IMPENDING STRIKE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10564, 21 February 1912, Page 5

IMPENDING STRIKE

GOVERNMENT S PROPOSALS TO BE SUBMITTED TO-DAY. (Received Last Night, 10.40 o'clock.) LONDON, February 20. Sir G. R. Asquitli. conferred with the Industrial Council on tho coal crisis, and submitted representations from the Government. .It is expected that the Premier will announce the action the Government; proposes to take in tho House of Commons to-day. In the negotiations, tho Conciliation. Board is requesting that the English mine? be conliniKkl. Ifc is rumoured that a vivendi has been reached iu regard to the minimum wage. •. THE COTTON TRADE. WILL BE GRAVELY AFFECTED. POSSIBILITY OF READJUSTMENT (Received' Last Niglit, 10.-10 o'clock.) LONDON, February 20. The authorities at Glasgow , have assured shipowners of sufficient protection. Three hundred-unionises ha,ve begun to remove cargo. The cotton,trade in Manchester will lie gravely affected if coal supplies stop, and'can not'survive a week's stoppage of the mines. The latest rumour from South_ Vales indicaAes that there is a possibility of an adjustment.

they, would nevjer put him down (loud applause). He said he thought Mr Massey would have been ashamed to have brought the matter of the Dreadnought up when he knew that he and his party could have voted against it before on© penny was spent except on the cable. The same, thing had. occurred iri connection with military train- • . ing. The Opposition cried out against what they called heavy borrowing, yet they had supported every loan for the past twenty years, with the exception of one division to reduce an amount by £250,000, and then Mr Massey voted with the "ayes.' He denied :hat he had ever introduced the religious question into anything. He quoted figures to show that, in the Post and Telegraph Department there were 4800, of which 742 were Roman Catholics. Of 234 telegraph boys. 20 were Romans. In the Railway Department thcry were 12,500 in the service, fifteen per centbcnig Romans. It had been.freely cireai-ted that h* was a large shareholderm the Umiiij Steamship Company. West port Coal Companv, a large Timber Company, and a largo building concern in Auckland. 'He was not intciestcj in svi\Y <of these institutions., t'.e hvl r.o l»J- ---— ameial interest in any business outside '' his own, and one or two .newspapers. He had been accused of receiving £125,000 out of a loan which cost onlv £lll,OOO to raise. He had received about 250 letters about receiving money for loan raising. He. had never .been in a. land aad chaLcnyed anvone to say he had speculated j.i land since he had been a Cabinet Minister. He had not got as many i-ro-•perties now as he had ten y<ws ago. With regard \6 Sir Jolm I ladlay, ho wanted'to state in connection the statement that Sir John nad loicw himself to go Home to the Impenal ft was true The cable he recervM trom Home inquired whether .:io could ar■iwnge "for another member of , the Cabmet and a legal one." All othei « intries except New Zealand and S liundkn'd had three representatives. Continuing, Sir Joseph . Awiina with the land question, said Sf Proposals of the Government ;£?re to fake } Worth o land front the people who. hat 1. nevei &*J£aT&, nd this was what, -ge Opposition took ««3>tion to. The large landowners were, practical y Savouring to buy to Parliament. ' He referred to the attitude of large landowners who .brought electors to t he polls in motm S IS to enable rich men to get into Parliament as against poor me., JI he> should do in New Zealand as the* d d £ Australia, where they stopped -.. motor cars running at elections tot more than two miles. He asked, "-as it not a fact that fourteen millions had been expended to enable small farmers to obtain land tor them selves? He denied that he desired to clin" to office, and had declined to retire when he had' desired to do so. (because'he did not consider it fair ■ to his party; but he would say. ho believed they were going to win. He ,was willing to go into the ranks of the Liberal party. The policy ho had ■outlined in the Governor s Speech was.the ground work for. .future legislation and development of the coun-

for J. Allen said that, with regard >'' to* the advances to local bodies, the V Government bad had to raise the interest from 31 per cent to d* per cent Sir Joseph Ward had referred •to large- landowners; but he knew there were as many large landowners on his own side as on the side oi the . Opposition. With regard to the Dreadnought, the Premier knew that members had not been communicated with in regard to the gift. He. should have summoned Parliament instead ■of allowing information to filter out through the newspapers. Dealing with the Premier's statement re mi itarv training, Mr.Allen, said he had always taken'a full'share of the responsibility in connection therewith. He had to say that he could not •iccopfc the information in connection VAvith the five million loan with equanimity. With regard to the Governor's. Speech, ho thought it an unfair tiling to put such a speech into the Governor's mouth. > lhe # charges made by (the Opposition against the •Government were of- extravagance, and that money was used for improper purposes. If a was .made, there would be a different cta-to of affairs than had existed. He did not think the Premier had treated Parliament fairly with the financial Statement he had placed before it. It would be an extremely difficult ithing for the man who came after him to carry on the public works of the country on the statement left by the Premier. ; Mr Payne moved the ■ adjournmeent s* of the House at 11.55.