HARBOURS AMENDMENT BILL.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2211, 25 July 1914, Page 9

HARBOURS AMENDMENT BILL.

NO PAYBIE^j^ LOCAL ELECTIONS & ROLLS. AN ALTERATION IN THE STYLE OF -VOTING.

THE COUNCIL ; ' The Legislative Council licet', at 2.30 p.mV ,-' : • ■'• ' .■■■' ■.'■ :•' . The.Hon. J. DUTHIE gave notice that when the Legislative. 1 Council Bill was in Committee ho'wduld move an _ amendment to clause 17. ■•■■■''■ The Hon. S. T. GEORGE gave notice that he .would, ask the Minister—(l) What would be the superficial area of the .Legislative Council Chamber in the new House of Parliament; and (2) what was the superficial area ,of the old Chamber destroyed by fire?, ; - ■';'-.-,; IMPREST SUPPLY BILL. ' The Imprest Supply Bill/was introduced 1 . On the second reading, The, Hon. Mr. BiSJbJiAJN said that lately certain members >had passed out of tne Council. ;, Many of them haci served for 21 -years; and so far no'opportunity. had been made to place on record their services..He felt that.something should be done for members, who. had given the be3t years of their life to the;good of the country. Some form of superannuation should be provided tor those 1 who needed "it.. Some concessions might be made to the members, such as the , ; retention .of, their title and library Pr The Ho'n! H. D. BELL said the questions.raised were before the Council the, year before in the form of definite,resolutions moved by the Hon. Mr. Rigg. The Council determined that it should refuse to concur in those privileges. Personally, he }iad takeu no parf in ttie discussion then. : . '..-'.. Y "■'.: '-.v „ :■ The Hon.- Q. Samuel: They speoially • referred'to Bellamy privileges... ; :•_ \The Honl Mr.' Bell said that he would be willing to confer with any members on the matter after they had read the journals. He would.not bring forward any proposals rejeMiedby the Council. The Hon; G, JONES thought that the Hon. Mr. Kigg's motion had Tegard to privileges to Bellamy's and the library. . He objected to gfanting. privileges to Bellamy's; ,'and voted 'against the .nio»i tion. The Hon. Mrv Beehan's remarke( seemed to have a wider scope. He ported the hon .'member's remarks, i •! The Hon. 0. SAMUEL said they all appreciated the workdone by the members who had retired from lie Council. As to the suggestion that, they should retain the title of "honourable," provision was made to enable the title to bo retained, on the recommendation of the Government, after a member 'had -sat" continuously for ,tto years .in the Coun-, cill Hβ. privilege might be madeito.enable members a long term';- ; with;'Mt?;.Biihprt bif6ak,;j to continue theiuse'.of;tlie'''title.'! u . '■■ The; the.suggestion.iA4' ;/>••:.■.—-*....'• ■• ■"■'■■ ■■", ; The-Hon.:;WiBAENSHAW-.supporb-. Ed the; s'uggestipn.that ; railway. ■ priviiegee should'be;granted.ti>• members who had sat in the CouhciT'fbr,'long years, at a, salary which, to say the,least, was shameful. .;•' ■ :■. .. • y j.' . The Bill : was piit through,all stages and .passed. ; V ■ .... .'i-

BOY IMMIGRATION. ■ THE GOVERNMENT' SUPPORTED./. Tno H0u.,0. 'A. U. JiAUiJi'xesumecl the debaio oil tho Booonu.reatUug at the Master itucl Apprentice ±>iil. '■ Jie eupr ported tlie provisions of the Hill, for rie thought that the Government was moving in the, right direction in bringing out boys to .enter upon' farming pursuits. He was pleased to hear the Hone.' Messrs. Barr and Paul say that the. agitators who tried to induce the boys ot the Ayrshire to break their agreement were inot representatives of the:main body, of Labour. He deprecated the attempt made, by a section of the Press to discredit the scheme of the Government in bringing the boys out.'- He was pleased to see the interest the Leader of the Council wae taking in the boys. Mr. Hardy spoke of the good work done at *the Burnham Industrial ,School. Many people'sneered at Burnham, and said it was tie place where, bad charac-. tors: were raised, but that was not a fact. It was in the streets that the bad characters were' raised, and the boye at Burnham were getting an excellent training to make them worthy citizens. The boys were.doirig well there, and the money they earned was saved for them, and some of them had as much as £200 or £300 to their credit. He was pleased to see that the Minister was jealous of the honours of the boys, and.was not going to license, them out to employers who were not going to give them a good training. It : wae-an excellent idea to bring the boys out to New Zealand, and the indenture proposals were in the interests of the lads. '~ ''. : Clri immigration. The Hen. C. LOUISSON thought' it ,*ae necessary to .counteract certain influences which had been at work to induce the boys to break their engagements. The Bill would put an end to ihat. He thought the Minister might jnlarge his scheme on the same' lines jy bringing out girls as domestic servants. There were so many avenues of jmployment open to' girls in this jountry that there could not be any objection to such a proposal. ; It would oe against the interests of the Dominion to have the country full of boys, and only a small proportion of girls." The ; Hon. U. SamIIBL expressed himself in favour of the proposal. There was one aspect vof the matter that had been overlooked. Certain per. 6ons in the Old Country were endeavouring to create the impression that this country, was imposing a hardship by the compulsory military training system. Some .provision 'should be included in the indentures,to prevent the boys sayIng that they wore not aware of such a condition. They might succeed in making trouble over that fact. At the same time ho did not think "any undue hardships should be placed on' the country' eettlere through the military training provisions. The Government sympathiser! with Hie. country sottler, and he hoped the authorities would not be allowed to impose any conditions that would be fatal to tho settlement of the country. ■ Tho Hon. W. EARNSHAW thought that this country could absorb 10,000 boye.-lt would be to tho advantago' both of New Zealand and the Old Country. He endorsed the suggestion that girls should also bo brought out; Ho referred to the reports made that children on farms were sometimes overworked. jThey had seen reports that in Taranaki children were so. dazed in the schools that they cmild not do their school work.-

