LOBBY GOSSIP

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2214, 29 July 1914, Page 7

LOBBY GOSSIP

AND POINTS FROM DEBATES DAILY SUMMARY .Remarkably good progress was'mado by-the House of Representatives yes'terdiiy afternoon. Consideration of tho .Licensing Bill in Committee was looked 'to as the one big item of business'for the sitting, but ic was made known by, the Prime Minister early in the after-' noon that it would not bo taken.tmtil 7.30 p.m. in answer to questions, ; tho Prune Minister stated that the Financial Statement would bo brought down next week, and that tho Railways Statement and tho report of the General Manager of .Railways upon the Dominion lilies would bo laid before the House in tiino to be made uso of in the Financial. debate. . '■'•'"■ / Questioned by Mr. Russell, Mr.. Herdman said that he thought it more than likely that tho Motor Bill would be referred to a committee beforo being lurthor proceeded with. • " -. The.! following Bills were, read' a' third timo: l —Fruit-preserving Industry Amendment Bill, Local Elections and Polls; Amendment Bill; Harbours Amend-. ruent Bill.iand Victoria College Amendment' Bill. •';..- The.New Zealand Loans Amendment Bill (doaling / with tho inscription, of stock),, and the Banking Amendment Bill,.which relates.to tho State guarantee ,of bank-notes in periods of .emergency,' ; were read a second time. , ■ ■: The..attendance of strangers when tl«y House resumed, at 7.30 p.ni. bore witness, to the public interest in the Licensing Bill. The galleries and seats around the floor were all fully occupied, , tho spectators including prominent representatives of both: the. Licensed Trade and the No-License Party. The House \vent into Committee on the Bill as soon as/it assembled, and the: debate upon ;the short title was'opened by Mr; Payne, who .signified his inten-t-ion of moving to introduce the barb majority-at liquor-polls, and compulsory voting. Mr. Wilford,; who followed, said that he -ivould movo to abolish local option polling, and if this were agreed to'would 'support,,the reduction of the National Prohibition majority io 55 per cent. ~Mr.;G; W. Russell opposed the Bill, arid Mr., To Rangihiroa indicated that'ho ; did*not care to take.tho responsibility'of voting for it.. The Bill was opposed also by Messrs: Atmore and.,J;.G. Coates,' Mr.' P. G. Webb de.clared forthpbaro majority,- and also' said, that'he'believed more'than threefifths.: of 1 the people wouldi.vote for State-o\ynei'ship of the liquor ■ Tlie Hon.- R. M'Keuzie opposed the reduction to 55 per cent. .'Mr. T. E. Y. Seddon urged that some provision should be made for moderates, and' Mr. J., M'Combs supported the bare majority. -Messrs. Payne, M'Conibs, and Atmore (speaking a second time), and Mr. Isitt: carried on tho dehate until the 9.30 adjournment; A heated argument, over some' details of the , liquor question arose between Messrs. M'Combs. and Isitt on the one hand, and Mr;;Atmore on the' other..; ... :.The. tone;of the debate, sharpened up .'considerably wlieri .it .was resumed after,; the'.supper, .adjournment.' '.The 'Prime Minister, twitted by Mr., Russell iipon remaining silent,> said- that ho had had an ample opportunity of speaking on tho secdud reading, and added that a!] the talk that'was taking , place would not change a single vote on the 8i11..' ': ." ..-■■' ' " •-;.,;..;,./'

The short title was agreed to-,oa the voices/at 10.25 p.m. .. l //'.■. /Mr. Isitt , denounced the " amendments moved by Messrs. arid Payne as dolilier'ate '.atte,raptsi''ito!!>kill the. Bill,, and stafed"'tliat Mr. ! 'Pa'ynd' had on 1 July 16 given a written pledge to the New/Zealand/Alliance' :to vote •for the. Bill, and ion, July 23 had voted against,it. JTho 'only,: explanation ofr fered.by Mr. Payne: was that in writing to the Alliance he had acted upon the facts then..in, his possession;- ;' Tlio Hon. J/A. Millar supported.Mr. Payee's amendment (bare majority and compulsory voting) on the ground that if it'became Jaw a fraction over fifty per cent, of -i'the' electors on the roll would bo required to carry Prohibition, while at present. 43 per cent. _of . the total voters might carry the licensing poll. On a division taken at 11.10 p.m. only ,four .votes were ca6t fbr ; Mr. Payne's amendment—his own and thoso of the'. Hon. J. A: Millar, and Messrs'. AVE. Glover and Rangihiroa. Ten minutes later the clause in the Bill providing''for the reduction of the' National majority to 55 tier cent was i struck out'by 33 votes to 31.

