LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 3, 29 September 1920, Page 8

LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

MR. WILFORD OR MR. HOLLAND? LABOUR WHIP RAISES A POINT OF ORDER "1 wish to raise the question as to whether the member for Hutt is entitled to be addressed a? the Leader of the Opposition, in view of the fact that he was only elected as party leader at a meetir« of seven members," said Mr. J. M'Comll! (Lyttelton)- in the House of Eepreßcntatives yesterday. Mr. M'Comba is Whip of- the Labour Party. '."The Speaker in the House of Commons has recently ruled," added Mr. M'Combs, "that the largest party sitting in opposition, to the Government i(j entitled to be considered the official Opposition. Furthermore, the official Liberal group in this' House is in such complete ' agreement with the Government on all important questions At' thife stage the Speaker stopped Mr. M'Combs. The member, he said, was not entitled to go into that question on the point of. order. Mr. M'Combs: I was going to.give my reasons for believing that the.Liberals wrongly occupy the Opposition seats. The Speaker: The honourable member tan only state facts. •Dr. Thacker (Christchurch East): He is not • stating facts now. He is stating what is untrue. The Speaker: Order! _ If the 'honour-able-gentleman makes his statement concisely it will save further trouble. - . Mr. M'Combs: My point is that the official Liberal group is not capable of functioning as an Opposition. Its existence on the Opposition benches is therefore irregular and anomalous. Not merely are they few in numbers, but they are in agreement with the Government 'on all important questions. Mr. Wilford: Speaking to the point of order, as the honourable gentleman is a member of a party, that has only half the number of members of the Liberal Party, of which I am the leader, is he entitled to raise this point of order? Th 3 Speaker: Any honourable' member is entitled to raise a point of order, if it is a resonable point. I have been informed that the member for Hutt has been propertly elected Leader of the Opposition. Mr. M'Combs: By seven members. The Speaker: Until I hear to the contrary, I shall take it for granted that he ifc Leader of the Opposition. Mr. M'Combsi I must press the point that my information is correct that he was elected at n meetilng of r«ven mem- ' b'ers. The Speaker: I must ha.ve it in an official way. Mr. AVilford: The statement made by the honourable member is without foundation. The name of the Leader of the Liberal. Party was not drawn out of a hat. (Laughter.) Mr. Parry (Auckland Central): Not hf>re. either. (Renewed laughter.) The Speaker: I must accept my_ information as being correct. Until I hear to the contrary, we will go on as at the present time. The House then proceeded to other business.

BAY OF PLENTY BY-ELECTION THE BALLOT BOXES AND ROLLS. The Leader of .the Opposition (Mr. Wilford) asked in the House of Representatives yesterday what would be the position in the Bay of Plenty electorate on the following day if ballot boxes had not reached all the polling places. He .had been informed that owing to the bad state of the roads the distribution of the ballot boxes, and rolls could not be -completed in time for the polling, which had been fixed foi' Thursday, There were seventy or seventy-eight polling places, and the district was so large that to get right round it would take about six weeks. The ballot boxes had not reached some of the polling places that afternoon. . Mr. Massey replied that he had read statements in the newspapers on the subject. Ho had taken it for granted, in the absence of any official statement, that the difficulty had been overcome. .Mr. Wilford said he had received a communication on the subject that day. The Prime Minister undertook to ask the Electoral Department for information on the subject. MARRIAGE AMENDMENT BILL TO BE CONSIDERED BY COMMITTEE. Notice was given yesterday by the Minister of JiMtkp (the Hon. E! P. Lee) of his intention to move to sot up a Select Committee to consider tho amendments made by the Legislative Council to th.».. Marriage Amondment Bill, with the power to call witnesses and hear evi-j dence. The personnel of the committee l is to be the Right Hon. W. F. Massey, the Hon. G. J. Anderson, Messrs. G. W. Poland, M. J. Savage, T. 2. Sidey, W. D. i Forbes, A. Harris, R. P. Hudson. H. Stewart, R. A. Wright and the movor. WHAT THE SHEEP RETURNS INDICATE I Commenting yesterday upon the sheep Tetarns for the past year, Sir Francis Bell told the Legislative Council that the number of sheep had decreased by almost 2,000,000 in tho twelve months ' between the compilation of these returns and of the previous returns respectively. Hon. G. Jones: Oloser settlement may have something to do with that. Sir Francis Bell observed that the honourable gentleman had anticipated his secend comment. The returns seemed to a'nsiver in large measuro the statements ,of- some people that there remained a .very large number of huge estates in cthis country. The number of persons .pjvning over 20,000 ehdep was 2d; the number owning between 10,000 and 20,000 Itfas IS9; and tho number i "ing between 1r7500 and 10,000 was US. 6000 sheep-owners had up to 1000 sheep each.