THE GOVERNMENT BILL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1542, 11 September 1912, Page 8

THE GOVERNMENT BILL.

EVIL EFFECTS OF POLITICAL INFLUENCE. I AW ANIIATED DEBATE. SECOND READING CARRIED BY 86 TO 25.

Contrary to expectation, tho House of - IKepresehtatjives' did not at once proceed yesterday: to a discussion of the Public Service Bill, introduced by the Hon. A. L. Herdman. Thi3 important measure stood ot tho-head of the Order Paper, but the ■House spent the greater part of the aftornoon. 1 in '-discussing one question after another that cropped up unexpectedly. T'bo first bone of contention was a report \ by,the Museums and Scientific Departments Committee,, which recommended the .Government to set up an advisory board to look after the publication of scientific documents, and a board of control to direct and supervise the Dominion . The committee also mentioned tho. necessity of providing safe and suffiuieht'r storage, for' tho exhibits, etc., which form "the nucleus of a national collection at Wellington. The Prime Minister said that .he recognised tho importanco of the work, but that the financial position would not permit of anything being done in'-'the immediate future. A number of members,■■ including several prominent Oppositionists, urged the Government to proceed at once to"build a national museum and art gallery, Ono or two Tarannki ..'members, struck another note, demanding.. t Urat' the .needs of back-block isetrlers in.want of roads should, be'first satisfied before money was spent oh ex-, pensive buildings- in the cities. .'./ Ultimately tho;;Tep'ort was referred, to the Government for favourable consideration. The' Prime-Minister announced that a Bill to Tofora the tipper House would be introduced .to-day.,'. '";'■',' ■A mild, sensation was provided by Mr. Craigie, member for Timaru, who mentioned the concluding paragraph of a correspondent's letter recently published in •The Dominion', and declared that he interpreted it as a reflection upon himself, in his former capacity as chairman of tho N to Z Petitions Committee, and upon the. -~then, members of the , committee. There was a brief discussion (in the course of whioh the Prime Minister described the matter as frivolous), and ,eventually• the. member for Timaru withdrew his motion.,.'-' '".- . : -. ' - --. , ' / Less than .an hour of. the afternoon, sitting was devoted to. the Public Service Bill, and the Hon. A. 1. Herdman had not. concluded his opening speech at the dinner adjournment. He began, with a historical survey of, Civil Service control, and went on to deal with the Australian experience and legislation, upon which his Bill is based. After the House resumed, Sir Joseph Ward, speaking to the Bill, declared himself unequivocally'as opposed to independent control of the Public Service, and in favour of the existing' method. At the eaine time'he ; would offer no factious opposition to the Bill. ~ . The Hon. F.-M. B. Fisher replied, but he did not traverse tho subject matter of the' Bill.' Rather, he confined his attention . to existing abuses, with intent to show that there was a crying need for reform. "■• Mr; T. M. 'Wilford traversed the Bill in detail, finding fault with its aims and its structure. Tho.debate was carried on by Mr. G. M. Thomson, who spoke only Bome,'ten minutes, and Mr. J.'A. Hanan, who was armed with piles of blue. books, from which he sought to extract evidence that public services had not always been satisfactory under non-political control.. The. Prime Minister vigorously defended the Bill against some of the criticism to whioh it had been subjected, and emphatically stated' the need for some better organisation of the Civil Service than obtains at present, and for an abolition j of: political patronage. Mr. G. W.. Russell' said that he was totally oppose'dl-to the Bill, and prophesied that, it would inaugurate a "reign of terror in the Public Service." Mr. J. Payne credited the Minister for Justice with honest intentions,'but said that ho would oppose the Bill. Mr. G. Laurenson said that'the -Bill represented a barefaced attempt to filch power from the people to whom it belonged. Mr.- W. Witty also opposed the Bill. The:debate,was. carried on by Messrs. Davey and Veitch, both opponents of the'Bill. "At 0.33 a.m. Mr. R. M'Callum moved to adjourn the Rebate, but did not. press for .a division.. Mr. A. E. Glover warmly opposed the Bill, and Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh, tho Labour member for. Wellington South, v«uppofted.it. as.being, a.sound measure, oi democratic Teform. Th_6.-Hpn._A. L. Herdman, Minister it charge of the Bill, rose to reply ehortlj after ,1 a.m. The second reading was carried-on r division,by 36 votes to 25, and the House lose at 1.40 a.m.