HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10564, 21 February 1912, Page 4

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House met at 2.30; V FIRST READINGS. : The Sunday Labour Bill, Legislature Amendment Bill, and Proportional Representation Bill (Mr Fisher) were read a. first time. The Legislature Amendment Bill and (Local. Government Bill (Sir • Joseph Ward) were brought down by Governor's Message, and read a first time. LOOAL GOVEKiXMENT BILL. Sir Joseph Ward gave a general outline of the provisions of the Local Government Bill, which contains over four hundred clauses. ADBRESS-M-REPLY. Mr J. Y. Heed, in moving the Ad-dress~in-Reply, said the most important thing;,in.*the. Governor's .Speech was contained in the first.paragraph.| The present was the first, occasion for j many yearsi that a no-confidence motion had been moved on the Address-J in-ißeiply. He would like to jsnow '' •whether some of the members of the House had been sent to vote against the policy of parties, or against the Administration. He contended that the Opposition party were not in •tho ascendency in the House/ If they were, they would have challenged the Government's nomination of the Speaker. The motion which Mr r iM&ssey had given notice to move in connection with the Address-in-Re-ply was a .direct, attack -.011 .the,^Ad , psors of the Governor—not on the party. ■He.wanted it:./thoroughly.• .understood' that if Mr Massey f s motion I were" carried, it meant the exit of the Lib--, eral party." There was nothing inthe Governor's Speech that was not in conformity with the policy of the Liberal party, and in conformity with the past work ©f the party.' He ■praised the proposals for an increase in the benefits of the old age pensions scheme. It had been said that the Liberals had taken this •plank from the Opposition platform. ,He pointed out that the present Government had, initiated the,. Old Age Pensions scheme. 'Jhe present Government had made ..further provision for assisting those who could not pay for nurses. The proposals outlined in the Speech in connection. with Na?tive lands were the best over put before the House. A free trade in Na- X tive lands.would :ypell disaster to the 'Natives. He favoured the nationalisation of the iron industry of the Dominion, and approved the Local Government Bill. The present Government had introduced many beneficial, humanitarian measures'. With regard to the fostering of the farming industry, the Government had instituted the -' Advances • to Settlers scheme, which' had proved of immense- value to the farmers. The Government had further fostered the dairying industry, had provided, ex-. pert n'dvi-e for farmery ftud.A^-^j" *!} em .™J™-7 *oik*ivaWo manner, the had extended the greatest assistance to small farmers. The Liberal party must he judggd fcy its works, not by its professions. He desired to point out to the Independent members, who at the present time controlled • tlie situation, that the carrying of Mr Massey's amend- ' ment meant putting out a Govern-' >ment which had helped the'-people. He moved the Address. . (Mr J. C. Thompson seconded the 1 motion. He suggested the establishment of a i'll nd for aged legislators who had spent their lives in helping the people. Ho maintained that the progressive .'Liberal party had not I 'been defeated at the last poll. :The Liberal votes, man for man, were ■more than those recorded for the oDeposition side. He was convinced that political warfare in the Dominion was degenerating. Some of the things which took place during the second Ibahots were disgraceful. (Hear, i hear!) There had been misrepresen-1 tatious in connection with the social unrest in New Zealand. It had been j stated tliat taxation was higher hero ! than anywhere. This was a misrep- j resentation, for the surplus showed', that New Zealand was making rnon- j, ey. He advocated State enterprise, I! nofc to kii] private enter.ori.se, but to j fining it to a proper level There had j 1 been gross misrepresentation on the ' part of the gentlemen opnosite with ' • regard to the national debt. The [ Opposition endeavoured to scare the 11 people when they spoke of eighty, mil-! j

lions of a public debt. New Zealand was more highly taxed than any State in iho Commonwealth. It was it ho lightest in the world. The Governor's Speech ' contained reforms which would come to pass in the course of time. 'There could be no more Liberal or democratic policy than was contained in the Speech. Ho challenged Mr Massey to show how he was going to bring about the limitation of areas. The Liberals could do it, but not Mr Massey. He approved the extension of the Old Age Pensions scheme. If the iron industry were nationalised, sufficient materials would be provided to pay off the national debt. He reviewed the work of the liberal Governmnt, and hoped that member.! on the cross benches would •weigh well their action in exercising the important privilege entrusted to them.

