IN PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1258, 13 October 1911, Page 5

IN PARLIAMENT.

DAILYJSUMMARY. WELLINGTON BILLS DEBATED. Yesterday was a Wellington day in tho House of Representatives for the greater part of tho afternoon sitting and tno evening sitting, until after UP** devoted to consideration, in Committee, of the Wellington City Empowering Bill, a'measure dealing with the .right to charge for admission to the city reserve,?, and with a proposal to cstnb ish a municipal milk depot in Wellington. In the early part of the afternoon half a dozen local Bills were read a thud time and passed. Thus far tie proeowlini had been uneventful, but hostiht.es commenced when Mr Wilford, who was in charge of the Wellington City Empowering Bill, moved to re-insert a clause, empowering tie City Council to charge for admission to the reserves on thirty days in each year, which had been struck out by the Local Bills Committee This was strongly opposed by a ssction of tho House, on the ground that the public should not be excluded from their own parks and recreation grounds. Mr; Ross, a member of the Committee, complained that Mr. Wilford had not brought any evidence before it to show that the contentious, clause was necessary.' Mr. Wilford admitted that this neglect might have been unwise, bnt contended that the proposal in the clause was supported by the seventy thousand citizens of Wellington. ■■When the House resumed after the dinner adjournment, there was an interlude, while Mr. Massey and the Prime Minister exchanged remarks about electioneering. Eventually, Mr. Wilford compromised with his opponents, and the much-discussed clause was passed in a form which gives the council the right to charge for admission to the reserves on twenty days in each year, provided that not more than ten of these days are Saturdays. Discussion then proceeded for about an hour and a half over the provisions relating to the establishment of a milk depot. Mr. Wilford endeavoured to secure the passage of a clauso conferring on the City Council the solo right to issue and renew licenses to trade in milk, bub stipulating that a license should be revoked only with tho .concurrence of the Minister for Public Health. ~ A counter proposal by Mr. Field that control of existing milk-vending concerns, •with power to permit their continued operation, should be vested in tho Minister for Public Health, was championed by tho Prime Minister, and proved acceptable to n majority- of' members. Mr. Fisher was one of its strongest supporters. Those who supported- this proposal contended that it would be wrong to give the City Council power to confiscate the business of the Fresh Food and Ice Co. Some members, declared that this company had established the business of milk vending upon a proper basis, when it should have, been done by the City Council. Mr. Field's amendment was approved. Mr. Wilford stated that this decision of the House had killed the projected enterprise of the City Council, but the validity of tho conclusion was vehemently denied by Mr. Fisher and others. The Mount Hutt County Bill was next committed, and the opposition which it encountered in its earlier stages was renewed. This occupied the Committee until half-past twelve, after which time no fresh business can be taken. This means that a dozen other local Bills have to wait for their second reading until some other occasion. Before the House rose, tho Prime Minister announced, amid much applause, (ho gift by : Mr. Leo Buller of the late Sir Walter Buller's ; valuable-- collection of specimens of Maori, art and industry to the nation for presentation in the proposed new museum. The announcement was received with expressions of appreciation. '