TO-DAY’S TASKS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 September 1921, Page 5

TO-DAY’S TASKS.

DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT. SPEECH BY MR. E. DIXON. THE NEED FOR ECONOMY. i By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. When the House of Representatives resumed this evening the debate on the Address-in-Reply to the Governor-General’s Speech from the Throne was launched, the first speaker being Mr. E. Dixon, the new member for Patea. Mr. Dixon said New Zealand had been fortunate in her public men, and especially fortunate in having at the head of affairs during the stressful years of the war so able a man as the present Prime Minister. In his representation of the Dominion at the Imperial Conference he had. reached a very high place among the Empire’s leaders, while his efforts in connection with marketing meat and wool, and shipping freights, would be beneficial to the Dominion. In fact, apart from the Imperial Conference, Mr. Dixon believed Mr. Massey, during his recent visit to England, had done as much for New Zealand as any man ever had ddne. PLEA FOR EDUCATION. Referring to the economy campaign, Mr. Dixon said the time had come when the country must face retrenchment. A reduction of expenditure in the civil service would give much relief, but local bodies and commercial and industrial interests must follow suit. A readjustment of wages and working conditions was urgently necessary, in face of falling values after the temporary prosperity which prevailed during the war years. In the retrenchment scheme education should be spared from, the pruning knife, as it was necessary in order that increased production could oe secured and maintained that the people should be made as efficient as possible. The teaching profession should be encouraged by every means to attract the best men and women to it. The health of school children should be conserved, and it was the Government’s duty to see to this if the parents were unable to do so. He stressed the need for greater attention to the agricultural side of education. Mr. Dixon urged that fuller assistance should be given to brilliant students to follow up technical and industrial research work. He stressed the need for inculcating and fostering a spirit of loyalty in children in schools. COMPULSORY INSURANCE. Referring to pensions, he acknowledged that the need was great in many c’ases, especially in the case of widows, but he opposed indiscriminate expenditure in pensions and charitable aid as apt to sap the spirit of independence which in the past had raised the people of this country to the position they had attained. He believed some system of compulsory insurance was the best means of meeting the necessities at present indifferently met through pensions and charitable aid payments. The Government should at least insist that a man, on marrying, should insure his life in the interest of his wife and children. Mr. Dixon advocated pushing on with the provision of hydro-electric power in the interest of the country’s industries, instancing its value, especially in dairying districts, which could absorb a large amount of power and bring in considerable revenue. Referring to the main arterial highway proposals, Mr. Dixon put in a plea for the back-block settlers, whose first need was access. Men going on the land were prepared to allow their holdings to be loaded to meet the cost, but if an arterial road was to run parallel with and compete with the railways, then the House should hesitate before expending money thereon. People in the back country should also have the best possible postal and telephonic facilities. On resuming his seat Mr. Dixon was applauded. DRIFT TO THE NORTH. Mr. T. D. Burnett (Temuka) seconded the motion. He wished to refer specially to the loss of population and productive power in the South Island, and the drift to the North Island, which he attributed to the better land tenure in the North. Much pastoral land in the South had been allowed to deteriorate owing to its unsatisfactory tenure. He was glad to know that the Minister had promised amending legislation, giving security of tenure, which would encourage men to improve the land and rescue it from rabbits. Mr. Burnett pleaded for relief -from the heavy burden of taxation at present pressing upon the people. He said the time had come when the people should practise economy, and live more simply in the straitened circumstances which had followed a long period of prosperity. At 8.50 p.m. Mr. T. M. Wilford (Leader of the Opposition) moved the adjournment of the debate till 7.30 to-morrow evening, and the House adjourned till 2.30 tomorrow.