The Hon. W. BEEHAN thought that DrovifiioD should,, be made for a aradu-

oted scale of wages in the indenture of tho boys. Thoy would have to see that the ( boys wero not sweated to doati. ! the honourable member continued to show a great concern in the boy a' food, etc.', and the Minister was, impelled to interject: "Vf6i will provide a separate nursemaid for. each of .them," (Laughter.) 1 ' The Hon. T. M'GIBBON sympathised strongly with the propwale. He also expressed himself strongly in favour of the suggestion thrown out that young women should be introduced into this country. -The lack of domestio help was a serious drawback to many mothers of families. A boon would also be conferred upon the "odd" -woman of England. There were v. million women there who were forced to remain spinsters. New. Zealand wanted that .million here; although- not all at once. .The Hon. W .MORGAN supported tne Government in their proposals, and 'asked the Minister if be would insert provisions in the; indentures to have the employer uee. that the'boys _ attended, where possible, classes of instruction in agricultural science. ' V ! The Hon. J. FISHER also supported tho Bill.' '. Benefits of the Scheme. The Hon., H. D. BilLb, in reply, referred agaia to the attack made upon him by a certain section of the Press. That attack' had been' continued, and tko 'Hon. Mr. Jones had been attacked for' admitting that the campaign made against him (Mr. < Bell) was not justified. - .. . I : The Hon.O. Samuel: It (is'.not worth taking notice of. The Hon. Mr. Bell referred to the suggestion.made'by the Hon. Mr. Barr 'that places should be assured before the, boys were brought <jut. When the Scheme was'first suggested.and,farmers were circularised, in all : 829 replies were 275 being for country boys and 54 for "Sedgwick," or town boys. . No boys would be brought out unless there were places for them. New Zealand boys could take full advantage of the scheme if they desired to get on the land! . They 'had been careful about the provisions of the Defence Act and every ! boy who'had applied for a passage to New Zealand was made acquainted with' his liabilities under the Act! He was proud of his-boys, and would give them credit for their actions since, arriving here. Nearly every boy had applied for the whereabouts of the Territorial officer in his district, so' that ;hd could register. Coming to the question of domestic' servants the Minister said that the nuggestioii had-previoiisly-been made to bring young girls to New Zealand. . An; had to reduce ti^^age ;l it 'which domestio servants;; could-.be brought Ciirionsly, -Chat morning the Lady Superintendent, of Immigration had told him that it. would have ..to. stop. Young girls coiild hot. be brought out unless they came'with' their parents. The -responsibility was too great to be placed on the Government. The demand in New ' Zealand was not for wholly untrained help, and he was not prepared to undertake the responsibility of.bringing young girls- to' wis' 'country. Free nomination to the people in New Zealand might get oyer the difficulty, but the girls would have to have a nominated home to go to. Ho hoped that whatever the Government did they would not drive the boys into bondage. He thought hon. members could be satisfied that the interests of, the boys brought jout would. be well guarded. • The BUI was read a second time and referred to the Labour Bills Committee. FIRE BRIGADE AMENDMENT, i ' The Fire Brigade Amendment Bill was read , a second time, pro forma, and referred to the Statutes Revision Committee., The Minister explained that the'Bill was a highly technical one. The. Council rose at 4.45. p.m.