: Progress, was.reported soon afterwards and the House rose at 11.47fp.m.' '■ ' _ The Legislative Council Bill was/ con-, sidered ■in . Committee in the Legislative, Council. At. 4.48 p.m. progress was reported, several.machinery' amendments having been agreed to. ..' .' : ( / .

.COUNCIL REFORM. Tho Legislative Council Bill reached tho Committee stage yesterday, but beyond .machinery' amendments the ouiy important proposal was' an : amendment moved by the Hon. J. Barr to.make the' electorates number eight instead 7 of-four. This was defeated on a division.'. . To-day the Bill will be further 'considered l in Committee, and the Hon. H. 'D.- Bell .will move an important additional clause, which will provide that if at any time before the first election at which the full number of forty members is elected;'the number, becomes less than forty, the Council may from.time to time choose, by ballot, such persons not being members ' of either House to become members of the Council. The number so chosen is not to be more than shall suffice to bring up the total number of members of the. Council to forty'. Members so chosen will hold their seats until the dissolution of Parliament preceding tho first', election of forty members. This makes' reasonable provision for the possibility of the numbers of tho Council falling below the necessary minimum after the, year 1917, when the first election of 24 members takes place, and boforo' tho election of 1920, when the full number of .forty will be elected.. Tlie Hon. J. : Duthie also has an important amend-, meut to. niovej defining the class? of; persons whoare .eligible for election-ioj the Legislative Council. The Council' will probably sit to-night, to report .the;, Bill from Committee. . ; ';■: LOCAL GOVERNMENT. ■ The member for Avon rarely, misses an opportunity, since his own ill-fated measure was rent in pieces, by that conference which was to'achieve so much, of referring to the subject of local government reform. Yestordayv.he, drew, tho attention of the Prime Mmistor--to tho fact that there were a number of petitions before Parliament asking fo'" the further subdivision of counties, and asked whether the Government had come to any conclusion about a local government reform scheme. Wero the Government going to allow tho multiplication of counties to go on, or were they going to", bring down a schemo tu amalgamate counties? ■'.-,' The Prime minister: said he thought the ratepayers were the best judges of what ought to be done. It was impossible to : lay down a hard-and-fast rule. It'.was his opinion that there were oounitie's in New Zealnnd that were far, too ■large. - In such cases, subdivision was desirable,.. especially as it. Ifd to the merging of- road boards within comities. •■ , , „ , TtJE DEFAMATION BILL. Some surprise, was caused, in the House, bF " Representatives yesfcrday 'when it was noticed that the' Defamation Bill stood sixth upon the Order Paper, immediately after the Licensing Bill, which was the first important, item of business: The' Prims Minister ex-

planted, however, that it was not proposed to take tho Defamation Bill that day, oven if tho Licensing Bill were quickly dealt with, and' that he had intended to move it further down the Order Paper. , This js a fairly plain indication that.it is not intended fo go on with tho Defamation Bill until a later etaae in the session. It is believed that while the.Government will endeavour to securo the passage of tho Bill this ses-. sion if possible, it will not bo allowed to interforo wiCk tho progress'of measures which are regarded as of moro immediate urgency. •'.•'.'■ Sir; Joseph Ward; speaking in, the House,-informed the Minister in charge of the Bill that he had m preparation several hundred amendments, to the Bill, and ho asked the Minister in chargo of tho Printing Office to 'expedite tho printing of his amendments. ~ ■ , Mr. Fisher: We'll print your amendments and your policy too, if yon will give, it to us. (Laughter.) POLITICS AND A RAILWAY. Settlers •representing the Waiau (Canterbury) Railway League have made their, annual pilgrimage to Wellington, and yesterday afternoon they interviewed the Minister of Public Works, and asked that ho should hasten the construction of the CulverdenWaiau branch line. . -This is the lino that was so strongly condomned recently by the local Opposition newspaper as ,having been started in aid of the big runholders, who had, it' was alleged, subscribed liberally to the funds of the Reform Party. Yesterday the deputa-tion-was strongly supported by Messrs. Forbes,. Isitt, Witty, and Dickie, all members of the Opposition Party'. Mr. Fraser, in reply,- said that there was a fixed limit as to what would bo Spent on railway construction, because thero was a limit to the amount 1 they could borrow, and districts would not agree to have their works docked in order to let others make greater progress. If the members of the deputation thought that, then ihey had not studid. politics. He would, however,. put a sum oa the Estimates that, would enable this line to ho pushed on. Mr. Fraser. added that he; agreed that it would be better to have fewer lines in hand, and to .finish them right off, but they could not do it. He did not care what party was in power it must give way to'.local feeling to,, a-, certain extent.

