PARLIAMENT IN SESSION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1856, 16 September 1913, Page 4

PARLIAMENT IN SESSION.

THE ESTIMATES.

MORE OBSTRUCTION. BY THE OPPOSITION

STILL BLOCKING BUSINESS.

i DEBATE KEPT UP BY WORKING RELAYS.

; The blockade of the Estimates in the House of Representatives in Commit- |' tee continued yesterday afternoon and night., N0.... progress y whatever .was made, and when The . Dominion went ■ to press there .was no indication that '' any progress .'was at all likely to bp ' made;'""-' Members on the 'Opposition side appeared to be—in fact, itwasadmitted that , thoy were —working in relays, and the Government members had settled down to jnako themselves , as comfortable as might bo oil the benches. The time was occupied "debating" an amondment ''"moved at 2.30 p.m. to reduce the Auckland Mental Hospital i vote by ,£IOO. There was not much that members could discuss except the salaries of the attendants and their'duties, and it did ' not prove, a very interesting'topic.' : ; Tho speeches were either'amusing nonsense, or todious nonsense, but all the timo the talk was of tho one class. Sir Joseph Ward, returned to the , Chamber at 8.30 p.m.. Ho took no part in the debato for a time, and his , arrival did not seem to improve the . tone lof.matters. When the Committee adjourned at ftiidnighton. Saturday, the motion before it was '"that'pfdgross 'bo-'reported. 1 motion lapsed because of tho adjournment, in accordance with tho Standing Orders, and again on resuming at 2.30 p.m. yesterday, the principal ! iquostiori,'"the Mental Hospitals vbte-of i. >£105,972, was put again.•' I";,'.;": ' . Another Amendment. 1 | Mr. Gi .Witty moved that the item . [Auckland-Mental Hospital, £10,073, to reduced by £100, as an indication that the accommodation in tile institution was not ailequato for its proper 'conduct,'and that the salaries paid to > 'the officials were insufficient. Tho attack on tho Minister for his lailuro; to produce the report of mental ■ - hospitals: was continued, and. members . said that tho' proof, copiers circui Jated among members : were-of little !uso, because, in : 'the.':heat : of : 'ii debato,' }t. was impossible' for them." to . digest ;/ the report. The Minister.had already 'stated that tho noniprodtiction ;of the teport was duo to no fault of his. Frivolous Talk. Very soon tho talk'becanio frivolous. Mr. Laurenson was talking about the", doctor in chargo of tho Auckland Hospital, but ho was called to order. He i .■' was pointing out that there was. 858. people under his charge,- with tho object of .making ; some deduction; no doubt, but he was called to order.' The Chairman' directed him not to speak, about tho doctor. • ■ Mr. Laurenson: 'Well, I'll take the baker, then. The' baker has to bako bread for/858 people, an abnormal number. From the baker ho iontrived to ! lead oil.'to, tho amount, of insanity and rrimo. in /Auckland, and then ho discussed 'whether oatmeal bread would ; not be abetter for tho patients, and would not'improve their mental' condi--1 tion moro;. than .white ibreacl 'possibly could. He sjicnt somo minutes;dilating on tho virtues of oatmeal bread, and recommending tho use. of it, especially by that baker in the/ Auckland Hospital, who .was paid only £3 a weclc for baking bread for 858 people, ' V '■ . Fish. ' Mr. Poland ' thought", brown bread Was not "half So "Accessary,'and would ' n ot be so beneficial, as "a plentiful ; supply of fish." Mr. Wilford: Could you recommend ■any particular kind.of fish? " ■ Mr. Hanan: How would you cook it? 'Mr. Poland assured members that he "was very serious, ,and<-that ho believed "a plentiful supply of fish" would help the patients at Avondalo to permanent recovery. - There was nothing before the House to show tlhat anything 'was being done to procure for tho patients "a plentiful: supply of fish." Mr. Poland thought ptrhaps tho baker might have something to say about tho dietary of patients, and wont; on to talk about tho taker's duties of giving tho patients the : "right kind of food from day to day. OThis lio kept up for ten minutes. The Report Again. Mr. A.'M. Myers inquired if tho Minister- was .now able to circulate copies of tho report, tfhic'h had been referred to ou Saturday morning. Hon. R. 11. Rhodes: Three copies. , Mr. Myers suggested that tho- discussion, prolonged as it had been, would show any Governmont Mr. Malcolm: You must confino your remarks to : tho Estimates Mr. J. A. Hanan. (Invercargill) was called to order by the Chairman several : times during the course of his remarks, on the ground of irrelevancy. On each occasion he was decidedly slow-in resuming 'his seat, and Government members called loudly "'Sit down," and "Chair." This,. on one occasion, anncyed Mr. Hanan. "I'll not sit down for you," ho said as he glared at Government members. A' little later ,Mi\ Hanan endeavoured,'.to tell a fish story on the point of Air. Poland's query about the fish supplyy,. but ho was ruled out of order. ','AII right," he said, as Mr. Alalcolm .rose, but he did not sit down, and Government members again called ■"Chair." :: i . Officers' Salaries. Mr. G. W. Russell and Mr. J. C. Thomson traversed in great detail the salaries of officers in asylums, mentioning medical officers, attendants, nurses, ■and official visitors, and all kinds of people conncctcl with montal hospitals. This brought the Hon. F. M. 13. Fisher to his feet.; '