MOTION

.Mr Massey tlien moved to add to the motion, "In conclusion, we deem it our. duty to represent to -Your Excellency that Your Excellency's Advisers do not possess the confidence of the House. Mr 'Massej said he did not-; intend, to deal, with Speech "' •put into tho mouth of the Governor. : It was <a serious indignity to the Governor, and. an insult to members and'the-people. It 'was an attempt, to bribe the people with the expend!-" ture of their own money. "He challenged the statement that the Opposition would allow a free trade in Native lands. They wanted to see the Natives got a goc/1 price for their lands, -and .not sell them to specuiators,. Jsts: ±he..=Go*«rittißent %ad ■ allowed last year. With, regard to. 'tor- " rowing, the Reform xarty fcnew perfectly well that;there would have to be borrowing,' but hot more than was • necessary im&t ■be spent, and then in , a proper manner. With regard to- ; Mr Thompson's statement re the tax--ation, he said he had stated that the country could not tax one section of the community without taxing the whole. Concerning the iron industry, the Government made the proposal hist year to hand over the whole lot to speculators,. and • Mr Thompson supported,:it.' Attempts had been made 'that'^afternoon. to. show that the Government had not losit the confidence of people. The condition: of the House proved it had done- so. If ever ; a party had been, itold to, go, the present Government had; but they hung on to office till the last moment, which action did not increase their integrity with, the people. Lately they were.like a ship without a rudder or a compass.. He sincerely hoped the change-in Government had not been too long delayed. He hoped the counrtry would not suffer by the delay. The interests of the Government clashed with I the interest of the State, and when this condition of affairs obtained, ifc was time to effect a change. In connection with the finances, they seemed to have the' idea that the Execux tive was paramount to Parliament. The gift, of a Dreadnought indicated I that, instead-'"of one man jiving a j Dreadnought, v- Parliament should [have heen summoned, and .2?arliaiment should-have' given it. 3t had ,:ibeen stated-;ihKfingland. that it had. ibeeh the 'giSfeof ! o"iVe man. The. party had forgotten the'-fundamenfcal prm-f. ciples of democratic 'Government. He entered a strongs protest against the ' manner in which the Government had. withheld information in connection, -with loans. JProbaibly a solution of the present difficulty would be found in another appeal to the people. He | did not .want to force such a thing, ibut was quite willing to face a genj eral election. The people's principal ; objection was to the Government's .administration, not.their legislation. With iregard-io the -surplus/.given ont ''during the •afternoon, 1 it' was pari of the money-of those who, earned * it., ..It w»s7sad finance to extract' Jmore ; from the pockets of the,.people than was necessary for the; caryring out" of the work of the country. The Government had failed ignominiously in land .settlement, and if this country was to ibe prosperous it was on the settlement of the land they depended. The Government had allowed , large areas of land to be idle, and had allowed intending settlers to go'to other countries to find land. Cottage farming had not received the*'attention it,should have had. He predicted that whatever Government iheld the .Treasury benches would have to consider recent problems. Referring to Native lands, Mr Massey mainfcaintd tha;c the fringe of the question had not I c-n touched. The Native lauds must I.e settled Ho referred to the method in which the Government dealt with the Mokau estate, and said that was enough to; wreck any Government. )eahng with the baekblocks settlers, he said he had come to the conclusion that the Government's policy -,v,is a humbug, and he believed this was i ot far wrong. He said there was aissatis- . taction- with the Railway ndi.ihmtratiou because of the abominable.- system of-preferential, rates in .the cartage of goods. The Governmeni had bi-en hm%. rowing, squandering. aiKl 'again to such nu ., •'"" ■trv f>niiW - xLb that; .the conn* • W mi ... stand it. 'There had been reckless expenditure. He referred to tho system of grants, which ho said were used for election -purpoics No other country would tolerate- fetich a system. Mi- R./H. Rhodes seconded the motion. ( sir Joseph Ward in reply. ■ Sir Joephy.Ward pointed out that at laumarun-ui Mr Massev had told the people ho would reduce'the rate to local public bodies to 3 per cent. The local public bodies had-had over tn millions in two years. When it was known there was a probability- of a change of Government-, the Banks and luiaucial institutions warned their customers to clear up their overdrafts .Sir Joseph outlined the 'proceedm- 0 at Home i .attin- an election when the Liberals had not a majority and the then Premier had not resigned. Whv had the Opposition called out all over the country that lie should resign ? "Does tho honourable goutlenwm sav bo bad a. majority after tho elections ■"' Mr Massey: "Yes, J did." Sir Joseph Ward: "Well, I sav you had not.'' Tho votes polled bv the Opposition, not Labour or Independents wero 170.478, and for the Liberals 235,918. Did that look as if the country had lost confidence in the Liberals ? Since the elections, the leader of the Opposition had been moving heaven and earth to turn some members over to his side of the House. Mr -Massey: "That statement 'is ncorreot." The Leader of the Opposition and lis friends had v. been making attempts o effect his (the political issassination, outside the House, but