THE STONEWALL

Hokitika Guardian, 25 October 1929, Page 3

THE STONEWALL

SOME OF THE INCIDENTS. HOUSE SITS ALL NIGHT. WELLINGTON, October 23. The stonewall had commenced early in the afternoon, and it was continued after the dinner adjournment. Mr D. Jones said he would rather go out of the House for the remainder of his public life than see this Bill go through. It was-a Bill that could not he amended satisfactorily. Mr Jones said the sorry part of it all was that the United Tarty had not considered the measure,-and, despite their silence there was anything but unanimity in the minds c'f the Government members

The galleries were crowded during the early party of the, evening. The Labour ■ Party, which was silent, was represented by only, five members. The Minister and the Government'* supporters in the Chamber were absorbed in newspapers, books; correspondence, and other things calculated ,to distract'tbeir attention, the stonewall; by this ■ time having become, oppressively S dull and, tedious."V- ; -a'', ■■■:

Pressmen '• gave rip reporting tlie speeches at.-eight o’clock.. , , The debate dragged on till 9.15 p.m., when the' ouestiop that the committee’«, resolution be agreed to was carried.' It had been debated for nearly three hours.

IN COMMITTEE. ' The House then went into committee and settled’ down to an exhausting night. ‘ Reform carried on the debate vigorously, and by 11.30 p.m. the galleries were almost empty, while the floor of the House had assumed that almost deserted, untidy appearance characteristic of an all-niyht sitting. There were eight interested spectators in the galleries at midnight, when Mr Coates went out for a smoke, and Mr Bodkin was relieving Mr Smith as chairman. Seven of the twenty-five members present were ~ a sleep on the benches, arid the Hansard' reporter, happily not required to record the members’ speeches during the committee stage, wasiTeading a book. The “ Sewing Guild ” had long departed from the women’s galleries, but one lady journalist was ‘still in her reservation, though her pen wits idle. : At 1.20'a.m. Mr Sykes was taking his turn at keeping the debate fin .the short title going, and he resorted to an qld stonewalling trick Of quoting a slab from an 'ancient Hansard to show what Sir Joseph Ward had once said about taxation. Mr Fletcher asked: What did Gladstone say? Mr Sullivan interjected: Is the hon. geptlpman -reading, his •speech ?* »AfiJ all who were not asleep laughed. A gentlenian in evening, clothes in the gallery enjoyed the luxury of leaning his elbows on the rail. The orderly whose duty' it is to prevent such behaviour, was less , vigilant at .1.30 a.m. than during normal hours.

“DON’T WAKE US UP ! ” Mr Nash drew attention to the state of the House, but the chairman said there was a quorum and refused to ring the bells. “ That is good; do not wake us up,” came a sleepy Government voice. “We are enjoying it,” called Mr Barnard, when Mr Nash said the silent Government and Labour members did not like to be kept up date. The chairman ruled references to silent members out of order. Mr Coates lay on his bench and read a book, while his henchmen ploughed the dreary seas of the stonewalling debate. “ Sit down,” commanded M- M Dougall, when Air Nash started, to - rcdei in the Minister of Health. At this stage all semblance of genuine debate had disappeared, and He tired Reformers snatched eagerly ,\t any interjection to gain, a few minutes. Two hours later, when the Reform relief had come on duty, Mr Williams was stonewalling quietly but determinedly, and, unlike some olf those who had preceded him, was filling in his time with reasoned argument. Mr Holland, fast asleep, was the sole Labour survivor. Air Coates slumbered noisily, much to the amusement of Air Al’Dougall. who was enjoying tremendously his first all-night sitting. Mr Lysnar, Reform’s “loud speaker” was very annoyed because everyone seemed to he asleep when he started to speak.

“ASLEEP?” ‘•Look at the Labour leader,” he said Tiie only representative of his party present, and he is asleep. Oh no he isn’t; he is wiggling his toe ! ” (Laughter.) The sleeping members awoke when Mr Lysnar dropped a Bill book with a crash. ‘‘You have left us nothing to fly with, you foatherers,” shouted Mr Lysnar,and now you pick up the corpse ! ” (Laughter.) Mr Waite, at 4 o’clock, raised a laugh by saying if the Prime Minister was "oing to stand or. fall by the original Budget, /he had his feet on a cake of soao and the, whole party was slipping and sliding. Mr M’Dougall rose to a point of order at 4.30 a.m. He said: Mr- Chairman, there is someone over on that side and I think he is dving. I can hear him breathing. (Laughter. 1 Members roused themselves at 5.30 a.m. to rend the morning newspaper, whHi the messengers distributed. The lady journalist went home five

minutes later. Government members took turns throughout the night in acting as chairman, while Mr Smith slept in preparation for a long day in the chair. Mr Kyle was holding the fort for the Reform Party when the committee adjourned for breakfast. Mr Smith, who had resumed the Chair some time previously, announced • H - 7.G0 a.m. that business would resume at 9.30. Mr Coates: Plain slacking, I call it! (T»n"Ehter.j No signs of weakening in the continuous opposition were visible when the House met after breakfast, with a bare quorum present. There were sixteen Government members, including .the Hon. George Forbes, in charge of the Bill, who looked very fresh. They faced a diminished Opposition, mjiny Reform members snatching a little sleep, while five were left to continue debating to unresponsive ears., ELECTRIC SITUATION. '■'The situation became electric at ten olcjock, Mr Forbes interposing with a .protest that he could not understand the aimless hold-up, because the Reform Party, he said emphatically, must understand that the Government intended'to get the Bill on the statute book. He pointedly asked the Leader cif the Opposition to remember that he was equally concerned with others to uphold the prestige of Parliament and .must accept the blame for the delays. What was his object? ,Mr Samuel: Justice to,the farmer. ■ Mr Forbes^,tetortfe'd -'lhat the Leader of the Opposition, haying-made his protest, should advlse his’ followers to get on with the .husihessi

' “ The" Minister sjmply rose to draw ■me,'’ 1 ; Replied Mr;-. Chafes'.O “I accept the responsibility,.’ but., J * don’t thank him? for' his advice. Complaining that -Mr Forbes.. refused;v tor);aecept any .amendments, Mr Coates cjeclared that ' the/ simply riding to orders from .the cross benches. Mr Forbes had treated requests for information with, stony silence; “But the iron is entering his soul. He feels nervous and uncomfortable.” (Government laughter.) V Mr H. E. Holland, Leader of the Labour party: You do admit he has a soul? . Mr Coates: The people on the'cross are dominating him—forcing nim "ibifdo something he would never dreaih.|df doing.” OFFENSIVE. | i,; My ppates in urging the Government reasonable amendments, suggested, idiat if Mr Forbes did not understand i. he should consult the Minister, of Justice, his legal adviser. v | Mr■ Salford: That is merely offensive and rude. Mr Coates: I know he cannot keep his temper. He is tired. When Mr C°ates proceeded to discuss the effect of the mortgage exemption, Mr Forbes remarked wearily: ‘ * We had all that on the second reading,” and the discussion was,continued by Mr Macmillan, who had difficulty in keeping his remarks in line with the chairman’s idea of relevancy. The continuation of the stonewall, lacked incident, but the Reform memseemed likely to pass £he. 24-houy mark!. When tlie luncheon adjournment was taken signs of the increasing, were noted in. 'the ~ (difficulty of, Jibe

speakers in avoiding repetition.: v . . The Chairman of Committees., haying heard hundreds of. tiniesthat Bill imposed ( inequitable,.unjust tajxatjpn,, firmly ruled that further references to this'kind involved tedious, repetition.