Mr. Fisher said ho was hound to admit that-it was. somewhat difficult to listen to tho statements made by some of the speakers on the other sido of tho House with patience.; Mr. Thomson had said that consideration of the Estimates had demonstrated an absolute lack of constructive capacity, and to prove this had pointed out that tho official visitor to the asylum at Auckland received £25, against £13 received by the official visitor at Christchurch. "He looks upon that as a bad arrangement," ho said. / "And here it is in the Estimates of the Mackenzie Government lo.st year. We haven't touched the Estimates, Honourable gentlemen liavo been criticising the Estimates of the Mackenzie Government of last year, and they didn't know it." Mr. Ngata: We, know that. Mr. Fisher: You didn't know it last year. The starved Service. He went on to speak of the complaint

of tho member for Avon about the inequality of paying a medical officer £300 a year; but in the Estimates of tho Mackenzie Government. tho man was paid £250 a year. Mr. Massey: Sweating!

Mr. Russell suggosted that the officer who received £250 was a very young man.

Mr. Fisher: I think the member for Avon is a very young man in spite of his age. The fact is, we have not al- ' tered your figures. We aro waiting for | the Public Service Commissioners' report, and I hope they will award ado-, quato wages. x Mr. Malcplm directed Mr. Fisher not to pursue this topic further. Mr; Fisher went on to show ' that medical' officers were being better paid under tho 1913 Estimates than in those of the Mackenzie .Government. . . . '.'The fact is, we lmd to have all these salaries revised," he said, "because . after twenty-one years of Liberalism the, whole Public Servico was starved." ' ' x Mr. Wllford Out of Order.. Just prior to the 5.30 adjournment, Mr. .Wilford was speaking on' nothing in particular.' Mr. Malcolm : You have been speaking for,,two minutes,, and,,you ,haven'tonce'referred to tho subject of tho motion under discussion. If you continue in that strain I shall order you to resume your seat. ' . , . Mr. Wilford: Then I move that you ■do report progress in order that the Speaker's ruling bo taken. Ho went on-to say that he thought it was time tho opinion of the Speaker was taken as to the limitations of such a debate as that on which thoy were engaged. . t . The Hon. A. T. 'Ngata hoped Mr. Wil.ford would not pressdiis motion, as Mr. Malcolm's ruling in Mr. Wilford's case , had -.-becn in completo accord with his rulings previously, » When the' Committee resumed at 7.30 p.m. tho gaiieries wore full and most of the seats availablo for strangers around the floor of tl^o.Chamber,were occupied. Twelve. Opposition ■ members were" in itheoir. places, and about twico that number of Government siipporteTS. An Attempt to Withdraw. Mr. Ngata said that ho bad been' re-quested-by. Mr. Wilford, who was not present," to withdraw the motion to take ■the'Speaker's-lulling. , < ■ Tho Prime Minister objected 1 to t/ho withdrawal. Mr." Witty asked tho Prime Minister to reconsider his decision, but the matter was put to the vote, and tho motion to take the Speaker's ruling was negatived on tho voices. Mr. ,D. Buddo now had something to say albout farm topics. Incidentally lie remarked that ho had boon much impressed by the goodi management of ono of the montal hospitals which ho had visited'. A Government member: How did you get out? . I Mr. Laitircnson sdught to continue liss dissertation on the subject of brown bread, in which 'he had been interrupted two hours previously, hut was ruled out -of order. ; Hours of Dullness, Tho: first hour of the evening sitting came ,to an end without any noteworthy development talcing'place. The Minister was twice drawn into speaking, on each occasion for about half a minute. Save for this, speaking was confyied to Oppositionists. Mr, ltussell\lcnouiiced asinadequate the salaries at present paid to medical' officers and others. Mir.' Hanan followed with a spirited defence, of these fame salaries. Mr. Atmoro in his town contended that the salaries wore too small. In this fashion the debate .was, so 'to speak, self-sii)> porting and was carried on at a minimum expenditure of ingenuity in searching out topics •to talk about. It apparently mattered not at all. to the. speakers that the stream, of talk became deadly dull. Other Oppositionists sot one platitude against another with wearisome iteration.. Some of 'the speakers '.'made no. attempt- to reach even a scmblancoof logical com-"mon-seiise. Under these circumstances 'tho' House," so: far as members were •concerned, quickly' assumed! tho aspect that it; wears, in late-hour sittings.' Half t'ho members ])resent. were lying down on their benches, ajul of those who remained, the majority Were in restfid attitudes: The strangers in the galleries remained there, but they had a dull time of it.' ■ •!

The following hour brought neither improvement nor added interest to the debate, and it was dragging as drearily as ever, when tho supper adjournment came round. Flat monotony continued to characterise the proceedings when members re-assembled at 10 o'clock. The- Strangers' Gallery was still full at 11.30 p.m., but the number of ladies present Was reduced to. three.

Tho speeches late at night and in the early hours of tho morning wore unspeakably dull and without.point of any kind. Mr. Wilford did a few humorous "turns,"-'but.ho was merely, talking at large, and not-addressing himself to the question or even' keeping up much pretence of doing so. Those other members who did seemed to be tho dullest contingent in tho Opposition ranks, and their speeches wore merely tedious. There seemed 110 indication at 3 a.m. of tho obstruction giving way, which means that tho Committee will almost certainly sit through to-day continuously.