Notes From The Gallery

New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 5, 28 July 1939, Page 23

Notes From The Gallery

(By

Our Special Representative

An Important Statement + First Points From New Members + Prime Minister May Present Budget

UST as the Address-in-Reply debate was lagging at the end of its second week the Prime Minister made a statement which the House and the newspapers found startling in its implications. C. A. Barrell (Government, Hamilton) asked if the Government would conduct a plebiscite to find out exactly what the farming community thought about the guaranteed price. The question had been granted urgency, and Mr. Savage came straight to the point. "It would be impossible," he said, "for any Government to disregard the statements made against the guaranteed price. ... It is plainly the duty of the Government to find out whether the dairy farmers actually want the guaranteed price or not." He made it clear that he would lose no sleep trying to force them to accept something they did not want, and this would apply to other producers working under similar systems. The statement came at a time when speeches made by delegates to the Dominion Conference of the Farmers’ Union were filling columns in the newspapers and just after a deputation of some 400 of them had waited on Ministers. But it did not seem so startling after the Prime Minister’s reply the following day to the interpretation given to it by the President of the Union. The Lonely Lady Member The debate has otherwise introduced little that was not well aired last October, although Mr. Nash’s absence overseas has been well discussed. Most of the new members have by now made their maiden speeches. All have been received | with traditional applause. Perhaps the lonely lady member enjoyed the warmest reception. The Budget Next Month? The negotiations which have kept Mr. Nash in London longer than anticipated may make it necessary for the Prime Minister to present the Budget. In a brief announcement to this effect Mr. Savage said that the end of August was the latest date for this important part of the work of the session. Modesty C. W. Boswell (Government, Bay of Islands) unintentionally paid himself a compliment when he said in his maiden speech that farmers in the Bay of Islands were the brains of the country. Although Mr. Boswell did not say so, and probably did not have it in mind, the conclusion that his presence in the House was the result of the best thinking in New Zealand was irresistible. First Points Although most of the Opposition members referred directly or indirectly to the international situation by advocating uni-

versal military training, R. M. Macfarlane (Government, Christchurch South) made one of the few Government references to foreign policy. He expressed a hope that alliance with Russia would reduce the likelihood of war. Both Sides of the Fence The majority of the maiden speeches were concerned on the one side with "socialism" and on the other. with " capitalism." Mr. Boswell said his Bay of Islands farmers were all for socialism; H. E. Combs (Government, Wellington Suburbs) ‘suggested that the medical profession organised under the Social Security scheme might well interest itself in preventive treatment on a big scale; W. S. Goosman (Opposition, Waikato) said that the biggest majority in any rural district in New Zealand was the Waikato dairy farmers’ answer to socialism as represented by the guaranteed price scheme; T. L. MacDonald (Opposition, Mataura) insisted that universal military training was democratic; A. E, Jull (Opposition, Waipawa) that the land tax was unfair; F. W. Doidge (Opposition, Tauranga) that social organisation within New Zealand depended on outside influences; Mrs. C. S. Stewart (Government, Wellington West) that human values should be considered above all others in social legislation; J. M. Allen (Opposition, Hauraki) that contributions to naval defence and universal military training would increase overseas goodwill; A. N. Grigg (Opposition, MidCanterbury) that sheep farmers were very unhappy; and D. C. Kidd (Opposition, Waitaki) that housing construction should concern itself more" with country people. The Safety Valve Those listeners who may be thinking that the House has been wasting hours on the Address-in-Reply without making itself interesting should remember that Parliamentary procedure is designed to give the greatest possible freedom of speech to each of the 80 members. As one of these members recently pointed out, it is healthier that there should be complaints about too much talk rather than compiaints, and suspicions, about too little talk. In any case, even though members sometimes seem to be anything but interested in the speaker of the moment, let him make a mistake, or a slip of the tongue, and they are all ears and attention, with comments and interjections keeping all the microphones busy. The debate gives all members a chance to publicise their political testaments and proclaim afresh their party ideals. When the real work of legislating begins they have neither the time nor the liberty to wander.