scheme 3, for which local authorities were anxiously looking. Coming to tho question of the repatriation of soldiers, he contended this work could be better done by one Minister instead of four. This work should be speeded up; more liberal advances should be made to soldiers, as the present limit of £2500 was often not sufficient to give him a fair start, and it should be increased to £BSOO. In like manner our pensions scheme was not liberal enough t«' meet the sacrifices of our women and children who had lost their breadwinner. There was plenty of wealth in this country to provide adequate pensions, and tho=e who remained behind in safety should be prepared to pay for those who dared everything in the trenches. Patriotic funds should be nationalised, so that soldiers from all parts of tho Dominion would be placed on an equal footing. He hoped the Government gratuity scheme Would not be less than 10s a week. This would cost a large sum of money no doubt, but it was our duty to pay it cheerfully. Land aggregation should be Stopped, and so far as capital and labor were concerned an effort should be made to bring those closer together by such means as profit-sharing or superannuation. The speaker advocated improvements in old age pensions, greater encouragement for the civil service. The ferry service between the two Island" and the ocean coal service, should be nationalised and not left to combines. He favored the military training of the young, but not a four months' camp scheme as suggested by the Minister of Defence. Our education Bystem was being starved and our teachers underpaid, while mnny school buildin?; were unsanitary, and at least three in'llicns were required to put matters rigU. Education Boards should be abolished and the schools handed over to the local authorities. Free school books should be supplied to children, as at least one | small inducement to parents to keep the ertulle full. * j

Mr. Harris, in seconding tin 'motion, said the responsibilities of New Zealand had been lately greatly increased by the acceptance of the mandate over Samoa. He suggested that after the next election the Government should arrange for members to visit that new territory and so gain first hand knowledge of how the natives live and their legislative requirements. He criticised th'o action of the coal miners in restricting supplies. If the miners in the privately owned mines were going slow ,the State miners were going ilpwsr, TJm S*iiwaj, Depwtawnt

was perhaps not altogether free from blame in not foreseeing a coal shortage, but the real blame must rest upon the coal miners. There were more coal miners in New Zealand this year than last, but what was the result for the first seven months of last year? The production was 1,132,160 tons, and for a similar period this year the production was 946,091 tons, the difference being sufficient to run our railways without the least necessity for any cut. Referring to the hydro-electric schemes, he contended they would be of the greatest .Value in many outlying parts of the country, particularly in North Auckland, where the roads were impassible owing •to the want of .metal, but where electric lighfc railways might be constructed with infinite benefit to that large undeveloped district. He appealed to the Govern' ment to push on with all the great electric schemes in both the Northland South Islands. He complimented the Government upon the manner in which they were carrying out the repatriation of soldiers. Last February, there were only 450 unemployed soldiers in the Dominion, and to-day there were 43ft unemployed. The work of giving the men vocational training was proceeding most satisfactorily. Of the men who'passed through this course 320 were now earning journeymen's wages. In this matter the trades unions of the Dominionwere meeting the department in a most admirable Bpirit, and were doing everything in their power to help the soldier apprentices in earning a living; He warmly commended the work of the Repatriation Board in the direction of helping solJiei's to acquire businesses and • settle on the land: * The activities of these departments were quite remarkable since they commenced operations last year. The true operations of the Government In purchasing land might have had the effect of raising values. If so, he favored the system of the Government only paying the owner the price on which he was contented to taxation, not the fancy price he chose to put upon it for the purposes of selling to the Government. Only .first-class land should be purchased for soldiers, many of whom were without experience, and unless they were put upon an improved estate they were in danger of starvation. There was much more in the Government policy he thought worthy of commendation, but he concluded by asking the Government to remember their first duty wag to the men who fought for us, and to the dependents of the men who had fallen.

On the motion of the Hon. Mac Donald the debate was adjourned till 2.30 tomorrow, and the House rose at 10.12.