SOUTHLAND PETITION.
A DRAWN-OUT DISCUSSION. HOW TO GET ROADS. THE STANDINC OF PETITIONS. A long discussion arose when Mr. D. Buick, oil behalf of the Railways Committee, reported.that the committee Jirtd no recommendation to mako upon the petition of a number of Wairio-Night-caps residents that a road should bo constructed, or, alternatively, that tho State should tako over tho rights and construct as a Stato lino the proposed Wairio-Nightcaps railway, MvJiicJi was in private hands. Ho moved that it be laid upon the table. The opinion almost unanimously expressed was that petitions of this character should bo sent either to tho.Ministel- for Public Works or to tho member for the district. Mr. J. A. ; ■ Young (Waikato) contended that "petitions of this character should be sent. dirett to the Minister for Public Works. . ' ' . ! A Futile Proceeding. SIR JOSEPH-WARD (Awarua) said that tho method, of petitioning a Committee was one of the most futilo procedures that could be followed. He had stated, when ho was a member of the Government, that even when a Committee Reported favourably upon a petition of this kind, its recommendation would havo no-weight with him. The Hon. W. Fraser: Nor with me. Sir Joseph Ward: Exactly. I am pleased to hoar it. If lie thought such petitions would carry any weight, • lie would have the matter published in his district, nnd would • guarantee to send forward enough petitions to keep tho Committee going for the rest of the session. He thought it was a waste of time for sue!) petitions to be sent to a Committee, and he would recommend members when they received petitions for roads from their constituents to write back and ask permission to hand them direct to the Minister for PublicWorks, instead of sending thorn to tho Committoo. This would save time, and the petition would he considered by tho Minister in tho ordinary way. Rights of Petitioners. The PRIME MINISTER said that ho agreed to a considerable extent with tho member for Awarua, but considered that he was not quite seized with the facts in regard to this petition. In sending it in the petitioners were quito within their rights, v "A petition, in ordinary course, had'eone before the Public Peti.
tions Committee, and it had reported ] that it had 110 recommendation to make. 1 The Committee when a petition -was sent to it could report if it thought proper that it had 110 recommendation ( to. make, which meant that the Govern- 1 ment was directed to turii the petition < down. ' On the other hand the Peti- s tions Committee, after considering a petition, could refer it to the Govern- * ment for consideration. This meant ' that the Government was asked to look ( into tho matter, and deal with it on its < merits. A favourable recommendation 1 meant that tho Government was recom- ' mended to do something to comply with ' the request of the 'petitioners. He thought that, when a petition canto along asking for any description of public work, instead of turning it down, f the Committee should send it along to ] the Government for consideration. If 1 it was not prepared to > rccommend the petition for favourable consideration, then the proper tiling to ' do was to refer it direct to tho Government for consideration, and ask the Government to consider it when the. 1 Public Works Estimates. To a considerable extent, lio agreed with the member for Awarua. The better course_ would be for the petitioners to send their request to tho member for their district; and \ for the member to then send it to the 1 Minister for Public Works or to inter- . view the Minister. Ho thought the ; ■latter was the proper course to take. 1 An Amendment. , SIR WALTER BUCHANAN (Waira- ; rapa) moved' an amendment that tho • report be referred back to tho com- ; mittoo. . 1 Mr. J H. BRADNEY. (Auckland ; West) said that. when petitions came ' forward without evidence, as they did, , 'tlien the .committee concerned had 110 otilier. course to follow but to make no ■ recommendation. It was practically a farce to send them to the committee at all. . Mr. D. BUIOK, COiairman of the Committee, said the petition had had tho earnest consideration of tho committee for two days, and the committee had l , after that consideration, let the petitioners know that they had no recommendation to make. If the petition went back to the committee, it would get tho same recommendation. The Minister. could take it up if he liked. 