PARLIAMENTARY.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 21 July 1920, Page 3

PARLIAMENTARY.

In the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon, on the proposals of the Government to make an increase I in the. salaries of judges, some mem- j bers led a campaign for better payment j for the judicial bench, but Mr Massey j took the opportunity to say somotking about the load the country was being asked t.o carry for increases in pay of ■ State servants generally —a burden of | two millions a year—and asked mem- | bers to moderate their demands for heavier increases for judges aud other highly-paid' officials. Bills were introduced to provide for increases in the salaries of magistrates, for the continuance oi certain of the War Regulations,-and for the payment , of additional salaries to members of , Parliament, without exemption from I’ income tax. This proposal in the original J Bill as introduced having proved to bo j unpopular with members aud the coun- j try generally. The debate which held, the attention I of the House anil of the galleries was ; that on the Gaming Amendment Bill, j which proposes that the business of the ! bookmaker shall be illegal, and that • the penalties tor breach of the law shall be very severe. Most of the '■ racing men iu the House applauded the iutentiou of the Government to scotch the bookmaker, agreeing with the Minister in his proposition that the bookmakers were responsible for some i of the abuses of the turf to-day, and for a great deal of the worst form of race betting in the community. Mr I McCombs moved an amendment to ask ' the Government lo take a referendum on the abolition of the totalisator and the abolition of the bookmaker, but ; this proposal was negatived by 10 votes