LOBBY GOSSIP

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2191, 2 July 1914, Page 7

LOBBY GOSSIP

AND POINTS FROM DEBATES

DAILY SUMMARY The No-Confidenco Debate monopolised attention in the House of Representatives yMterduy. but Tan . its course .somewhat tamely. ■_-.-. >In the early afternoon the Licensing' Amendment Bill, which is identical' with"tho' J3ill circulated at the end of last session, and Air. Hunter's Gaming Anumdmeiit Bill were introduced • and read a first time. Air. T. M. "Wilford continued the NoConfidonee Debate, and was-replied to by Mr. A. Harris, member for Waitemata. Tho next speaker was Mr. A. M., My&p, who delivered a temperatelywore'ed non-party speech, in tho'course of which ho dealt interestingly with tho subjects of naval defence and national finance. _ '_'••• Tlie debate was continued in ■ the evening-by Mossrs. C. E. Statham, R. M'Cdlfumj G. Hunter, G.. W. Forbes, and W. A. Veitch. Discussion so. obviously dragged as the'evening-wore on that there seemed- 1 to be a possibility of the debate coming prematurely to an end. Little enterprise was shown by' the Opposition speakers, and the Government supporters who took part ,<. spoke very briefly, '■ 'and expressed a hope that as little;.'time as possible would be wasted on the debate, and that the Hduso would proceed to deal with tho business of the country. Just before midnight the debate was adjourned,'on tho motion of Mr. J. A.

Young. ,'■'■''. .', • Despite-anticipations to the contrary, the business of the Legislative Council, was'proceeded with yesterday, and the Address-in-Reply debate was carried on .hv the Hons. -\V. ■ Earnshaw, •H. F. AVigram, and J.'Duthio., The Hon. H. D. Bell announced'.^that, as.it would bo quite in accord with constitutional practice to do so, the frusinese would be gone, on with, without regard to the No-Confidence-Debate in the* House of Kepr : !senfe'tives.'.' ...,,,-\i'. '"■■■- LOANS AND BORROWING. ,' The credit of the.country.and applications for loans dn the London market was referred to by. Mr. A. M. Myers in tlio House of Representatives yesterday. He congratulated the Minister of Finance on his happy position, for in the noxt five years not moro than a quarter of a million'a year was falling duo' in London.' ;. " '".' : Mr. Allen: .What about this year, though? /. -'-. ■ .".■'-.'.' ; Mr.' Myers: You have already raised, your four andaharf million loan. ' Mr. Alien: I have to face another at the eiid of the year.- .' - Mr. Myers said that he had no doubt about this money being procurable.' Mr. Allen: Oh, we'll swim through now all right.:, I am very pleased to eay that oiie of the loans'was paid off .to-day, July 1. Mr. Myers said he was sure'there would'be no difficulty about the loan; . Mr. Massey: So long.as-the ilreaent Government: is in power../(Laughter.) ■Mr. Myers ventured to say that the reason why tho New Zealand Treasury could always get money^.in London was that tho London financiers approved of our system' of sinking funds, and of our methods of spending tio borrowed money.'. ' '~ proposed conversion; in tho House of Kepreae.ti|:at\y6s';.Ves'terqaj',". Jfr.. A. M. Myers eajd.that.it .was with .very greflt ; regret that he found himself at variance in this mattor with his leader,, Sir Joseph' Ward/ who had proved himself : in 'tho past a very, great Imperialist. •' ■ i ' . •■■ ... ,•'.:■

