THE HOUSE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1854, 13 September 1913, Page 6

THE HOUSE.

The' House of Representatives met 1 sit 2.30 p.m. J • ■ A COMMITTEE INQUIRY. Mr. , L. M. . ISITT (Christchurch North) asked the Prime Minister whether he had seen a. paragraph in that morning's Doxision relating to an <txchango of telegrams, botween Dr. Hunter, of Diiuedin, and Mr. G. M. Thomsoni Dr. • Huntor complained that ho had beon attacked by iVlr. Thomson ill the House,' and he asked for permission to appeal' before the Education Committee, but\ was told by tho chairman of the committee (Mr. Thomson) that ho could riot appear nor be represented by counsel. Mr- Isitt added that he knew nothing about Dr. Huntor, but ho knew that the chairman of the Education Committee had made charges which wero very .serious to a professional man.. The charges wero rnaub under cover of the-'Houso, and Dr. Huntor should have an opportunity of bringing rebutting evidence if lie could. The PRIME MINISTER said that- he; had not seen the paragraph in question, but! that, so far as ho could see, the matter was entirely one for the Education Comhiittee. and ono in which'.he could not possibly interfere . The Education.. Committee, was - cd permission to sit ing the sitting-of the Housed "" MENTAL HOSRITAL CASE. Mr. T. M. WILSORD"(Butt) asked ' tho Minister for Justrco whether he would immediately inquire into the case of 'John Merry, who was committed recently to the Mental .Hospital at Porirua. Mr. "Wilford stated that he had reason to think that a grave miscarriago of justice had occurred.' The Hon. A. L. HERDMAN (Minister for Justice) said that he would bo very glad to havo tho matter looked into. It had been already brought under his notieo by tho member for Wellington •Suburbs that day, and lie would have inquiries made at once. STORAGE OF EXPLOSIVES. f ; AUCKLAND PETITIONS. The Petitions (M to Z) Committee reported upon two Auckland petitions, praying that the brick kiln used for the storage of oxplo'sives at Maraetai he Removed, and that the Government establish and. control a magazine for ■ thestorago of explosives in the Hauraki Gulf. Tho report was to tho effect that the. petitions should bo referred to a hoard of experts for full inquiry into tho allegations made. Mr. W. J. DICKIE (Selwyn) said that tho committee had discontinued the inquiry because it was informed by tho Minister for Internal Affairs that ho would oxerciso his own judgment in coming to a decision in tho matter whatever the committee might report. Mr. J. H. BRADNE\ (Auckland West) objected to tho establishment of a powder magazine on Ralfgitoto Island, which was close to a borough ' having a population of about 8000 poople. Ho said that ho was glad to hear that tlio matter was to bo referred to a board of experts. Jtr. G. LAURENSON (Lyttelton) said that tho position was that an Auckland firm' had purchased a site for a, powdor inagaaino 13 milos away from Auckland in a hay. Practically tho whole of tho land in tho bay had been bought by tho company, and thero was a hill behind the bay. Now tho neighbouring settlers had petitioned for tho removal of the magazine and tho Government had brought down a proposal that a lfiagazino should ho established on Ranaitoto Island, which was comparatively

close to Auckland. He had, understood ti itho Minister to say that ho would bo 1V guided to a large extent by the recom- a mendation of tho board of experts. P Mr. T. H. DAVEY (Christchurch East) said that he had understood the Hon. H. D. Bell to say that he might c< as well put a magazine on Rangitoto Is- , land as on the site proposed by the , company, not that ho would establish s , a magazine on Rangitoto Island. In his opinion Mr. 801 l was quite right in protecting tho interests of the public. SIR JOSEPH WARD expressed the opinion that tho Minister should, bo allowed to settle a matter of this kind, with the assistance of his experts, but x that where a company suffered by having to remove to another site it should bo compensated. Members said that the Hon. H. D. Bell concurred in this view. n The PRIME MINISTER said that a s , serious responsibility rested upon the j; Minister for Internal Affairs in connec- (j tion with this matter and lie was so . r , impressed with his responsibility that he n had recently inspected the present sito 1 of the magazine. Tho Minister for In- q ternal Affairs had stated that while lie r would not be bound in every particular n by the report of the committco of cx- v ports that report would receive fair con- j sideration. i Mr. DICKIE said that he did not want t it to appear that ho was against the n Minister's decision. His point was that j if tho Minister had come to a decision 'J lio should go ahead and give effect to i it instead of sending the matter to a t committee. s ARCHITECTS BILL. { "YOU WON'T KNOW IT." t Mr. C. A. WILKINSON (Egmont) « presented the report of the Committee I on tho Institute of Architects Bill, t Ho explained that tho Committee had t struck out of tho Bill the clause giving ( to members of the institute the exclu- £ sive light to practise as architects. Tile t Bill allowed architects to form an asso- i ciation, and register themselves, and I describe themselves as registered archi- i tects, and did not prevent any other person from working as an architect, or from professing to be an architect. It did not interfere with the public in tho v least. 1 Mr. Ngata: That will como later on. < Mr. T. M. WILFORD (Hutt) asked i whether the clause defining an architect < I had been struck out or not. He would | like to know whether local bodies' en- | gineers .would bo debarred from carry- ] ing out the building work of their local < authorities under tho Bill as reported. Mr. G. J. ANDERSON (Mataura) , said he hoped the Bill had been consid- ] erably altered by the Committee-; — i Mr. Massey: You won't know it. ] Mr. Anderson: 'because it pressed heavily on contractors and carpenters j who liad been in the habit of drawing \ plans for small cottages. 1 Mr. W. A. VEITCti. (Wanganui) said , the Committee had considered the Bill very carefully. In going through the' ; measure they discovered that if they • referred tho Bill back to the House, or if tho Bill wore passed, in its original form, great injustice would bq done to many .peoplo in New Zealand. While the Committee were willing to allow , architects to improve their status, and ; to provide facilities for the education of young architects, the Committee were not willing to allow a law to be passed to interfere with tho business of men who were doing good work, but who wero not architects. It was not true, as was said by some, that the Bill would have prevented jerry-building, because the fault of the jerrybuilt dwelling was that the material used was not of sufficiently high quality. Tho only effect of tho Bill would be to increase the cost of building cottages by increasing the cost of the architectural services. All engineers of local bodies were exempted from . the operations of the Bill. Indeed, anyone who chose .to do so could call himself sji architect, but ho could not call himself a registered architect. The Bill would givo architects an improved S 'Mr S " C. A. WILKINSON said the member for Hutt need not be alarmed about the local bodies' engineers,, who were entirely excluded- from the .operations of the Bill. ' The Bill simply gave the Institute of Architects a -legal ''status,, but it did not interfere with persons 'who wore not members of tho institute. PRIVATE MEMBERS' DAYS. ' Tho Hon. W. F. MASSEY gave notice to move next sitting day that on and after Wednesday, September 17, • Government businoss take precedence on Wednesdays. : '