PARLIAMENT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2799, 17 June 1916, Page 14

PARLIAMENT

MULCTARY SERVICE BILL

GOOD PROGRESS IN THE COUNCIL SECOND READING CARRIED The Legislative Counoil met at 2.30 p.m. WAR PENSIONS AMENDMENT. Tho amendments udupteu by the Lower, iiouso in tiie War I'ensions ism. wero reoeived, uuu their adoption uioveu uy oir i'rancis Bell. 'I'ne Hun. J. 'r. PAUL criticised the amendment made excenuing tne provisions oi tne Pensions xjiu lu tin: uuicers ana crew of tlie transports, provided tnese signed, 011 for. tne period ot tne war. iie stated that sueu provisions would limit the ofheers' cuauces ot promotion; • At present they were oiten changed from vessel to vessel, and he held that tho provisions ot the measure should ■ be extended to ohicers and men wno were engaged 011 transports lor any period during tne war. (Jll tne suggestion of the Leader of the Council, who said lie wodld lay the question before the Government, All', i'aul moved tho adjournment of the debate to next sitting day. MILITARY SERVICE BILL. SECOND HEADING DEBATE. The Hon. W. EAIiNSHAW resumed the second reauing oil tiie .Military berviee Bill. Whno tnrougnout ills'life he had sturdily opposed military despotism,-'tiie circumstances 01 tne present tune required every nc man to go into tne trenches ana light for tne preservation ot. our civilisation, and ne, thereloie, supported tne measure. Jle nad been amused at the manner 111 which tiie Government had avoided giving a lead 011 this question, 'ihey had been flying about the country endeavouring to discover the feeling ol' the community oil tlie question; .The plain oak table of. conscription had been earefullj veneered over -with wluntaryism in order to piacate. those who nugut upposo the measure. ,He thought tnere would be great trouble 111 regard.to exemptions. Sir Francis Bell: -We will, face it The.Hon; \V; J'/arnshtfw: The lour Appeal..Boards—-.

Hon. J; T. Paul: Sixteen or eighteen! Air. Earnsluuv: Well, it will be impossible for even them to cover tne appeals. Ho would hot exempt anyone, he said, for- tlie -first six or. eight uraits,. except lor medical unfitness, iie believed there should be a Central Hoard of Appeal to revise any evidence tuKen, and ucciue upon it. ilr. liarnshaw .dealt. trenchantly .with those alleged representatives of -Labour who opposed tlie Bill, is'o language that was rarliainentary, he said, couul deal with-the "muck" which was put forward by these people.in x defence of their views. All his iue he himself had been a member of tlie jingo school. Our Empire was ■ built up by the. sword, a lid could only be maintained l>y the sword. . Any working man who opposed the Government in the- work it was doing—and doing amaaing'iy well, although some few mistakes of a bad nature had been made —was an enemy to his country, an enemy lo Labour, and, politically speaking, would speedily be torgotten. A Point of Honour. The Hon. 11.1'. WIUItAM claimed that the Government liad an absolute mandate to administer the country in the beat liiaUiiir to win tne war. m auilmg with exemptions he pointed out that a mair-Ayfio was indispensable to the country 'nnglit leel disinclined to appeal tor exemption on account of liis personal Honour, and tliereiore the Government should liavo some power of initiation in preventing .suck a niaii going. In tlie case of ilf, Lriiest Kutueriord —a brilliant. scientiit^ithvould'- ; be iooiish in the'ex' 1 .trcmo. toisend to' the war, while ho might-'not feel inclined lo appeal. '±lio Hon. i,. THOKiSH-UUljiiUii, heartily supported the 1 Hill, which was much better than -voluntaryism, and which should have - been adopted much earlier in tho war.

The lion. A. T. MAGINNITY spoke strongly in support of the Bill, which ho .fiaid. would, probably produce sufficient volunteers to avom tile necessity 01 compulsiou.'. Tlio Hons. \Y. Bechau, A. Baldey, T. Maoliibbon, and J. I'isher continued t'ue debate. Sir Francis Bell in Reply. Tlie Hon. SIB I'KANCIS BELL, in replying, referred to theHon.iUr. l'aul's remarks earlier in the debate, and said ho thought it was a bad case, but it had a very good advocate. (Laughter.) It was strange that lie should be the only man in tho Council'who was within the a»O3 defined by the Bill. (Laughter.) The other members ol' the Council were unaifected by the statute.

llie Hon. Mr. Paul: Is that any reason why 1 should not take exception to

An honourable, member made an interjection which led the Hon'. Sir. Paul to wariniy retort: "I'm prepared tomako as great a sacrifice as you for my country. I won t take insults from' you or anyono else."

