NO-CONFIDENCE

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10566, 23 February 1912, Page 5

NO-CONFIDENCE

THE DEBATE CONTINUED

EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH BY MR PAYNE,

MR HINDMARSH DECLARES AAINST THE GOVERNMENT.

SOME INTERESTING ADMISSIONS. •

(By Telegraph — Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Last Night. , In the House of Representatives I this afternoon, Mr T. K. Sidey con- , tinned the debate on the no-confidence '_ motion. Ho said the debate was des- , tined to become one of the most imt portant that had ever taken place in ( the New Zealand Parliament. The [ result of the election was a vote of . want of confidence in the legislation , of the Dominion. That had been adt mitted throughout the debate. He went on to urge the advisableness of a union between the Liberal and Labour parties. As to the present position, he said he knew very well that the opposition to the party was directed personally against Sir Joseph Ward, and an impression had been created that he had been, reaping a pecuniary benefit from the raising of loans. _ Mr McDonald carried on the debate .ti11i5.30. He spoke in praise of the policy outlined in the Speech; and said if any Government carried out! that policy, it would have done well J for the people of New Zealand. "Thoi Liberal party intended to be loyal to its chief, and not to give away the reins of power until it had been decided that he was not supported by the majority of the members. The Opopsition had urged the necessity of settling the Native lands, but to his mind" they appeared to be anxious to settle the Natives. The continual cry of the Opposition that the Government had not settled the land was a red herring drawn across the track to save their friends, who held thousands of acres. The Government had always pursued a progressive land policy. They had refrained from putting settlers on poor country, which would not give an adequate return for a man's labours, and which, therefore, would not make it possible to pursue road and bridge construction. When the House resumed at 7.30, ] Mr J. Payne, the member for Grey] Lynn, said the policy as outlined in: the Governor's Speech was in sympa-l, thy with his idea of a Labour policy. So far the Opposition had given him no opportunity to learn, what they -would do. As far as the Governor's Speech was concerned, he had heard a great deal about it being an insult to the Governor, members, and people, but he could not see where the insult came in. He had given his i pledge to the Leader of the Opposi- i tion to vote for his side Last Friday I week, but he could not now see any < justification for keeping it. If hejl deemed it expedient to break his ■< pledge, he would not scruple about < doing it. He would rather''break his j pledge than commit "labour interest ] murder." While in the North he had ; been led to believe that there were ] certain irregularities going on in the conduct of the country's affairs. Since he had been in the House the ] only things he had been able to hear i j were innuendos. ' Last week's meet-'i ] j jng of his constituents had been called 0 to ask him to resign in consequence I r . of the rumours circulated in Atiek- / 0 land that-he. intended to vote for!- i Ward; -The meeting had finished'by (J requesting him to vote againstßeform 'j Party. Innuendo? had been in eircu-\ Jation that he had be.">> bought bv! the Ward Government for £IOOO. It | i had been told him by the Leader of s the. Opposition himself. i"c IMr Massey: "Tell what you told mo in my room!" . I i Sir Payne, continuing, said he it would deal with that matter later, c Any attempt to influence him by j. specious arguments would be futile. He considered he was conserying the c interests of the people by supporting v the Liberals. He had heard Sir Joseph Ward repudiate the slanders is- ,« sued during the elections, but he had x not heard them discussed by the Opposition. He had heard of the reck- f lessness of finance of the present administration, but he had not heard v or seen anything to warrant him in t believing it. He believed, there was a new party in the making, combining \ the Liberal and Labour interests, and he had to consider what was the i best bargain for the Labour Party. ■Referring. to the charges of reckless! 'borrowing and he char-' acterised them as inventions; and cited from an English authority to show that what had been done in New \ Zealand was what was being done in England by the municipalities. ' His moral was that New-Zealand, as well as England, was- expending money on works of utility and profit. He had s come . to Parliament with an open c mind, and had listened to both sides, a He had, he declared, never listened to ( .such dish-water arguments as had r ibeon uttered against the Government. ,: To sum the position up, he had not ° ■heard anything to pass on to his constituents in Grey Lynn as sufficient r to vote out the Liberal Government $ on a no-confidence motion. He look- ft ed forward to a combination of the p Liberal, Radical and Labour memb- u ers, to work together for the.general good. " Mr Herries said he was the rep re- ° sentative, he believed, of ten thous- a and of the most intelligent electors v in New Zealand. His electors had j sent him down on a definite mission, j It was to oust the Ward Government. s He was ashamed to know that any n man was prepared to stand up and t say he would break his election pled- y ges. Mi" Payne called himself a la- I hour representative. He himself repre- jisented as much of the Labour inter- j ests as Mr Payne, and what had ,the Government done for " them ? All 'j they had to thank the Government for 6 ■was a lot of empty promises, not car- fc ried out. Dealing with railway mat- i, iters, Mr Herries said the New Zea- t land railways were the most disgrace- \ c ful in the world, and it was time 5 some administration other than the . present one undertook the manage- ) j ment of them. The policy pursued I (

by the Government in connection with Native lands called, for the sev- ,* crest condemnation. In connection with the Dreadnought, lie submitted that the Government had lost the confidence c(t' he country in allowling I that offer to be made .without consulting the House or people. The offer, as' it was made, was distinctly auto era fie, Even the Czar of Russia ' would not have done what Sir Joseph ,';,. ,T * Jf,11 «. 1 - No Sir Josr epii .Ward's idea was ... - -± { fc had gone the wrong way abou* He would not detain the House any further. He only rose to tell Mr Payne what he thought of him in. sinking his principles in the way lie had done. Mr Payne, in a personal explanation, said his election pledges contained no pledge that he should vote aga.nst the Ward Administration. Ihey were typed out, and were in J the hands of his committee. Mr Hindmarsh thanked Mr Massey tor being the medium for the return of so many Opposition members, as that circumstance placed the Labour party in the happy position of controlling the House. His sympathies were in the main with the Liberals, tout he would never - support any party which had Mr Miller in the Cabinet. Mr Millar's attitude in opposing rating on unimproved values had alienated from him the sympatfiv of all true democrats. He criticised the policy of the Government, and declared he was-in favour of the extension of the functions of the State. He criticised the methods of the Land■. Department, and contended that the Department files should be available to every member of Parliament, in-order to enable him to "see the character of the transactions of. members. He said" they must have absolute straight-forwardness on the part of the administrators, and the fullest information on every transaction. Mr Vigor Brown entered into a general criticism of the Opposition. The Opposition had declared the Government had done nothing; but if nothing else was done than the passing of the Widows' Pensions Act last session, good work had been done. The Opposition was productive of nothing but talk. He proceeded to indicate the Liberal measures which the Opposition had opposed, and defended the Government's finance. The Opposition were finding fault with everything. He from the Governor's Speech various proposals, and asked at each clause, "Is there "anything wrong with that?" Mr Dickie moved the adjournment and the House rose at 11.50.