PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1797, 9 July 1913, Page 7

PARLIAMENT.

A DAILY SUMMARY. The Addresa-in-Reply debate was continued in Parliament yesterday, and.a beginning upon tho actual work oi the session is still only in prospect. ibo House of Representatives spent the greater part of a fairly long sitting in a sort ot political melee, which had tho bittorness of party strife, but was somewhat lackin" in elements of combination and purpose. It is understood that the members of the Opposition party intend to keep the debate going, although it, is fast degenerating into ii more exhibition of talking against time. Government members are anxious to get down ,to real work, but tlio Opposition can spin out the somewhat threadbare debate tor days yet if they elect to do so. About half the total number of members were in their places just before the House rose last night, about a dozen .of'those present being • Oppositionists. Mr. A. Harris will resume the debate to-day,- and he is to be followed by Mr. A. K Glover. The debate on tho was not concluded in the Legislative Council as was expected but it is now practically certain that it will be concluded to-day. If thero is time to prosent the Address to his Excellency on that day, the Council will adjourn until to-morrow week. Two speeches were made yesterday. The Hon. W. Beehan "Hansardised" extracts from newspapers without even going through the formality of rending them and the Hon. 0. Samuel gave a long list of reasons why the Government should be cautious about passing a Bill to make the Upper Chamber elective, and to introduce proportional representation. _ , The Hon. A. L. Herdman (Minister for Justice) spent an hour in the House during the afternoon in a painstaking explanation of the circumstances surrounding tho dismissal of Constable Smyth andi the transfer of other .members of the Polioe Force as a result of the formation of the new association.- ■ Tho Minister repeated, in plain terms, his previous refusal to tolerate an association on trades union lines, on the ground that it would be subversive of discipline, but stated that he had no objection to members of the Force joining tho Public Service Association. , , The Address-in-Reply debate wag continued in the afternoon by Mr. G. R. Sykes, and Mr. A. M. Myers, the latter of whom defended his own financial administration, and contended tliat the raising of short-dated loans was justifiable in times of financial stringency. Speaking before and after the dinner adjournment, the Hon. A. L. Herdman defended, the now non-political control of the Public Service, and the measures taken for the preservation of the public peace during tho strike at Waihi and in the industrial troubles at Huntly. He also reviewed the position of the Public Trust Office, and commended the work of the Royal Commission which recently reported upon it. The member for Nelson (Mr. H. Atmore) gcolded the Government.' in the style Which has become familiar, and questioned a Tecent appointment made by the Government to tho Westport Harbour Board. The Hon. F. M. B. Fisher promised to inquire into tho allegation and take action if it should be necessary. He , explained that the member in question lad been selected for appointment because he had recently been elected to re- \ present his district upon the local County Council, The last speaker of the evening was Mr. J. Payne, who had a good deal to say about political corruption. ; The House rose at 10.55 p.m.