DEBATE ENDING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 July 1938, Page 7

DEBATE ENDING

NO=CONFIDENCE DIVISION LIKELY TONIGHT

GOVERNMENT CRITICISED BY MR COATES.

FINANCE MINISTER DEFENDS POLICY MEASURES.

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day.

Another full sitting was devoted by the House of Representatives yesterday to the Address-in-Reply debate. Ministerial answers to members’ questions will be circulated and discussed this afternoon, and the debate will be resumed this evening, when it is expected a division will be reached on the no-confidence amendment moved by the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon Adam Hamilton.

Ten speakers, including four Ministers and two members of the Opposition, took part in yesterday’s debate. During the middle of the afternoon there was little interest in the discussion, and at one time fewer than the quorum of 20 members were in their seats in the chamber. However, the participation in the debate of the Minister of Finance, the Hon W. Nash, and the Rt Hon J. G. Coates (Opposition, Kaipara) stimulated interest in the evening’s proceedings. Mr Coates, who was the first speaker after the tea adjournment, received an extension of time, his speech occupying almost, an ' hour. He dealt mainly with the socialistic trend of the Government’s legislation, referring particularly to road transport services and the operation of the Industrial Efficiency Act. Mr Coates also criticised the attitude at Geneva of the High Commissioner for New Zealand, Mr W. J. Jordan. The policy and administration of the Government were,, defended by Mr Nash. He said the guaranteed price and marketing system had given stability to the dairy industry. The Forbes administration, he added, had supported the cause of peace and the League of Nations, and the Opposition was criticising' the present Government for adhering to the principles enunciated by that Government. The House adjourned at 10.25 p.m. until today.