The Hon. Ja?. ■ Allen: .We will ccn- . vert'him before long. . Mr. Myors:lhopb.so; I .'will bolp you. The Primo Minister! I don't think .you ever wi11.:..' : '. ■ ..Mr. H. M.-Campbell: Dwuption of • Hie Ministry! : <,' ' COUNCIL AND NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION. 'A doubt as to whether the.Legislative Council could proceed with business "while a no-confidence motion was under discussion'in tho House'of. itepresentatives .was settled yesterday by the Leader of the Council (the Hon. H. I). Bell). In moving the adjournment of the Council till to-day ho said that he , hoped to go on with the.business on the .Order Paper!' It was quite possible that tho business on the' Order .Paper for Tuesday, next,(second reading of the . Legislative Council Bill), might have to jj be postponed, but thero w:as. no consti- •'•' tutional precedent which made it neccs- ' safy for tho Council fo postpone their '" word on account of anything going on Lorter House.' Thoicustom had , arisen in the. past because 'of there'being nothing to do whilo a no-confidenco motion was on. There was nothing con- ■ stitutionally affecting tho question; it was merely a question of convenience. He would ask tho Council ;to sit tho next day, and, if' any business remained to bo done, possibly another day, and .tho the Council would bo able to ~ consider whether thero should bo a long . adjournment. ... MR* WILFORD DISCOMFITED. ' Speaking in the Address-iii-Rcply Dobite, in the House'.of Representatives on Tuesday ovening. Mr. G. H, Sykes, member .or Masterton, - furnished a crushing reply to assertions-' recently made at Mastorton bv Mr. T- M Wiiford, M.P., to the effect that the increased graduated land taxation impos-' «;1 by the Reform .Government would be nullified by reductions in the valuations on big estates under the now svstem of valuation introduced by the Government. ■ Mr. Sykes produced the now valuation list for Castlepoiuf County—the only one, he said, ho bad, as yet been able to procure—and it showed'that instead ■■ of the valuations of estates being, reduced they-had been largely" increased.

I he valuation upon -one estate was increasedfrom .£79,556, to £101,357, another from £37,047 : to £45,094. and £S4iIT.IS7 2 92 tO£so,2s6andfr ° m ait. Sykes said that ho was sure the member for Hntt would admit that his itatemcnt at Mastcrton was incorrect intl was simply calculated to mislead, out Mr. Wilford listened in silence and modo no response. A SUGOESTED ALLIANCE. _ Speaking in the House of Representatives last evening, Mr. W. A. Vciteh, Labour member for Wanganui, declared himself strongly in favour of a working arrangement botween the Labour aud L'boral parties at tho coming election. Be said that so far as ho know no official arrangement of the kind had been made, but they would bo a very unwise lot of pepplo if they did not make an arrangement to protect themselves in view' of tho position created by the repeal of the Second Ballot. People who criticised such an arrangement must think that the Labour people wore political babies. Did the Heform Party think that they were going to got a two-, to-one chance at tho next election? JJc said that it was the duty of the Labour Party to ally itself, for the time being at any rate, with the Liberal Party, to prevent the Reform Party'getting an unfair'advantage. The effect of "that combination would bo better legislation in tho. futuro than in the past, If it was not so then any arrangement between tbn Liberal and Labour Parties

could not be permanent. It was their Uutv as workers to do the best they could to make tlio best bargain for tlje wov/ters. That was his position, and that was what he had endeavoured'to do in regard to Wanganui. Because he had said lie was favourable to such a combination ho was told that he had turned his coat, but ho was strongly of opinion that tho combination lie advocated should be brought about to prevent lilie Reform Party getting the unfair benefit they- hoped to get by tho repeal of the Second Ballot. A POLITE EXAMPLE. Beginning his speech in the no-con-fidence debate in tho Hotiso of Representatives yesterday Mr. T. M. Wilford made, a great point of his determination to avoid personalities and to deal with the political questions of tho day from a broad standpoint. He had 'not gono very far with his speech, however, before he descended from this loSfy ideal. In passing lie spoke of some criticisms which lie said had been directed against tho Public Service Commissioner by Public Servants. At this point Mr. Allen interjectedi: "Who said that?" Mr. Wilford leaned forward over his bench and replied with bitter emphasis : ■ "Mind your o'wn_ business." There w-ere some, indignant protests from the Government side of tho House but tfho Minister merely remarked: "Thank you very much." Replying to 6pme member who had commented upon his rudeness, Mr. Wilford said: 'I was not half so rude as' he wall to Sir Joseph Ward.'.' MAGISTRATES' COURTS. The ; Magistrates' Courts Bill, introduced by the Hon. A. L. Herdman this session, proposes to repeal Hie Magistrates' Courts Act, ' 1908, and its also the Justices of the Peace Act, 1908/ and its amendments, and to re-enact the same with such modifications-as may be re- : quired for tho purposes l of the now scheme.i. : The main object of the Bill is to constitute Magistrates' /Courts 'having criminal as well as civil jurisdiction. Tho civil jurisdiction is, that at present exercised by. Magistrates' Courts .pursuant to the Magistrates' CnurtaAct, 1908, and the criminal jurisdiction is that exercised by Justices of the Peace pursuant to the • Justices of tho Peace Act; 1908. The Bill is similar in arrangement to the Judicature Act, .1903: tho enacting provisions relate wholly ' to tlio constitution of tho Court, the appointment of Its officers.'and the nature and extent of its jurisdiction: the procedure of the Court.is governed by Rules of Court set out/ in the first and second schedules (relating respectively to procedure, in criminal' case. 1 ! and to nrocedure in civil cases), with power for tho Governor-in-Council to alter, revoke, or add to the rules with respect to matters within'the jurisdiction of the Court.

