Huntly Parliament.

Huntly Press and District Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 42, 30 May 1913, Page 2

Huntly Parliament.

The first session of th? Huntly Parliamentary Debating Society was opene 1 most successfully on Monday evening in the District School, and if the first meeting is an augury of the fu.ure, its career should prove both useful and entertaining. When tho speaker took the chair at 7.30 there was an attendance of some fifty members presorP, the absence of the Premier (Mr G. Andrews) being accounted for by an important engagement. At the desire of the House, Mr J. P. Bailey gave a brief description of the procedure followed by Parliament, with many valuable suggestions as to the conduct of the sittings. In accordance with his advice an executive, whose chief duty would be the preparation of the agenda, was elected as follows ; Messrs G. Andrews, J. E liot, J. Robertson, W. Kay and A. Fraser, with the speaker (Mr Matthews) and the e'erk (Mr J. Carmody), as members ex officio. The Rev. Father Cahill was unanimously elected Deputy Speaker. The preliminaries finishe h's Excellency, the Govern >r, wh > was represented by Mr J. P. Bailey, read his speech in which the policy of his Ministers was outlined. From it the legislation of tho session, which will be on democratic lines, will include amendments to the Conciliation and Arbitration Act, the Education Act, the Licensing Act, and the Police Force Act ; a hill for National Insurance on th ' lines of that placed on the British Statute Book hy Mr Lloyd George ; the steady settlement of Crown and Native Lands; tho establishment of agricultural colleges ; free Uuniversity cvluca-ft tion; the improvement of the railway service ; increase i transport facilities for back-V >cks settlers, a progressive r ad; -g and bridging policy ; a:i 1 an off >vt t> make country life as attractive as possible, in order to c >:i luce to the speedier settlement of available land. The address in reply was moved and seconded by Messrs Carmody and Robertson respectively, in neat, if brief, speeches, the debate being continued vigorously by Messrs Kay, Elliot, Jones, Sheeran, McNee, G. A. James, A. G. Fraser, Mirston, Bailey, and Roilo. The duties of the speaker, who held no sinecure office, were performed with tact, his decisions, which were accept© 1 without demur, being given quickly and impartially. Tho criticisms were of a fighting nature, th? interchange of ejaculations being often humorous and to the point, while the hard rubs were accepted with s miling equanimity. The speeches which were impromptu, were vigorous i £ n>t polish? 1, and ju iged by the samples, the House contains material from which excellent results may be anticipated. By permission of the House the member for Aucklan l East Mr E. W. Sheeran) introduced a Bi 11 the short title of which is ‘ the Licensing Act Amendment Act, 1913,” which proposes to alter the three - fifths to the bare majority on the licensing ques-. tion. The hill having passed its first reading, the House adjourned until next Monday.