BUSINESS "HELD UP"

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 991, 5 December 1910, Page 8

BUSINESS "HELD UP"

PUBLIC WORKS ESTIMATES. A MINISTER'S SILENCE. A PROTEST AND RETALIATION, Quite unexpectedly, and greatly to ' tho chagrin of a largo number of members who had their grips , packed in -readiness to leave Wellington for their homes, a long delay occurred on tho Public Works Estimates at an early.hour on Saturday morning. Thedelay was caused by. Messrs. (Pahiatua) and Poland (Ohinemuri), who, for over two hours, maintained a protest against the- action, first of the Hon. D. Buddo, and later of the Hon.. R.'M'Kenzie, in refusing to give certain information which the members in quest-ion considered they wore en-' titled, to. In the long run, when the' manoeuvring .had drawn out over a couple of hours, the Hon. ft. M'Kenzie, to show his disapproval, asked the: House to strike off certain 'votes which stood.on tho Estimates for the district represented "by Mr. Poland". One vote or £200 was actually' struck off"Stoke Orphanage." •+u Mr " ?' asked for details ol the vote for £12,000 for the Stoke Orphanage, and also if it was the intention of the Government to purchase tno orphanage. The Minister said that there was' a new building costing over £8000. The S a qSn WaS Ti Va l"! d i by arbit «tion at i ?i n ' amount to be paid by the. Government for the institution was over £19,000. It would be carried on as an undenominational school . On the vote for school buildings, lands, etc., £6000, Mr. Poland (Ohinei muri) moved that the item be reduced by £1, as a protest against the Government casting on the education boards the total cost of the re-erection of decayed, unsanitary, and worn-out school buildings, including teachers"' residences, but his amendment was rejected by 41 votes to 7. Mr. Hemes remarked on the 'fact' that although a satisfactory sum ol money was put on ~the Estimates for gold prospecting, very little was spent, there should, he urged, be some means by which the money voted would bd spent. The Hon. R. "M'Kenzie said the Department had not been at all niggardly in granting assistance to prospertors., Mr.' Ross (Pahiatua) urged that g sum should have been put on the Estimates to enable prospecting' for coal: to be carried out at .MaharabaTa, near Dannevirke. He also thought the Min-( ister should have a geological survey made of the same district. The Minister remarked-jocularly that' he would give Mr. Ross his geological survey if'he.would 1 only-let the Housf 1 get on with the Estimates.,' Mr. Ross persisted' in. trying to get( the - Minister to rise from his recum-* bent position aud reply to question! and allow the House to get on with itg business, and let them get away to theil homes that day.' Was' the Minister Asleep? Messrs. Poland and Ross then, raised the question of whether it was right, that the Minister in charge of the 1 Estimates should lie, apparently asleep, 1 in his-chair, when members were asking,' questions. Whether tho Minister was asleep or not,, they considered h(S treats ment a piece of gross They expected to get that consideration due to members-representing the people. The Minister said he had not been: asleep. He thought the hon. members,, had got as much information a? they,-, were entitled to. In ■ his opinion ii\' was discourtesy on the part of hon, members ,to inflict what tley werg doing on the House at that time ijl tho morning. ' The debate dragged on until 3.30, be-; ing kept up solely by Messrs. Ross and! Poland. At length Mr.- Andersoitr (Mataura) raised a point of order that) tho two speakers in question were _ infringing the rules by tedious repetition.. The Chairman of Committees' ruled; that the speakers were on the border 1 ,-, line, and if it continued he would have!, to rule against them. j Tho Hon/R. M'Kenzie rose and pro-f ceeded to characterise the behaviour <".&'( oue of the members in -question as .im-'-pertinent. The Chairman of Committees ruled! that tho Minister must withdraw tha word "impertinent." _ . After further discussion the Hon.; Mr. M'Kenzie said if . this state oU ■ things continued lie would ,be disposed*, to ask the House to bring tho Speaker-' in and let him consider the situation. , Mr. Poland: It would be .a good! thing. At length the Chairman of Commit* tees ruled that Mr. Ross, who had been! holding the floor for some time, should!' resume his seat. ■ Mr. Poland promptly filled the gap, and at once ran counter to the Chairman of Committees, and continued his speech amidst cries of. "Vote! Vote? Vote!" - A Vote Struck Out. The Minister said the House shoulf show its resentment of the proceedings' of the last two hours. ; Mr. Poland interjected that the House should show what it felt in regard to the treatment meted out to it ; by tho Minister. The Minister then moved that the amount £200 for tho Bridge Road to Karangahake be struck out. This was agreed to on the voices. The Minister then moved that the item "Hikutaia to Paeroa, £250," be deleted from the Estimates. Mr. Hogan OVanganui) said ,that while lie did not wish to sympathise at all with the.two hon. gentlemen wtoi' had been delaying the proceedings, ho thought this "was a. rather regrettable practice to. adopt as the settlers in that portion of New Zealand would be the sufferers. The settlers should not suffer. They, of course, might resent what their ..representatives had done (at the next-election), but they would he the sufferers in the meantime. - _ , Mr. Poland said he had been doing his duty and proposed •to continue to do his duty in spite of the discourtesy of the Minister. A Flna! Gallop. Mr: Massey said tho attitude of tho two.' members had. caused intense disappointment to many members on both sides 'of the House, wlh> had hoped to. get awav, 'and would cavso them much inconvenience. 1 As a resu '' of , elr attitude, it seemed tnat the session must run into another week. He thought the members in question naa gonc°a little too far.; _ Mr Poland said the Minister had de-libc-rately refused him information, and lie was prepared to sit till the following niflit and debate the. question of the expenditure of money for the construct tion of roads in the goldlields. The Hou. R, M'Kcr.zio said that af-' tor the reproof they had received from tho Leader of the Opposition and the niembor for Mataura, Messrs. -Poland' and Ross should recognise they were in the wrong. He had never seen a worse exhibition in tho House sinco he came there., Mr. M'Kenzie said lie was prepared to move to striko out all the. votes in the members' districts, vote by vote. Ultimately tho Minister asked leave to withdraw his amendment, which referred to a line vote, and this wasgiven by tho House. Messrs. Poland and Ross showed a disposition to hang the House up on tho next item, but when it was passed the Hoaso galloped through the remaining classes of the Estimates, which wore all Bassed aJbout 4.15 a.ni« . • . . ,