THE MOTOR BILL, . All over the. country a -.great''' deal of interest Ms being taken in the Motor Bill now before Parliament.. In the House of Representatives' yesterday Mr. J.; A. !: Young, niemher. for 'Waikato, asked the Minister in charge of the Bill w'hether'he would refer the Bill to a, select committee ,of the House, which could take evidence upon the Bill, beiore it-was read a second time iii the House\ Mr. T. M. Ayilford suggested that if the Minister should accede to the request; lie should allow representatives of local .bodies, manufacturers, members of chambers of commerce, and also, officials of the Automobile Association to be, present to give evidence before tile Committee. . :,' /' i\ : :.;The Hon. ,A. L.- Herdnian- said the' .Government : had hot decided what course to take. ' ill dealing with the Motor Bill, but he thought it was highly likely, in view of tho number of communications: lie', was" receiving, ■ that later in the session the--Bill should go to a committee. . ...-,.'.' NEGOTIATIONS THAT FAILED. It was not generally known that negotiations were going on during the greater part of the aftepiobn with the object of arranging a compromise between the two contending parties on the ■-Licensing-Bill. '(The suggested compro!ini;se''?vas'that Local Option ;sli6uld.' : be' struck out'oil the understanding that the majority for. National Prohibition would, be reduced.; If that compromise had bqen agreed upon the. Bill, it is stated; would have passed, but. the leaders of the No-License Party refused. to give their consent. . NOTES IN BRIEF . There is a growing habit in tho Houso of. Representatives of stating that, this or that question should', be-dealt with, on-non-party'lines.' 'Yesterday; for instance. Mr. Ell, speaking with an air 'of<■',profound, conviction, declared his belief that the question "of banking was one-that should be placed "above and beyond party." ■ Considpring the ebullition of party, feeling that invariably attends the discussion of financial - questions in the House, Mr. Ell's suggestion was somewhat remarkable. '' '•;■-.. "They are all hi'tho swim, and they like to have their finger in. the pio"— said a member .of the' House of Representatives yesterday.' -,_'... , ThoHon. R.- H. Rhodes (Postmaster-; General) 'returned froin Marlborough last, evening. '■ ThoHon. E. C. J. Stevens has been appointed Chairman of the Lands Committee of the Legislative Council. During his absence in Canterbury, the Hon. RJ; Moore will act as Deputy-Chair-man. The Hon. J. Barr has been appointed Chairman of tho Council Labour Bills Comniittc., ■';• "All this talk about the size of the motor-car winning the elections gets, on my nerves. /.Motor-ears did not win tho elections, i,and. motor-cars .will not 'win the elections.I'—The1 '—The Hon. W. Ear'nsliaw, in the Legislative Council, \\vlien supporting the proposed _fo'ur electorates for tho elective .Legislative Council. The Hon. H. D. Beir informed the Legislative Council yesterday, in Teply to a'question put by the Hon. S. T; George, that the superficial area of the. old Council Chamber, .which was destroyed by fire, was Floor area, 2100 ft.; area' at galleiy level, 2970 ft. In tho Council Chamber in the new House of Parliament'the area will bo: Floor, 2773 ft.: at gallery level, 4658 ft. , Even the Licensing question raises thoughts of the strike of 1913 in the minds of the Social' Democratic members of Parliament. In the debate last evening, one of their number asserted that during the strike a;band of Y.M.C.A. "specials'' guarded a load of beer .up Queen Street. Auckland, to protect it from the strikers. ,/Dr. A. K. Nowman is asking tho Government whether, in view of the. fact -thai New Zealand farmers are givin* up wheat cultivation, they iwill abolish the duty upon imported wheat. Mr. J. A. Young has given notice to ask the Minister in charge of Friendly Societies whether the Government propose this session t« take steps to promote somo scheme of subvention to Friendly Societies. : A fragmentloftalkin the Committee debate on tho Licensing Bill:— _.Mr. Russell: If National Prohibition is carried by a three-fifths majority I am prepared to accept that as the vote of the people ...-•' .' ■ ■ Mr. Nosworthy: You'd have to. ■.