'The.Hon. W. FRASER, Minister for Publio'. Works, said tho application fpr a;roadi should not go before tflio Railway Committee. The proper course for tho petitioners to take wns to send their potition- along to him, and lie wauM consider !it. What recommendation, other than -tho 0110 they had made, , c6u'ld":tl(o,. Railway Committee possibly * have made? Mr. J., A. HAN AN (lavercargill) said that if the petitioners had known that the committee would not consider tho petition they might, have saved themselves muoh trouble: 111 tho district there were very valuable coal areas, ■ ready for development. One man had a private railway, and it was believed by the holders of other coal areas there tfhat tho privilege would give him a monopoly. The others, therefore, wanted means of transit, by way of a better road 1 . .Tho Government ought, he considered, grant a substantial vote to repair tho road, or, better still,. put in a railway to serve the district. . The Wrong Way. Mr. W. A. VEITCH (Wanganui) said that the witnesses had mado out a goodcase for a railway to servo tho district. It was not right lis thought, that the recommendation of the committee Should prejudice the petitioners, or should give them an undue advantage oyer other people who■wanted roads, simply by', reason of' their having petitioned the House. " ItWas now for the petitioners to put their case, which/was undoubtedly a good one, before the Minister for Public Works. Mr. J. C. THOMSON'(Wallace) said the petitioners proposed to go further in the matter, for they considered that it was not in tho public interest that a private railway should serve theso valuable coal areas. If tho .Government, spent tho money asked for on tho road, it would bo almost wasted, because the traffic was so heavy that the road would not stand. It would bo much more desirable for a railway to bo made, or for. ■the private line to be acquired. lie would advise the Minister to visit tho locality. Sir JOSEPH WARD (Awarua) repeated that it was important that people applying for public works should know that this method of petitioning the House was quite futile, and that the Minister for Public Works would never be influenced by a favourable reconimen-. dation of the Committee. Mr. E: P. LICS (OaMaru) said lie agreed with Sir Joseph Ward, and he agreed that tho Committee had given the proper recommendation.. A Suggested Buffer. Mr. D. BUDDO (Kaiapoi) contended that sottlcrs should have the right of appeal to the House from the decision of the Minister for Public Works. Rather than leave tho : whole thing to the Minister, he'would prefer to see a Committee set up to deal with such matters. Dr. A. K.. NEWMAN (Wellington East) said that the system under which a single Minister controlled tho distribution of funds for ■ public works was extremely unsatisfactory. He advocated tho establishment of a Committee such as existed in Groat Britain, to act as a bujfer between the Government and the people in connection with applications for public works. After complaining of tho way in which Wellington province was ncglectcd in -connection with roads and railways, as compared with Auckland and other parts of the country, Dr. Newman went 011 to advocate the construction of a road from Waimarino to Tokaanu. The SPEAKER said that he couta | not permit this, because if he did they 1 'would have every member in the House 1 advocating a road in his district. ; Dr! Newman: I thought we were dealing with roads, Sir? 1 The SPEAKER: With a particular ' road. 1 Dr. Newman: The reason I object to [ that road being made down there, Sir, ' is that there are very much more im- '• portant roads required in Wellington j and other places. Ho continued that. ' ho luid himself presented a petition 011 ' tho subject of the. Waimarino-Tokaami Road last session, but although only "four or fivo littln bridges" were required on the road, nothing was done, - and he supposed the petition was chuck- > ed into the fire. > Mr. G. WITTY (Riccarton) said it 1 would be usnless to refer the petition ; back to the Railways Committee, seeing 1 that it had nothing to do with railway * matters. He gave notice to move as an ■ amendment' that the petition be referred
bank to the Public Petitions Committee, Mr. G. i,Y. JtUSSKLL (Avon) said that tho petition should never 'have gone to tho Railways Committee, which was supposed to deal with working railways, and not railway construction. And it was very undesirablo that any committee of tho House should deal with applications for roads and bridges or other public works. A committee to deal with this should bo an expert committee, and ho suggested (in joke, as ifc appeared) that the Government might rob themselves of patronage in the way of public works votes, as they had in tho mattor of billed in tho Civil Service. Tho amendment to refer the report back to the committee was negatived on the voices. -Mr. G. Witty then Bought to move that'the petition be referred to the Railways Committee. This was ruled out of order. Mr. Herries: Missed the bus. LOCAL BILLS. ELECTRICITY FOR CHRIST- . CHURCH. The Christchurcli Electrical Supply Empowering Bill (Mr. T. H. Davey) was read a third time. On tho motion for third reading, Mr. J. CIIAIGIE (Timaru) commended