THE HIRE CHARGES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 910, 27 October 1910, Page 3

THE HIRE CHARGES.

JUDGES NOT TO ADJUDICATE. Wellington, Oct. 25. In the House of Representatives to-day the Premier, Sir Joseph Ward, read a letter that had been forwarded to the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, setting forth the charges formulated by Mr Hine, Member for Strallord, and asking him to nominate two Judges to investigate and report upon the charges. The Chief Justice, iu his reply, said : “ Assuming the charges to be true, they do not come within the provisions of the Eegislature Act of 1908. None of the charges are charges of corruption, although Charge 3 is one of improper conduct. The Court of Appeal had decided iu 1909 that a Royal Commission to investigate whether a crime has or has not been committed was illegal and that the appointment of such a Commission to investigate an action that was not illegal would be to create a new offence and would be void. If any member has acted in any way derogatory to his membership, Parliament alone should deal with him. On these grounds he (the Chief Justice) hoped the House would withdraw its request for the Judges to investigate the charges.”

The Chief Justice states that his brother Judges approve ot his reply to the Premier’s letter.

THE PREMIER’S MOTIONS

The Premier said he proposed to ask the House to agree to the following motions: — 1. That a message be sent to the Speaker, conveying the information that a charge had been made by the Member for Stratford against the Hon. T. K. Macdonald, M.L-C.. so that the Legislative Council might deal with same. 2. That the Chief Justice, having stated the objections of all the Judges to accepting the proposed Commission to investigate the Hine charges, the order of the House referring same to a Commission of Judges be rescinded, and that the charges, with the exception of the one relating to the Hon. T. K. Macdonald, be referred back to the Committee set up to deal with them. The Premier said the letter of the Chief Justice showed that the course proposed was a proper one for the House to adopt. Both motions were agreed to.

Wellington, Last Night. The Legislative Council met this afternoon and proceeded to consider the Hine charges so far as related to the Hon. T. K. MacDonald, member of that Chamber. The Attorney-General, Hon. Dr Findlay, moved to refer the matter to the Privileges Committee as it was unconstitutional for a member of one branch of the legislature to assail a member of the other branch and he was going to ask the Council to deal with the reflection as an indignity to the Council itself. It was due to the assailed member to say he had expressed an urgent desire to have the charge referred to a select committee. It would, however, be time to refer to the personal aspect when the dignity of the Council was upheld. Several members urged that while it was desirable that the dignity of the Council be upheld no time should be lost in dealiug with the personal aspect. The Attorney-General said the first consideration was dignity of the Council. The Privileges Committee could report to-morrow afternoon, and then a special committee to deal with the personal aspect could b. appointed. The motion was agreed to.