PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1818, 2 August 1913, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

5 A DAIIiJ SUMMARY.

Very little progress with the business of the session was made in the House of Representatives yesterday. In the early afternoon thero seemed every prospect that members would settle down to work, and tho Order Paper offered plenty of work on important Bills in and out of Committee. Once again, however, matters took an unexpected turn. The Roman Catholic Archbishop Empowering Bill was read a second time without discussion. A little attention was devoted to tho smallpox opidemic, members questioning the Minister for Publio Health. Mr. P. C. Wobh, tho newly-elected member for Grey, gavo notice to ask the Government what steps they were taking to erect n» memorial to tho late Sir Arthur Guinness. A discussion upon Stato lending operations, which took up the greater part of the afternoon, was precipitated by Mr. W. J. Dickie when lio askod tlio Minister for Finance whether the Advances Department h«l definitely adopted: tho policy of refusing to lend money to pay off existing mortgages. The question was answered in tho affirmative. The member for Avon, Mr. Russell, took up the running with a proposal that tlio. Government should, if necessary, raise a special loan of one or two millions in order to extend the operations of tlio Advances Department. The proposal was denounced Iby the Prime Minister and the Minister for Finance, who contended that the stato of the money market had undoubtedly eased considerably during the past eix months, and that between pending renewals of short-dated debentures and the

demands of publio works and ether clian\ncls of ordinary expenditure tho country 'was already committed to as uracil borrowing in tlio immediate future as its credit would stand. The Copyright Bill was read a third time without discussion. Consideration of the Magistrate's Court Bill, reported from .. Committee, brought to light the disorgani ised state of tho Opposition. Tho Minister in charge of the Dill, the Hon. A. L. ' Herdman, agreed with Mr. Russell that an amendment made in Committeo had l T>eon carelessly drafted, but was reluctant ' to recommit tho Bill and so give -the Opposition an opening for unnecessary discussion, when tlio error could easily be rectified in the Legislative Council. ' Mr. Hanan tendered an undertaking, on behalf of his party, that the Bill would not be discussed if it were recommitted, but Mr. "Wilford dissented. The Minister thcroforo declined to recommit the Bill, ■ and the report was adopted. The rest of tho afternoon, and the rest of tha sitting, was devoted to tho Land and Income Assessment Bill, which came

■up in Committee. The second reading of ' the Bill had been carried with only Bis Opposition votes, cast against it, l/ut in Committeo it was from tho outset nsSf.iled' by the Opposition tooth and nail. The great point made was that tho Bill benefited the wrong class, and represented an injustice to the poorest class in tho community. Some small concessions were made by the Minister, further liberalising the Bill, but this seemed only to whet the appetite of the Opposition for more. At about 10.30 p.m. Mr. Itanan, on behalf of tho Opposition, 6tated that unless tho Government announced its intentions in regard to other taxation exemptions, the Bill would not allowed to pass. The Prime Minister refused to be drawn, and indicated that . if tho worst came to tho worst ho would drop both this Bill and the Land and Income Tax Bill (imposing graduated income tax), with which it was' correlated, and cast the responsibility'on the Opposition. Tho .gauntlet thus thrown down and accepted, the Opposition settled down to undisguised stonewalling. Mr. Ngata created a diversion after midnight by attempting to address the House in Maori. The Chairman (Mr. Malcolm) ruled him out of order, and a motion to take the Speaker's ruling on tho matter was negatived by 32 votes to 22. A motion to report progress was defeated (a:t ; 0.30, (i.m.) bv'32'votes to' 23. Later both Mr. Allen's amendments were agreed to, and the Bill, was reported. The House was still sitting when we ivent to press. _ The' Legislative. Council at last came to a division on. tho Reform Bill, and the second reading was agreed to after a division by 21 vote 3to 12. Tho Hon. H. D. Bell, in tho course of his reply, gave a closely-reasoned answer to all the criticisms of tho policy of tho Bill, and appealed to members to allow the Bill to go into Committee, when they could define the issues on which thero was disagreement, with the idea, presumably, of shaping a Bill which would be acceptable to the Council and to the Okwesrnment. He further stated that the Government would accept the voto for tho second reading as signifying meroly an affirmation of the need for changa in tho present nominative system, and not an affirmation of all that it contained'. When' this undertaking was given, the Hon. 0. Samuel asked leave to withdraw his amendment that the Bill be sent to A special committee. The Hon. J. E. ■JonkimSra objected, and the Council went to a division. The amendment was defeated by 21 votes to 12, and the second reading carried on the voices. Mt. Samuel then submitted a tamilar amendment to send the Bill to a committee. The proposal was acceptable to the Leader of tba Council after tho second reading had been carried, and it was agreed to on tho voices.