-Certain of the .existing provisions in the Magistrates' Courts Act, 1908, are substantially identical with nrovw'ons in the Justices of thf Peach Ac?, 1903, and accordingly, >in tho present Bill, some of the provisions of the latter Act have been'omitted as MirplusagCJ Tt is proposed to inclndo in an aiilendmoht of the Polieo Offences Act cert.iiin other provisions of tho Justices of the Pence Act, not appearing in the present Bill—e.g., provisions 'relating to tho appointment of spccial. constables and provisions constituting offences. NEWS IN BRIEF. "Anyone coining into the House'then for tlio first-.time-would, lmvo supposed that afi elocutionary contest in a lunatic asylum;'; ; in* pi - Wpre's's.'' , -^slr.'' A.' Harris on' the'oKtruetiori' tactics''pursued by the Opposition last session when the' Second. Ballot repeal proposal .was before ;tho House.' • - .

"All:the better thinking people in the country are- ranging themselves on tlie side of the Refprm Party," said Mr. A'. Harris; M.P., in the House of Representatives yesterdfiy. "The difficulty of the Opposition/' he added, "is to'get candidates at all.. Those they are gettine are very second-rate." Dealing yesterday with'the subject of T/pper House reform, Mr. Wilford triumphantly read a list of Government members, the Hon. Jus. Allen amongst the number; who had voted in favour of abolishing tho Legislativo Council. "Yes, we did," said Mr. W. Nosworthy, "as a protest because you wouldn't reform it." '■■•.'•: Evidently Mr. T. M. Wilford was aggrieved at being replied to by a junior member of the Reform Partv (Mr. A. Harris) in the no-confidence debate yesterday, for lie sat on a front bench looking very indignant when Mr. A. M. Mvers, who'followed Mr. Harris in the debate, politely suggested that the member for:H.utt had .addressed a number of .pertinent questions to the Government, and that a responsible Minister might have been put "up to reply. ' Mr. 'Hunter's Gaming .Amendment Bill, which proposes that thirty additional totalisator permits shaN be issued for the' benefit of"country racing hunt, and trotting clubs, was read a first time in tho Hou3e yesterday, and set down for second reading on July 29. Mr. (!. E. Statham, member for Dunedin Central, stated last evening, that he would vote against the Religious,lnstruction in Schools Referendum Bill.; The .matter of providing that no employee of the New -Zealand Government railways shall be; worked longer than 48 hours "in any oue week is having the consideration of the Department.

Nominations for the four vacancies oil the' Wellington Education Board close next Monday. So far tho following gentlemen have announced their candidature: —Wellington ward (two vacancies): Messrs. J. (J. W. Aitkcn (one of the two retiring members—Mr. It.j Leo is not seeking re-election), C. M. Luke, and C. Watsoii; Hutt-Horo-wheiiua ward: Messrs. 11. Freeman (retiring member), D. M. Yeats, a'nd W. Galloway; Wairarapa ward: Messrs. T. Moss (retiring member) aiid A. D. M'Leod. NOW IS THE TIME To order ft Motor ..Wagon. The season of big profits is upon us. Get a "Daimler" and secure tho business. Daimlers specially built for N.Z. roads. «£3io,. ,£960. Get details from Geo, Henning, Customs Street, Auckland.—Advt.