PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1824, 9 August 1913, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

A DAILY SUMMARY. , 'v% : — Frivolity aw<s idle contention, were for the most parT sternly laid aside in tho House of |iepresentatives yesterday, tho greater part of the sitting being spont in a largoly technical discussion, in Committee, upon the detail provisions of two important Bills which are intended to romodel tho State lending system. It was tho day of the back-blocks members, who have "development" written upon their hearts, and they maintained tho discussion one after another upon various pects of loan-raising and loan securities, .with unflagging zeal. There was a good deal of-talk also by the member for the Eastern Maori- Distriot 'Mr. Ngata), ana other members, about Native land leases, considered as security for State loans. Some members of tho Opposition took an active part in. tho proceedings, but as a whole tho benches .on the _left of the liouso were thinly populated during tue day and evening. , , , In tho early afternoon tho annual taxing measure (the Land Tax and Income Tax Bill) was introduced by Governors Message, and read a first time. It gives effoot to the proposals of the Government in regard to the graduated income tax, and substitutes a tax on the lines of tho graduated land tax .imposed last year for that in vogue. The principal alteration' is that the tax will increase by minute gradations on a steadily-rising Bcale, instead of by. abrupt steps. The maximum taxation upon large incomes is increased. Tho Local Bodies' loans Bill occupied the House in Committee from 2.55 p.m. until 8.30. The debate was- throughout peaceable In tone, save for. half an hour In the afternoon, when Mr. Wilford, on a motion that the Chairman leave the Chair, sought to have tho Bill referred to the Statutes Revision . Committee. His contention was that members did not understand the Bill. ~ Mr. Wilford's motion was not kindly received by tho Hon. Jas. Allen (in charge of the Bill) nor by tho Prime Minister, and its final: fato was to bo rejected on technical discussion followed. .The Local Bodies' Loans Bill wasreported at 8.30 p.m., and the committee then, turned to tho State Advances Bill. For about an hour the tepi« of < 5 the Native leasehold as a Subsequently the Hon. Jas. Allen _ agreed to raise tho statutory limit of borrowing from the Advances to Sett'® lß , Branch from J215C0 to £MO. Workers homes •■wore also briefly dismissed. The lMtfnx teen olauscs of the Bill, which make m alteration in the existing law, were passe<l without disoiission, . . ' The Methodist Union Bill, in charge of tho Prime Minister, was read a eecond time in two minutes,' and tho House roso °lii* tho-' Legislative' Council the Copyright Bill wid' tho Old Age Pension 3 Reciprocity Bill ' were passed through £S"K rssfi Wednesday, August 20. ,