PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1839, 27 August 1913, Page 7

PARLIAMENT.

A DAILY SUMMARY.

After spending twenty minutes in discussing formal business yesterday, the' House of Representatives went into Committee upon two of tho most important Bills on the Order Baper, tho Public Trust Office Amendment Bill, of, which Mr. Herdman is in charge, and tho Pensions Bill, which is 'in the hands of-Mf.'Fisher.. ~ - • . „

The discussion upon the Public Trust Bill started off ait'a jog-trot, but.' developed, as the afternoon wore on, into a - rather embittered party, contest, •wQiich had some novel features. The a ton - , which Opposition members have retailed on several occasion® of late, about the alleged suppression of a report from the Public Trustee was revived by the,member for Wairau and others, and tliere was miuch talk, too, akwt the confidential nature of the evidence, taken by the Public Truist Commission.

Mr. Herdman encountered these and other features of a somewhat wearisome . debate_ with a, rock-liko placidity, but was stirred now andltihen to rotoat upon the critics of his Bill with a force and vigour that obviously impressed _ the House. The Minister, brought -ridicule into effective play in dealing with tho somewhat threadbare Opposition allegation -that the Government 6s intent upon benefiting its legal . friends' in connection with the administration of the Publio Trust Office at the expense of the public. The amount of talk in whioh the Opposition indulged was out of proportion to their numbers. Muring the afternoon the Left of the House was very poorly populated, and in two divisions that took place shortly before 11 o'clock their voting strength was on one occaaion 16, ana on the other 19. In the evening, until nearly 11 o'clock, the subject of discussion was ft proposal to limit the liability of the Public Trustee in. dealing with estates. This was warmly opposed by the Opposition as an . interference with the State guarantee under which the Publio Trust Office operates, but the Labour members took the Minister's view of tho matter, and held that the change would improve tho working efficiency of the office and 'do no , cnio any harm. The Minister accepted an amendment limiting the operation of the clauso to estates valued at £500 or less, and another deleting ' a retrospective proviso, but tho Opposition maintained their objections and were' defeated in divisions upon two hostile amendments by 41 votes to 19 and 44 to 16 respectively. Tho Labour members voted with tho Government.

The last clause of tlio Bill was passed I at 11.56 p.m., and tlio Pensions Bill came up for consideration. No protests were raised by the Opposition, and ten clauses were put through, in about a quarter'of an hour. The first seven i; clauses had been put tlirough at a previous all-night' sitting. ' • Such discussion as took placo was dispassionate ill' oharacter, and in the last quarter of an hour there was no sion at all. . The.last of tlhe 76 clauses in the' Bill was passed at 0.50 a.m., and progress was reported. Tho House rose two minutes later.