CALLED TO ORDER AGAIN.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1525, 22 August 1912, Page 6

CALLED TO ORDER AGAIN.

.MR. ISTTT'S PERSONAL EXPLANATIO> T . . Jfr. L M. ISITT (Oliristchurclt Xoilli) ruso In make iv pcrsonnl explannlion. He pniil he bail not been in the. Huoso vlipn the hononrable member had made an nfloek upon him, ronscrinenlly ho (Jlr. ]>\\.i) «n? dppondeiH upon lienrsay. 110 hnd hoarrl (baf Mr. Jlandcr had .=nid ho had iij:)'l? reflwtion.i up«n Hie hojicjr of ni«inbsrs oi the Cabinet—men jvhese^

honour had never been challenged. What need was there to put into his mouth words ho had never littered. He had said Ihe Government was begotten by slander, but ho had nmdo no reference to anybody. Ho had said that the Liberal party was defeated as the outcome of an ordered campaign of misrepresentation. Mr. E. P. Lee: Point, of order. Is this a personal explanation? Mr. Speaker said tho lion, member must: confine himself to the points on which he had been misrepresented. Mr. Isitt said ho hoped ho could show that he was proceeding along the lines of a personal explanation. Ho had slated before in the House that the Liberal party was beatvn by an organised campaign of slander against (ho personal honour of Sir ,losey>h Wavd. This campaign was organised outside the, House. Ml lion, member: By whom? Mr. Jsitt: By tho Opposition press to begin with. By all sorts of people who wild Sir Joseph Ward had stuffed tho Civil Service with Catholic nominees. Die I'rinio Minister: I must; ask whether this is a personal explanation. Mr. Speaker: I think the lion, member lias gone, beyond the bounds of personal explanation, but he was led off by an interjection. • Mr. Isitt: When my statement is twisted into a reference to somo action of members of the Cabinet An lion, member: What else is it? Mr. Isitt declared that ho had made a statement which the Speaker had declared was unparliamentary, and which he had immediately withdrawn—that the Ministry was born in dishonour. That, too, was twisted into a reference to somo action on tho part of somo members of tho Ministry. There was no such idea in his mind. An hon. member: Oh, go on! Mr. Isitt said foe had made such a speech as to leave no man in doubt upon that point. He had said that the Government had obtained tho majority that lifted them into power by tho votes of men who wero elected to vote for tho Liberal party, and who voted against their pledge. Mr. Marnier had told him privately that ho had referred to four members of tho Government, and ho (Mr. Isitt) had explained that ho had meant nothing of tho fort. Yet in his absence Mr. Marnier had repeated the 'statement. Mr. Mander: But I heard you mention Mr. Buchanan by name. Mr. Isitt explained that he mentioned Mr. Buchanan only as a shareholder in The Dominion-, and had appealed to him to stop the slandering of another member of the House, by that paper in regard to which he had some influence, As to not shaking hands with a publican, he had fought the liquor traffic for 37 years, but nover in his life had ho refused to ehake hands with a publican. Mr. Mander: You said so. Mr. Isitt: I never did. My word is as good as yours. Mr. Mander: Not quite. (Laughter.) Sir. Isitt was proceeding to talk further about ''tho trade" and of his always having dissociated the man from the trade, when he was pulled up by Mr. Speaker, who said ho w.as now out of order and tho time of tho Hc.use was being taken up by theso lengthy explanations. MR. WITTY AS CRITIC. WHOSE BUDGET? Mr. G. WITTY (Riccarton) said tho present Government party was returned only thirty-eight strong, and this did not represent a"majority of the House. They wero in power because of the votes of others that had come over to their Side. Some of these little proposals in the Budget! were no doubt kept in the Budget to hold these new recruits. Anyhow, whoso Budget was it? (Loud laughter.) Ho declared that the Government had backed down-on the land question, the racing question, and tho liquor question. In oil tho Budget there was nothing in tho interest of workers. Mr. Massoy: What about workers' homes? What about pensions to widows? Mr. Witty: Don't say anything about old age pensions, because if any man had opposed the old ago pensions, tho Premier had. He said, too, that there were no tariff proposals to tako taxation off tho poor people—the shim people. And yet the Government had had twenty years to prepare their tariff. It was, after all, a Budget for rich men. An lion, member: You say it is yours. (Laughter.) Mr. Witty said that if over there was a useless, rotten scheme it was the one for allowing local bodies to build workers' homes in the country. If the farmers were in earnest, why did they not build tho houses themselves? Why didn't they house their men better? But passing the work on to the local body only showed that the' Government had no pluck to do it themselves. A COUNTRY MEMBER. FREEHOLD AND GRADUATED TAX. Mr. H. M. CAMPBELL (Hawke's Bay) complimented the Minister on having brought down the Budget promptly. In the mattei of land tenure ha had been a freeholder all his life. He had been lucky enough to get it for himself. And he understood that the member for Tininru had also acquired tho freehold. Also tho member for Riccarton, and he congratulated him for it. Ho believed in the graduated land tax, but it did not go far enough! lie did not fee why the country should bear all th.e burden, and that the town should go free. Tho tax might bo made to apply to town lauds also. He considered that the present method of carrying on public works was not an equitable ont. for tho men employed, and a most unprofitable one for tho State. 110 stated that tho mail contracts in his district were unfairly let and they were held by one concern. Ho approved of the reform of the Legislative Council, but wo would prefer that the members of the Legislative Council should be elected one from two or four ordinary constituencies. He thought' this would prove more satisfactory than the proposed island constituencies. Iho debate was adjourned on tho motion of Mr. J. H. Escott (Pahiattta), and the House rose at 11.35 p m