the proposal contained in tho Bill, which was to lead in elcctric power to Christchurcli from the Lake Coleridge station. Mr. T. M. WILFORD (Hutt) spoke of the advisability of erecting a generating station at Akatarawa, from which tho city of AVellington could be supplied with current for light and power, and generally of tho possibility of using waste water in' New Zealand to generate elcctric power. DUNEDIN DRAINAGE. , The Dunedin District Drainage and SoHcrago Acts Amendment Bill (the Hon. J. Allen) was committed, reported without amendments, and passed. MORNINGTON TRAMS. The Borough of Mornington Tramways Act Amendment Bill (Mr. C. E. Statham) also went through Committee, was read a third time, and passed. STREET WIDENING. The Hon. A. L. HERDMAN (Wellington. North) moved tho second reading of tho Wellington City Empowering and Amendment Bill. He explained that in 1908 an Empowering Bill was passed under which it was supposed that Wellington city could take land where required for street widening. It had been found that tho powers granted under the Act of 1908, while they were adeem ate as applying to freehold land, did not permit the City Council to take land held under lease or limited estate. The Bill was intended to meet this difficulty. : Tho second'roading was agreed to on tho voices. I PUBLIC TRUST OFFICE. MORE DEBATE. : Tho Hon.- A. L. HERDMAN moved that tho Public Trust Office Amendment Bill should be recommitted, in order that Clause 46a (tho clause inserted at the instance of Mr. G. W. Russell, providing that tho Public Trustco prepare a roport to be presented to Parliament every, year) might be amended. Mr. Herdman said that tho amendment he wished to have made was that the Minister in charge of tho office, and not the Public Trustee, should prepare a report. This, ho said, was the usual practice in regard to the Railways Statement, tho Mines Statement, and other Departmental reports. V- The' Bill was recomiiiitted. Mr. G. W. RUSSELL (Avon) said his object in moving tho clause was that .tho Houso ought to have an annual report on the'working of such an important office, in which was £0,000,000 of the money of the people of the Dominion, that the annual report should be independent, and that this year the Ministor had not sent on to tho House tho report of the Public Trustee. Ho was not quito satisfied with the Minister's proposal, but he would accept it. Tho amendment was duly made, and the Bill was reported to tho House. Oil tho motion that tho amendments mado in Committeo be agreed to, ' >Tho Hon. A. T. NGATA askod whether it was tho intention that the clause making provision for the examination of the accounts of privato trusts by tho Public Trustee should apply to certain Nativo trusts. His desire was that the Public Trustee should bo empowered to examine tho affairs of trusts of this kind. 'Mr. R. M'CALLUM (Wairau) protested, as. he had dono 'in Committee, against) the refusal of the Minister to make public the confidential evidence taken by the Public Trust- Commission. He further charged the Minister .with having misled tho Houso in saying that certain clauses wero copies of the English Act, when in fact they were not. His speech was merely repetition of what' lie had said in Committee, but, as ho explained, ho wished to put his protests' on record by repeating tliem in tho House. Mr. 0. PARATA (Southern Maori) said ho regretted that the measure made no i)iention of -.Native trusts administered by tho Public Trustee. Mr. G: FORIiES (Hurunui) protested against the manner in which the report of the Public Trust Commission had been treated. Law societies had given evidenco before tho commission, and it was known that law -societies' were hostile to legal work being done by the Public Trust Office. This evidence had been declared confidential, but on it the Public Trustee had been "strongly condemned by the Commissioners." Probably the result would be that the Public Trust Office would nob longer continue to do legal work on the same "popular lines" as in the past. He disapproved of the Minister, by presenting his roport as was proposed, coming between Parliament and the big Departof State. Tho dobato was adjourned at 5.30 p.m oil the motion of the Prime Ministor, anc the Houso adjourned at that hour unti 2.30 p.m. to-day. A suggestion was made that the adjournment should b< until 7.30 p.m. to-day, but Mr. Massoj said there wero "a number of members who did not wish to adjourn for the afternoon."
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Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1841, 29 August 1913, Page 4
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2,403SOUTHLAND PETITION. Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1841, 29 August 1913, Page 4
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