HOUSE DEFEATS AMENDMENT TO GAMING POLL BILL

Grey River Argus, 2 October 1948, Page 3

HOUSE DEFEATS AMENDMENT TO GAMING POLL BILL

Longest Sitting of Session

WELLINGTON, Oct. 1. The latest sitting of the House of Representatives during the present session ended at 4.37 this morning, when the six-clause Gaming Poll Bill was passed after a protracted discussion and after several Opposition amendments, .moved in committee. had been defeated.

The Opposition’s sustained attack on the provisions of the Bill was based largely on the objection to any referendum on off-course betting beng held on a day other than Saturday, when it would, according to a number of speakers, disrupt production and oblige school children to be kept home while the schools were used as polling booths. At 1 a.m., after there had been extensive discussion on the desirability of a referendum on a Saturday, the Acting Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. W. Nash, moved the closure, but the Chairman of Committees, Mr C. L. Carr, refused to accept the motion, saying there had been insufficient time for discussion. The clause had then been under discussion for an hour and a-half. CLOSURE APPLIED Twenty-five minutes later, the Minister of Supply, the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer, moved the closure motion again. This time it was accepted by Mr Carr and, when taken to a division, was carried by 34 to 31 votes. The amendment moved by Mr J. R. Marshall (Nat., Mt. Victoria) was then put and defeated by 34 votes to 31. The, sdcceeding clauses were agreed to after discussion, but without a division. The schedeule to the Bill detailing the form of the voting paper to be used was also discussed by Mr W. A. Sheat (Nat., Patea) and other Opposition members. Mr Sheat moved that the members of the Maori race should, if they so desired, be entitled to have their voting papers printed in Maori, but after an /extended discussion this amendment was withdrawn. About 3.30 a.m. Mr G. F. Sim (Nat. Waikato) introduced a new thought on the Bill when he said that if it. was passed, more timber would be reuuired for the building of bettingshops. TOO MUCH LEVITY! Mr Nash, shortly afterwards, rose to a point of .order, that there was too much levity in the discussion. Mr Sheat, speaking to the point of order, said the House had then been sitting continuously for 1 eight hours and any honest working man was entitled to rest after eight hours. Mr J. R. Hanan (Nat., Invercargill). moved as a further amendment that the schedule should define the term “off-course betting.” The closure was then applied again by 34 to 30 votes, and Mr Hanan’s amendment was defeated by the same vote.

A further amendment by Mr T. P. Shand (Nat., Marlborough) was defeated on the voices and the committee stages were completed at 4.17 a.m.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr S. G. Holland, speaking to the third reading of the Bill, said the standing orders provided an opportunity for placing on record what had been discussed in committee and he proposed to take advantage of that opportunity.

Mi- Holland reviewed the amendments the .Opposition had introduced but the third reading was given the Bill without a division and the House rose at 4.37 until 10.30 a.m.