PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 August 1922, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

YESTERDAY’S SITTING. THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. IMPREST BILL PASSED. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, August 30. The Legislative Council met to-day at 11 a.m. The Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill was introduced by Mr. McGregor and read a nrst time. The Imprest Supply Bill was put through all stages and passed. The Council then adjourned until next Wednesday.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES REPLIES TO QUESTIONS. The House of Representatives met at 2.30 p.m. Replying to Mr. R. McCallum (Wairau), the Hon. D. H. Guthrie said that until a new station was built at Wellington it was not proposed to make any alteration in the running of the Main Trunk trains between Wellington and Auckland. The Hon. W. D. Stewart informed Mr. G. Witty (Riccarton) that the only way he could see by which New Zealand potatoes could be admitted to Australia was for our agricultural experts to satisfy the Australian experts that our potatoes were free from disease, when no doubt the embargo would be removed. The Hon. C. J. Parr, in reply to Mr. T. K. Sidey (Dunedin North), said it was his impression that there would be no amendment of the Education Act this session. THE FREE DEBENTURES. Mr. Massey, in the course of a brief statement, said he understood his statement yesterday regarding tax-free debentures had been misupderstood, and it was being stated he proposed to break the pledge made with these debenture-holders. He had said nothing of the kind. He would be no party to breaking any pledge made to the taxpayers of the. Dominion, and he wished to make that perfectly clear. THE BUDGET DEBATE. Mr. T. D. Burnett (Temuka), continued the debate on the Budget. So far as country development was concerned, we could not do better than pursue a policy of closer settlement, and so far as town life was concerned we needed to give the workers a greater personal interest in the industries in which they were engaged, while the free use of hydro-electric power would enable more industries to be established and run on a more economical scale. Mr. F. W. Bartram (Grey Lynn) declared the Gove/rim.ent had failed to deal with unemployment even when it had money available. Knowing that unemployment was likely, the Government set out to spend over £2,000,000 in order to attract thousands of immigrants. The immigrants competed for jobs that were offering and so lowered wages. The Minister of Education, in defending the Government for not spending all its reserve funds to provide work for the workless, had said it was better statesmanship to visualise the future and conserve funds accordingly. “I say it is better to se the present clearly,” said Mr. Bartram, “rather than to gaze inanely into the future.”

Mr. A. Hamilton (Wallace), referring to the need for economy, said that economy should begin at home. It had been estimated that Parliament cost £1 per minute, and the debate had gone on so long that it was evident that the speeches should be further restricted. He contended that the present Government had done more for the unemployed than any other Government. Although the Government had to encourage immigration, it had not yet replaced the thousands of young men who were lost to New Zealand as a result of the war. He urged better marketing of produce, to give farmers the best results of their labor. On the other hand, labor must give better service than it was giving to-day, and capital must be satisfied with lower profits. If it did not do so, then its downfall must be on its own head, for he could already see the writing on the wall. Side by side with increased production we must improve the quality of our products. What New Zealand needed most urgently was that labor should give better service and that capital should play the game. Mr. W. E. Parry (Auckland Central) said the Budget revealed that the country had to stagger under the huge annual charge of £23,000,000 for interest and sinking fund. He advocated a State bank and a State shipping service, as amongst the means by which the burdens of the people can be relieved.

The Hon. W. Downie Stewart denied that the Government had ever sneered at the proposal to start a State bank in New Zealand. All that the Premier said was that it was not demonstrable that it would pay the Dominion to do so, because we had large and valuable interests in the Bank of New Zealand. In that respect our position differed materially from that of the Commonwealth of Australia. As to the financial position, he claimed that no country in the world at the present time was balancing its Budget, and New Zealand’s achievement was therefore remarkable. There was no deficit, but only a balance that had to be made up from other sources. The Government had been caught both ways, by falling revenue and by an unavoidable increase in expenditure.

Mr. E. J. Howard (Christchurch South), referring to the financial position of the country, said that, since 1919 we had borrowed £40,000,000, if not £45,000,000; but he thought not much statesmanship was required to run a little country like this on such immense sums of borrowed money.

The House rose aft. 11.30 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. to-morrow.