PARLIAMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 57, 12 July 1913, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

FRIDAY, JDfcY 11

HOUSE OF KEPRESENTATIVES

THE AMOKURA ENQUIRY. Wellington, July 11

The House met at 2.30:

The Otago Harbor Board Empowering Bill (Mr Millar) was read a first time. •

Mr Fisher laid on the table the report of the enquiry into the administration the affairs of the Amokura. The enquiry was the outcome of a letter published by the Rev. Mr Harp. The report says that the statements made regarding flogging were, to some extent, justified. Some of the boys had' been flogged. In one ease some bleeding had"resulted. The trouble on the ship was the outcome of a quarrel between the first officer (Mr Bar usual et and the second officer (Mr Campbell), Which culminated in Mr Campbell being put ashore at Raglan, where he came into contact with Mr Harp. Since the enquiry, consequent on a slacking off of corporal punishment, the standjard of discipline had decreased considerably. The system on board the ship had been in operation since 1907. While the ship was not a reformatory institution, the hoys were in most cases [those difficult to control. At the present time the conditions on board the ship were not as satisfactory on account of the slacking off of corporal punishment. Mr Fisher read a letter from Captain Hooper, protesting that if" he administered punishment necessary in his own cabin the moral 'effect upon the rest of the ship's company would not be of such "valuedas':if ( He administered it in their preserice; ~. ' Mi" J- A. Young explained the matter of the original allegations and the subsequent enquiry. He stated that Mr Campbell had" misled Mr Harp, and subsequently let him down. What Mr Campbell wanted was a public enquiry. Mr Fisher: I offered Campbell an enquiry, but he doesn't want it. Mj Young, continuing, said that he believed there was room for improvement in the accommodation on the ship. He commended the suggestion bo the Government that the matter should be investigated.' EIPA ISLAND RECALCITRANTS.

The Hon. Jas. Allen made a statement regarding the boys on Ripa Island. There were thirteen boys on the island, some from Canterbury and some from the West Coast". He read reports from Lieut; McDonald, officer in charge of the island, and Dr. Newall. single.charge made against the treatment at Ripa Island was groundless. He thought boys were being misled. • ■ ■; <>

"Mr G. VV. Russell said that he failed to see bow boys who refused to drill should be put on 'the island and asked to uiean guns. The'.Public Work . Department should : be communicated with to ie& if they. could not find work for recalcitrants, n '■ '

Mr Isi.tt said that he had Sympathy with ft citizens' army;- hut he idoubted if'the system: established-Was the' wisest. The first great'blunder Was the \ eVnpfc' ; to' | differentiate between re- ! ligioui;' and conscientious 'Objectors;' i'lie sbc'und blunder was"the nature oDthe penalties imposed. A further mistake was the number of boys neither asked to driH nor summoned fdr not doing so. He suggested that'a committee of the House should enquire into the grievances, real or alleged. The Minister said that he int&uded to set .up such a committee. Mr, A. :; Mii Myers said that!i there' was ftb 1 justification in of ! the' objectoi* at'Eipa- Island, h The Minister ..could rely on the assistances of "the House m 'carrying Hout the i; principles of-the Act. '.i do '*?•'* ■Mr G.. J. | Anderson blamed the s junior officers for taetle&s.administration of the Act.

Mr A. S. Malcolm suggested that in lien of military service the''Objectors' should be put through a course of ambulance work. ■/ "• ■'■»'' ■ ' The Hon. Jas. Allen said that they j objected to that. Re aU*o said that Ihe had received a letter from the Christ church objectors repudiating all kinds of alternative sorvice. He thanked the House for its sympathetic assistance in the administration of; the Act. AUTOMATIC TELEPHONES.

The Hon. R. H. Rhodes announced that a tender had been accepted for £89,555 for the installation of automatic telephones in Auckland, Wellington, Blenheim, Oamaru, Hamilton and Masterton. The expenditure would be spread over four years.

THE ADDRESS-IN-REPLY SPEECH BY MR OKEY.

Wellington, Last Night. Mi" H. J. H. Gkey, continuing the debato on the Address-in-Reply, urged the Government to hold on to their interest in the Bank of New Zealand. |He advocated a construction of light lines by private enterprise, if the Government could not do so. The oldage pension scheme should be made universal, and should give some encouragement to thrift. He Was not satisfied with th. 9 barren Veterans' Pensions Act.

Mr Geo. Forbes claimed that no la/id settlement had gone on in his district since the Government came inty office. Ministers were known to ue hostile to the progress of the popular public Departments of Stat.:. The Fire Insurance Department had beec tampered in it*> operations' in the uiterests of private institutions. Xu opportunity hud been given to discuss the Public Trust Commission report, which was ex parte. The Commission recommended that the legal operations of the oifu:e should be curtailed, so depriving the people of choap law. He also criticised the appointments to the public service on the North Canterbury Land Board. The Prime Minister' promised to refer the latter question to the Lands Committee for investigation. Mr T. Parata, speaking on the native land filiation, said that all that remained to the 50,000 Maoris was 1,500,000 icres, moat of which was waste and could not be worked. There was a great cry from the Government about settling Maori lands. It must refer to these mountain tops, and therefore it was only a bogey to keep the eyes of the public off the big estates. __Dealing with the native landfill Tara'naki, he said that the law and the leases wefy rll in favor of the" pakelia. In some cases the Maori lands wore leased by the Public Tru?fee to Europeans at 8s per acre, ?tnd when the natives wanted to get the use of theiy own lands they had to Pay ihese lessees 10s and 12sper acre. The pakehas who leased this lanrl now wanted the freehold. The Maori wanted it too, and why should he not have his own? Was' it a sauare deal n6t to be as fair to the Maori as to the European? If the House

passed any such legislation it would oe a traversty of the Treaty of Waitangi.

QUESTIONS

Mr T. H. Davey, member for Christchurch, East, has given notice to ask the Postmaster-General whether he ha? considered the advisability of establishing in the Post Office Sayings Bank a system whereby depositors could operate on their own accounts, whether Interest-bearing Or not, by issuing cheques such as are used by other banks.

Mr G. V. Pearce (Patea) has given notice to ask the Government whether ithey will introduce a clause in the Counties Act to allow county councils to establish a special accident insurance fund, as it had been found that in practice counties paid more than double the amount of claims made against them. Mr D. H. Guthrie is to ask the Minister for Lands whether he will consider the advisability of handing over to the county councils or other governing bodies the custody and control of all reserves within their boundaries not already vested in any governing board, to be administered for the use and-benefit of the local residents? There are at present numbers of these reserves, he says, that are being damaged from want of proper local control or are lying waste.