THE HOUSE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1198, 5 August 1911, Page 3

THE HOUSE.

THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY,

DEBATE ENDED,

AN OVERCROWDED MENTAI.

HOSPITAL.

The House met at 2.30 p.m., and after I 1 questions and other matters hrAdleW^ Cd th ° debatß U * on i?as" li" H , OGG (Jlastcrton) congratuated the Speaker and Acting-Prime Min,c°i' °« * "cpnt'r-rccoivod honours. ™-™ translation of. Sir Joseph Ward o the rnpidly-espandiag British aristoc acy, he-would prefer to be'somewhat ?'l ul lu . espressinif an opinion on a latter undoubtedly. ot-very, great importnco in a democratic country like'this. 10 had not.the-slightest doubt 'a's'to the piuion. that'would' be expressed generally ■y Ihor counter-''°d - the mattoi'.- It was ithng. that .the l'rime - Minister - should 10 P rc sent- before any attempt was mado o express.an opinion either 'condemnatory r the opposite. Tho Speech Mr. Uaracterisad as being as bare as a plate'lass window and as bald as a, billiard 'all It had given- members nothing to ot hold ot, and the efforts of members ad resembled an attempt by a deaf and Jimb man fu sing tiie Doxolo-jy. Tho louse bad been treated to a bald-beaded pitoino of stale news. Air. Hoi? turned lext to tell the story of tho liimv.taka nclme. It was, he said, a weird and [acamiy story. Tho incline was a placo of one tunnels where the long-woolled sheep f his-tnend Mr. Buchanan were turned nto black-faced ewes and lambs. In tho minels his Excellency Lord. Islington had lot long ago almost, been turned into a nnco of Darkness on an occasion when us train was "stuck" there. He had himelf sometimes been almost turned into iacon in travelling through the tunnels ver the incline. He had travelled over ho incline for nearly thirty years, and 10 was tired of -it. These tunnels were imply horizontal chimnovs. The line had icen built in the old Torv days for party mrposes. It was what lie called a Tory inc. The Government- had broken its iledges to the peoplo in delaying tho 'imufaka deviation year after year! Minsters should see that it was their duty o -prosecute this line ■ as early as posible. Mr. Hogg protested-that tho Govirnment utterly neglected many disfricls hat roturned members who were its taunch supporters. Of this his own disrict was a conspicuous example. He loted that the Leader of the Opposition ras to visit his (Mr. Hogg's) constituency hortly, and, no doubt, owing to the negect of the Government, tho lion, gentlenan would gain a number of votes and iromises of support. The Dreadnought, Instead of tho railways, the settlors leeded they had tho Dreadnought voto if two millions—a vote given in a moment if panic, and duo to a flagrant Tory falselood. Mr. .Tames Allen: "What was the falselood?" Mr. Hogg: "Well, I havo not seen the :able." Properly spent, tho money would lavo helped every settler on tho laud in Vow Zealand. Mr. Fisher: "You were in tho Cabinet ihat approved the grant. You should lave resigned?" • Mr. Hors: "I resigned early enough. I took my timo about it." The hon. genleman knew why he had resigned—because lie could not agree with the Government in regard to land settlement, and in regard to Stato currency. Mr. Fisher: "You should have resigned an tho Dreadnought issue." Mr. Hogg: "No; T would do the same In-morrow if T thought that England was in a hole, but I am oonfidont now that there was no necessity for it. Wo were misled." ! Mr. .lames Allen: "Who misled you.-" Mr. Hogg: "Do you think T should lm-c | voted for it if T liad not been misled?" A number: "Who misled you?" < jlv. Hogg: "Not for u moment." (Laugh- , tor.) Mr. Fisher: "Who misled you.- I Mr. Hogg: I don't know who it email- j nled from, but somebody said that, an ( enormous Dreadnought had been turner ( out by Germany, nnd that England was t in daiiTr. I don't tliink that anybody - could say that I have over tried to evade ' a responsibility, but I say that at the ( liine we-were misled. I ranliot discover , the origin of the statement. I should like as much as the hen. member to discover with whom it originated. Concluding, Mr. Hogg tho necessity of yuihiDg on ivitli public .works s

and declared his conviction that sooner or later this country would have a Stato bank. Wesiland's Wants. Mr. T. E. V. SEDDON (Westland) .-ongratulatod tho Speaker and Ac'ing-l'rt-mier upon the honours conferred on thoni by his Majesty. lie complimented tho Government on tho work lately done in bridging the South Westland rivers. This had removed the cause of tho old complaint that that district was neglccied b, the Public Works Department. He suggested that the lioss-llokitika railway, which must, bo payin? handsomely, should be extended past IJoss to tap the rich forests of tiiat district. South Westland was one of the beauty-spots of New Zealand, and had never had tho attention it merited from the Tourist Department. Mr. Scddon discounted a fear he had heard expressed that bitterness would be displayed in the debato during tho session. . Mr. AV. T. JENNINGS (Taumarunui), in replying, referred (as reported in another column) to the statements of tho Leader of the Opposition in regard to the Mokau Estate. As to what had been said about tho rating of Native lands tha power at one lime vested in the Minister of vetoing rating of Native lands had been abolished during tho previous session. Ho joined tho member for Westland in hoping that tho debates of the session would be carried on in a friendly spirit. The motion "that a respectful address Ije presented to his Excellency in reply to his Excellency's Speech was carried, on tho voices, at. 4.3") p.m. Before tlio House adjourned at .5.30 p.m., Mr. Speaker announced that his Excellency the Governor would recoivo the address at 10.30 a.m. to-day. It would bo his duty with the mover and seconder and as many other members as could make it convenient to go to Government House in motor-cars to present the address at that hour.