ABOLISH THE COUNCIL

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 66, 10 December 1921, Page 8

ABOLISH THE COUNCIL

LABOUR AMENDMENT DEFEATED THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION When tho consideration of the revised Estimates was begun in the House of Representatives yesterday, the Leader of tho Labour of tho Party (Mr. H. E. Holland) moved that the vote for the Legislative Council should be reduced by £1 as an indication that the Council was not required, that .the House disapproved of the action of the Government in making appointments to the Council. Mr. Holland said that the Legislative Council ought to be abolished. lie wished to discuss the suggestion, but was stopped by the Chairman (Mr. Malcolm) on the ground that proposals involving legislation could not be discussed on the Estimates. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. T. M. Wilford) said he had always voted for the abolition of the Legislative Council, and ho would support the amendment. Mr C. E. Statham (Dunedin Central) said he did not wish to abolish the Council altogether, but believed that the Council should not be continued in its present form. The Prime Minister remarked that the Legislative Council was part of t.:a Constitution of New Zealand. The Constitution was embodied, in an Imperial statute. The House would pass an Act and ask the Imperial authorities to approve of kt. But it would be just as easy to abolish the House of Representatives as to abolish the Legislative Council'. Mr. G. Forbes (Hurunui) supported theamendment. He had always advocated the abolition of the Upper House. The cost of government at present was far too high, and a reduction ought to be effected. Mr. L. M. Isitt (Christchurch North) said that many people thought the size of tho House of Representatives ought to be reduced. The amendment vras not logical and he would : not vote for it. . "Under our present lame duok system of running Parliament we must have a revising chamber of some kind,” said Mr. W. A. Veitch (Wanganui). If the House of Representatives was better regulated, the Legislative Council would! not be needed. The Chairman reminded members that they would vote on the reduction. Ho could not take any notice of the reasons given for the. reduction. Mr. R. McCallum (Wairau) suggested the amendment should be withdrawn. It was "simple humbug”—a mere attempt to divide Opposition members. Several other members tried to discuss the abolition or reform of the Legislative Council and were checked -by, the Chairman. A division resulted in the rejection of the amendment by 39 votes to 20. The division list was as follows:— For the Amendment (20). Bartram Masters Cnaigie Mitchell Dickson, J. M. Parry Forbes Poland Fraser Savage Hanan Sidey Holland Statham jj orn Thacker Howard Veitch McCombs Wilford Against the Amendment (39). Anderson McLeod Bitchener McNicol Bollard Mackenzie 1 Burnett Mander Coates Massey Dickson. J. S. Nash Dixon, E. Newman, A. K. Field Nosworthy ! Guthrie Pomare Hamilton, A. Potter Hamilton, J. R. Reed Harris Rhodes, Sir Heaton Hockly Rhqdes, T. W. Hudson Stewart Hunter Sykes Isitt Williams Jones Witty Lee Wright Luke Young McCallum “ AS PARTIES GO NOW ” THE COMFORT OF MEMBERS. ■ “The Labour Party is quite a reasonable size—ah parties go in this House nowadays,” observed one of the Labour members (Mr. P. Fraser) yesterday afternoon. He was discussing the accommodation provided for the party. Both he and Mr. Holland told the House that this accommodation consisted of one small, stuffy room—a very inconvenient room indeed. Several Liberals observed that there was no place in which private members could have interviews with their constituents. Mr. H. Poland (Ohinemuri) went so far as to assert that in the new building members were worse off than they had keen in the old one. "The atmosphere in this Chamber is absolutely killing.” said Mr. C. E. Statham, who was for knocking a hole in the. roof to let in fresh air on hot summer days. NEW ZEALAND~AND THE STATES CULTIVATING CLOSER RELATIONS. "Promotion of sale of Now Zealand manufactures in outside markets, £50.” This item in the Estimates, said the Leader of the Opposition last night, would be laughable if it were not pathetic. He believed that New Zealand needed more advertisement abroad. This country should cultivate good relations with America. To do that, it needed a first-class representative in the States. It would be expensive, but every other country than New Zealand had a representative there already. "There are hundreds who want to know about New Zealand,” said Mr. Wilford, "and there is nobody to toll them.” "It is not quite so bad as all that,” replied the Prime Minister, who informed the House that an Oregon man, a Mr. John Hall, was doing a tremendous work in the interests of this country. Mr. Hall had> lived in New Zealand for many years, and he took a delight in telling Americana about this country. That was one man; there were many others like him. It was almost impossible at present to do business with America. For one thing, there was tho exchange difficulty, and for another, the tariff. It was a pity that such a huge prospective market for New Zealand produce should not be open. He hoped that a change would eventually bo made in the tariff of the States. Tho Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. E. P. Lee) agreed with Mr. Wilford that it would be a good thing lor New Zealand to have a representative in the States. The question of sending one was under consideration at present. He did not think the salary could be less than £2OOO, and there would be the cost of an office and administration in addition. For all that, it might lx? worth while. AMATEUR WIRELESS OPERATORS Was it necessary now that amateur wireless operators in New Zealand should bo prohibited from sending messages? inquired tho Leader of tho Opposition yesterday afternoon. The member argued that the mere receiving of messages did not give an amateur proper practice in wireless work. The Postmaster-General said that the question of permitting the sending of messages was under consideration. The Department had had some bitter experiences of what occurred when careless persons sent out wireless messages.