SPEECH WEEK.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1922, Page 5

SPEECH WEEK.

FIRST TASK OF SESSION. THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY. OPENING OF DEBATE. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The debate on the Address-in-Reply opened in the House to-night, when Mr. D. Jones (Kaiapoi) moved, according to notice, that a respectful Address be presented to His Excellency the Gov-ernor-General in reply to His Excellency’s Speech. In doing so, Mr. Jones proceeded to discuss the efforts made to arrive at world peace at Washington and other conferences. What was evolved out of the Washington Conference was that the English-speaking peoples maintained supremacy of the seas. The naval power o-f Britain and America still stood in the proportion of ten to six or seven of the other Powers. In discussing the question of our contribution towards naval defence, he thought the trade preference we were giving Britain should be taken into account in our favour. Discussing finance, he maintained that critics of the Dominion's position gravely misrepresented the position of mortgages, which was not, in his opinion, half so bad as generally represented. and he was pleaded to think our position was steadily improving. Only 46 per cent, of our indebtedness was held outside New Zealand. Within the last few years we had raised £92.000,000 within New Zealand, and to-day more than half dur public indebtedness was held within this country. THE BONUS “CUT.” So far as public expenditure was concerned, he. as chairman of the Finance Committee, had an opportunity of looking into the affairs of many departments, and he had come io the conclusion that much of the expenditure to which objection was so frequently taken was caused by. the enhanced cost of material bought for public services, and therefore beyond the control of the Government. He justified the reduction of public servants’ bonus, because it was understood that the bonus was to be taken back when the cost of living fell. He likewise justified the rebate to land taxpayers, because taxation in many cases was being paid out of capital. Coming to wages paid to workers outside the service of the State, he maintained they were better off than ever before in New Zealand, and certainly better off than in New South Wales or Queensland, where for a long time they were under Labor Governments. On the subject of State enterprises, he maintained these should pay taxation just as private enterprises pay, and thus we might prove whether socialism was sound or whether it was

Hostile criticism of soldier settlements was, for the most part, undeserved. In this connection he made a comparison with what had been achieved in Canada, the comparison being greatly in favour of New Zealand. One of the most remarkable features of the repatriation of soldiers was the magnificent manner in which the soldiers repaid the loans made to them by the State. The land on which to settle the soldiers was bought at the market price, which was the only standard that could be followed. AFTER-WAR BURDENS. Mr. Clutha Mackenzie (Auckland East), in seconding the motion, said New Zealand had known little of the harshness of the war. Never before had she known such prosperous times, and now she had to face the economic burden, and the men who came back had to share in that burden as well as those who stayed behind. In many respects we were victims of circumstances. One of these was the high tariff walls which were being raised against us. and in which we had to some extent retaliated. The American tariff was likely to affect our wool trade in that country, though the Consul-Gen-eral of the United States had said it y. r ould not. Our position in the beef and lamb markets was not altogether satisfactory. So far as the butter market was concerned our position to-day was unassailable, but in a few years v>e might meet with active competition from Russia and Siberia, and the time was coming when he thought we must ask Britain to give the Dominion a higher rate of preference than she had given in the past. These were contributory factors to the present position, and it was the duty of each and everyone tf> do his best to weather the storm. The speaker said land settlement must be the key to progress in New Zealand. The town population was increasing at a greater rate than the country population, and a policy was needed to counteract that tendency. He advocated greater enterprise in connection with the railways. If motor vehicles can pay on roads they should pay on the railway. Mr. T. M. Wilford (Leader of the Opposition) then moved the adjournment of the debate.