LOBBY GOSSIP.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2194, 6 July 1914, Page 5

LOBBY GOSSIP.

AND POINTS FROM DEBATES

PROSPECTS FOR THE WEEK,

Interest in tlio No-Confidence debate in tho Houso of Representatives has died down lo a very low ebb, but its cud is not yet in immediate project. Jho speeches which were delivered on tho luttor days of last week woro mobt[y of such a character that thov might havo boon delivered without chango of form iu .an ordinary Address-in-Keply debate, therefore, tho position is iliat tiw debate on tho Addrcss-lii-itepl.y i> n: .dug its normal course, while tho >' V'Xiii.lidenco amendment) is accoptod ns in additional and almost an extranecui factor, which causes no ineonvonienco u'nd nrouses little interest. Tho Opposition will probably try to mnko tho debato moro lively this week, but the.y havo a lot of leoway to recover. It is thought likely that tlio Addrcss-in-Rcply will bo before tlio House at least for another week, but that a division upon the No-Confidenco omendmeut may bo taken at almost anytime. Hardly anyone lwthcrs to specuIsito about the result of tho division. It is agreed by men of nil parties that the Government will easily command a victory, and Government supporters aro of opinion that tlioro will bo a majority of eight or ten votes against the amendment. TAXINC MOTOR-CARS. . A Bill which is to ho laid beforo Parliament shortly will deal with the licensing of motor-cars and will provide also for the imposition of a special tax upon tho owners of those vehicles. Tho latter proposal is a novelty in this country, out it has boon recognised for somo timo past that on account of tho damago done by motor-cars to roads it is only reasonable that their owners should contribute to tho cost of maintaining the'roads and keeping them in repair. It is assumed that Oio tnx will bo on a sliding scale, but it is not yet known whether it will bo levied upon a basis of horse-power or weight of car. Tho ' latter alternative is most popular with tho owners of light ears of high rolativo horse-power, which aro numerous in Now Zealand. 7 THE PAYNE INCIDENT. The incident that enlivened the closing hour of Friday's sitting of tho Houso, and in which the member for Grey Lynn figured so prominently, is just now the general subject of conversation in tho lobbies, and speculation is rifo ns to what will happen to-mor-row, when tho Houso meets. It is stated that Mr. Payne, when he withdrew from tho Chamber on Friday night, at onco left tlio Parliamentary lluildings, and wont to his lodgings'. Subsequently, it is understood, ho loft on q week-end visit to Napier; BIBLE IN SCHOOLS. There has been a good deal of talk nbout tho Religious Instruction in Schools Referendum Bill, and a number of members havo t deelared that.it will certainly be thrown out on tho second reading. Possibly, however, this conclusion on the part of those who hold it is premature. A number of members fiave been "counting noses,"with a view to ascertaining the relative strength of supporters and opponents of tho referendum proposal, but it does not appear that in any caso the count was complete, and tho conclusions mentioned, although they have been confidently' announced in the lobbies are probably moro or loss speculative. THE LICENSING BILL. • • Keen controversy reigns as to tho probable fato of, the Licensing Bill, and while members who support tho NoLiccnso party declare that tho Bill is bound to pass, those who adopt the opposite view aro equally confident in predicting that it will ho arrested on its way to tho Statute Book. Upon tho whole, the latter view of the position seems to be gaining ground. Those who hold it assert, thnt tho Bill can easily be hold up by a determined minority in tho Lower House, and tlioro is somo talk also of a possibility that even should the Kill pass in tho representative Chamber it might be thrown out by thp_ Upper House. There is still some opinion as to respective voting powers of the friends and foes of tho Bill in the Lower House, but ■ its supporters claim that a majority of members are pledged to vote for a reduction of the majority at tho National Prohibition poll. THE NATIVE SHOULD PAY. • "Surely if tho Nativo race is going to havo the advantage of our education system, the advantages of our Public "Works policy, and if their land is going to bo advanced in value, they should pay something lor it," said Mr. J. H. Bradnoy in tlio Houso of Representatives on Friday. A member: They had tho advantago of tho small-pox. i , Mr. Bradnoy: Yes, and thoy had tho advantago of medical nssistanco given by this country. It is quito timo tho Natives had to pay for tho privileges they enjoy." > THE'GOVERNMENT'S RECORD. A special very much enlarged issuo of tho Reform League's journal "Light nnd Liberty" is now being circulated. Tho special number is, as the editor remarks in his foreword, "designed to set forth as concisely and clearly as possible tho work of tho Reform Government during tho less than two years that it has held oflioc. This object tho publication has achieved. Reforenco is made to tlio 6lriko, to tlio return of sound finance, to tho Govern-j ment's land Jaws, and to tho unlock- i ing of Nativo lands. A special chapter sets out to controvert tlio statement that the Reform Government has done noth-I ing to help tho wage-earner. Still another brings under rcviow miscellaneous features of tho Government's policy j end administration.