PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 965, 4 November 1910, Page 6

PARLIAMENT.

THE COUNCIL. LAND SETTLEMENT FINANCE. When the Legislative Council met jtsterday afternoon the report of the Statutes Revision Committee on the Land Settlement Finance Bill was presented, with a, recommendation that the Bill be allowed to proceed" with amendments. Consideration of the report was made an order of the day for this afternoon. HARBOURS BILL. The Harbours Bill was received from the House of Representatives, and was read a first time. The second reading was set down for to-day. COMMERCIAL TRUSTS. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, in moving the second reading of the Commercial Trusts Bill, said the Bill proposed to repress monopolies in trade or commerce. The evil of monopoly had arisen in New Zealand, and if not checked or repressed it .would extend. There might be difficulty in carrying the Bill into effect, but the mere fact that it was on the Statute Book wonld mean that combines would choose some other hunting ground in preference to New Zealand. The effect of the Bill, he thought, would be mainly a deterrent one. If it had that effect. it would be fully justified. The Hons. J. Rigg, G. Jones, J. Anstey, and J. M'Gowan spoke on the Bill, and the- debate was adjourned at 4.35 p.m.

THE HOUSE

NOXIOUS WEEDS BILL. "When the House resumed its sittings yesterday, and after the consideration of reports from various Committees, The Hon. T. MACKENZIE moved the third reading of the Noxious Weeds Amendment Bill. . ■ After a brief discussion, the third reading was agreed to, and the Bill passed. TAIERI DRAINAGE BILL. Upon the motion that the amendments made in the Taieri Land Drainage Bill be agreed to, Mr. WILFORD (Hutt) requested a ruling as to whether, despite the fact that the Bill had passed its second reading, ie Bill could be arrested on the ground that it was a local Bill, and wee not being rightly passed. The Hon. T. MACKENZIE eaid that the Bill was not a local Bill, but a measure to amend the general Act. Mr. Wilford: It repeals the"Act! Mr. SPEAKER ruled.that the Bill was a local Bill, and its further progress must be stayed, unless the Standing Orders were suspended. The Hon. T. MACKENZIE then moved that the S.tanding Orders be suspended in order to validate the proceedings. Further discussion was deferred owing to the absence of Mr. Wilford, who had brought up the point. POST-AUDIT SYSTEM. CONTROL OF REVENUE MATTERS.. The committal of the Public Revenues Bill was carried after an explanation of its provisions by Sir Joseph Ward, and a short discussion. The Bill had previously been read a second time; pro forma, and considered by the Public Accounts Committee. The PRIME MINISTER said the Bill would. establish a post-andit system, under which the vouchers -for the Dayment of public money would be audited after payment instead of before. The post-audit system was approved by the present Auditor-General ' and his predecessor, and other highly. qualified' Departmental officers, who had given evidence before the Public Accounts Committee. At present we had the pre-audit system in about half the. pnblic expenditure, and the post-audit system in the other half, and he thought there should be. ■uniformity. The Bill was also a consolidating measure, but it contained a new provision directing the AuditorGeneral to submit an annual report io Parliament. The'Billabolished the position of Assistant-Controller and AuditorGeneral, the salary attached being JJSOO a year, but there would be provision for a Deputy-Controller and Auditor-General. There had been much. criticism of the clause, which was now called Clause 46 of the new Bill, and which provided that whore any payment of an item was provided for in the Estimates as passed, and was included in the total of a vote under the Appropriation Act, such payment could be lawfully made notwithstanding anything in any Act to the contrary. There should be- no objection to this clause. Without it there would be great trouble in introducing social clauses in the Appropriation Act. ■ Mr. JAMES ALLEN (Bruce) said the pre-audit system was the safer one for the, payment of, moneys. . The present Auditor and Controller-General was in favour of pre-andit for certain accounts. It was true that the items paid out. of imprest were not pre-audited, hut the actual payment of the imprest as a whole was pre-audited, and that was a useful check! He was not, however, prepared to say that post-audit should not bo tried. One weakness of the Bill was that it would make the Auditor-General less : an officer of the - Crown and more an officer of the Finance Minister of the day. Under ono clause he had'to report, to the Minister, instead of, as before, to Parliament, and under another he was to report to the Minister in respect of making surcharge, instead of ■ making the surcharge on his own authority. Mr. Allen also protested against Clause 4C, which he said enabled the statute law to be overridden by a vote on. the Estimates, and without all the ordinary safeguards attached to altering the'law. ■ ... ■Mr. FRASER (Wakatipu) said that, on the whole, he thought the Bill had been very carefully drafted, .and that some advantage would be gained by placing it on the Statute Book. Mr. MASSEY said there were some important provisions iu the Bill which de-' served the most careful attention, of members. The Bill was important, as he hod said, although it was a consolidating measure. Under.the new system it'would be sufficient for the vouchers to 'be examined by officers of the Treasury. The pre-andit had worked v«ry satisfactorily indeed up to' the' present:' What influenced him was the evidence given on the new system by Mr. Warburton, 1 who suggested that the responsibility in the case of a mistake being made should rest on the Minister for Finance, and that he should be surcharged with the amount. This would make the Minister take every care with his officers. He hoped a clause would be inserted making it compulsory for the Government to lay before the House such a return of expenditure 'as the Canadian Government put forward; After the Prime Minister had briefly replied, it , was agreed that the Bill should be set down for consideration in Committee. " l

PETITIONS. Reporting on the petition of Mrs. A. M. Richardson, of Wellington, widow of the late Hon. G. F. Richardson, for further compensation in respect of the services of her" late husband to the Dominion, the Public Petitions Committce recommends that the petition be referred to the Government for favourable consideration. The Public Petitions Committee, reporting on the. petition of T. H. Hustwick, of Wellington, for compensation for loss of office as a Customs analyst, has no recommendation to make. A similar report has been brought in on the petition of Wm'. J. Murphy, Wellington, for compensation for loss "sustained on the purchase of certain property. A petition has been presented to the House of Representatives by Mr. W. H. Field, M.P., on'behalf of Thomas Walker, of Wereroa, formerly farm overseer of the Wt-reroa Boys' Training Farm, claiming compensation for alleged wrongful dismissal and injury to his reputation. Petitioner also claims specifically, for £107 10s. for work performed in respect of contracts, £30 for ten weeks holidays he should have received £34 10s. for house allowance for 69 weeks, and £28 for fruit trees, shrubs, and flowers planted, making a ..total of £200. ■ b