Sir I'rancis Bell,, continuing, said he disagreed :froin the view that the. Bill should have been introduced last year. Tho.se who said this in most cases followed up by saying that they hoped it would : nover. be necessary to bring it into operation. Up to now'we had tilled our reinforcements, and only now were wo afraid, of falling sho.rt. He therefore' felt that now, and not earlier, was the proper time to introduce this 1 measure. During the debate lie had felt prouder than ever before of being a member, on account of the fairness and ability of the debate. He had listened with, real and sincere pleasure to tho speech of his honourable friend, Mr. Barr, whose eloquence came from the strength of the convictions ho held. (Hear, hear.). His honourable friend, Sir William HallJones, had seemed to rather avoid the question .when he referred to the enormous strength of Britain's Navy and her Allies. The inference was that New Zealand was doing too. much, but no measure af bur help could be made.. The measure was not what wo. ought to Gend, but what we could send. (Hear, hear.) That was the measure of what the country wanted to do—its utmost. He would not be a member of a Government which looked at the question otherwise than from the point of view of doing what it could do, not what it ought to do. The second reading was agreed to on tho voices at 5.15 p.m. A single "No" came from the Hon. J. T. Paul, but it dicl not challenge a division, EXPIRING LAWS CONTINUANCE BILL. The Expiring Laws Continuance Bill was received from the House of Representatives, and read, a first time The Council rose at 5.17.

THE HOUSE

The Houso of Representatives wot at 2.3D- p.m. Mr. W. J. DICKIE (Selwyn) gave notice to ask the Minister, of Education what steps, if any, ho proposes to take to ensure that better educational efficiency and better value for money expended was obtained from the expenditure on free places in high schools. Mr. A. S. MALCOLM (Clutha) gave notice to ask the Prime; Minister whether the Government would take power under the War Regulations Act to limit further the number of racing days dur-i ing the period of the war. J Leave of absence for three days was! granted to Mr. Tan Keniire, and two days to Mr. J. Vigor Brown. The Otaua Land Drainage Bill (the Rt. Hon. W. P. Massoy), the Dimcdin District Drainage and Sewerage Act Amendment Bill (Mr. C. E. Stathnin), and the Wairoa Harbour Board Endowment Bill (the Hon. Dr. M'Nnb, for Sir James Carroll) were read a first time. EXPIRING LAWS. The Hon. A. L. IfERDMAN (AttorneyGeneral) moved the second reading of the Expiring Laws Continuance Bill.

He said that the Bill was a formal Bill, but that this year it .contained provision for tho extension of tho period during which certain war measures should remain in force. Generally it provided that these Act 9 should remain in force until tho end of the war. The Hill was put through all stages and passed. LAND FOR SOLDIERS. THE BILL Ii\ T COMMITTEE. The Discharged Soldiers' Settlement Amendment Bill' was committed. There was discussion on those clauses of the Bill providing for the compulsory • acquisition of laud, and for the payment for the laiM in debentures bearing interest at 5 per cent, free of income tax. The Labour members opposed the exemption of debenture interest from income tax. Mr. J. Payne (Grey Lynn) moved to strike out tho provision to that effect. Tho lit. Hon. W. I'\ Massey (Prime Minister) asked the House not to accept the amendment. . The Minister of finance was a business man, and was not likely to make the. change unless it was necessary to do so! The clause, as it stood, had been inserted on the advice.of the Government's financial advisers, and the Government must stand by it. The clause was a'provisional one. If 'the Government could raise the money by other means the debentures would, not be issaod. Tlie discussion proceeded for upwards of two hours.

Tho Prime 'Minister, speaking shortly before half-past five, expressed surprise nt the obstruction that had been offered. Ho pointed out that the Government had had to pay SJ per cent, for some of the loans already raised. ■ The present tendency of interest was an upward one. The Government had been doing its best to keep down the rate, but the present clause was necessary to procvide. for the time' when the pressure 011 the safety-valve must become too great. The debentures would not be issued if the money could be obtained on better terms. The interests of the soldiers would be adequatefy protected. In any ease, their rent 'would not be increased. It being now so near 5.30 p.m., he moved to report progress. 1 : Progress was reported at 5.30 p.m.' In the evening Sir Joseph Ward delivered the Financial Statement. The House rose at 9.17 p.m.