BUSINESS NOTICES PARLIAMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 13, 16 September 1913, Page 2

BUSINESS NOTICES

PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

THE STONEWALL

[Pee Pkess 'Association.] Wellington, September 15. The House in committee on "the Estimates resumed at 2;30. Mr CI. Witty moved the reduction of the vote of £10,073 for the Auckland Mental Hospital by £IOO, as an indication that the accommodation and staff were insufficient for the requirements of the institution.

Mr W. D. MacDonald said that they vere no further ahead now than on Saturday. They had no reports of the Departments under discussion. The reports did not belong to the Minister or the Government, but to the House, [f they were- going to prevent maladministration and corruption it was accessary to have an official report on the actual conditions and needs of the institution. He argued that irrespective of party support, every member of the House should be independjnt enough to demand the officers' rer porta. Mr G. W. Kussell commented on the fact that the senior medical assistant of the Avondale Mental Asylum received only £3OO a year, and compared that officer with the appointmenet recently made by the Government at £6OO a year, the appointee having had neither university education nor decrees to support, him.

Mr P. M. B. Fisher said that mem>ers of the Opposition had extended ;hemselves on the iniquity of paying i professional £3OO a year when they iheinselves put an item on last /ear's estimates for a junior medical Officer at £250. Mr Russell: "I criticised the senior >fficer, not the junior."

Mr -Fisher stated that the officers if the institutions were getting more inder their estimates that under the Mackenzie Government's Estimates. The House resumed in Committee it 7.30.

Argument was adduced on lines iimitar to that of' Saturday and this ifternoon, no new ground being >roken.

Mr T. M. Wilford moved to get the. speaker's ruling on the chairman, mti.-the Speaker not being present vhen the question was put, it was ost on the voices, no one, apparenty, desiring the presence of the Spea<qr; and the debate was conlinuod. At'll.3o the procedure was similar ;o; Vrhich has prevailed throughnit the. extended proceedings. All sorts of'peculiar arguments- have been idyoCa'ted in support of the contention ihkt. tihej ' should, be supplied vith departmental reports before gong on with the Estimates. . In the neantime the Government site silent. Wellington, 1 a.m.

The stonewall is still proceeding .vith unabated vigor on the part of the Opposition, being met with undiminished patience on the part of the Government party. .Many of the latter have nought rugs .and pillows, and are ■'keeping house" while they slumber on the benches. The Opposition atback is mainly devoted to a comparison of salaries paid to officers at the Auckland Mental Hospital with those paid- at feimilar institutions in other parts of Dominion. Speakers v ere on digression from the question berepeatedly checked by the Chairman fore Committee, but the flow of talk goes On, occasionally punctuated by points of order and an audible snore. The House was left sitting at 2 a.m.

Says yesterday's Wellington Times : —Tho deadlock which has occurred in the House over the Estimates promises to give rise to a record long sitting. The liberals have absolutely refused to pass a single item of the Internal Affairs vote until the annual reports of tho Mental Hospitals, Tourist and Health Department, and Cools Islands have been produced. On Monday the blockade will continue. Oppositionists stated on Saturday night that they .were prepared to go on for hours, days, and even weeks, unless and until the Government produced these reports. The prospects are that an all-night sitting on Monday is assured. Members pointed out on Monday that, according to procedure, it is .still Friday on Monday as far as the House is concerned, and it will be Friday until progress has been reported on the Estimates and the Speaker takes the chair. Therefore, the House must sit continuously until one side gives way or a compromise is agreed to. Both sides are at present showing such determination that there is no saying how long the deadlockwill continue.

Massey said that the Opposition had lad three copies since Saturday. Mr MacDonald contended that MiRhodes told the House the report was confidential and could not be commented upon.

Mr Rhode* denied that he made any such stipulation. What he said was that the report was a corrected copy. Messrs Xgata and Poland argued that the report was only a rough printer's proof, full of errors and wholly unreliable. Ample time had alapsed in which a corrected copy jould be supplied. It was not treating Parliament with respect to supply public documents in the'form of a rough proof. Mr Witty said he had seen the report for a few minutes and was satisfied that it contained matter that would not appear in the finished copy. The Minister explained that he had removed an objectionable paragraph. Mr Witty, continuing, said "they should report progress so that they could get the report in complete ami approved form. Mr Massey sai dthe attitude of the Government that all necessary information would be supplied at the earliest possible moment. The motion was debated until 6 o'clock, when a division was taken, the voting being: Ayes, 13, noes 28. The item was then passed. A fresh contingent of Oppositionists now arrived and continued the debate. Mr Xgata moved an amendment that the "salary of the resident medical superintendent (£600) at Tokanui, be reduced by £o. The motion was debated shortly. and on a division was lost by 11 to 128. Mr Buddo moved to reduce the salary or the farm manager at Tokanui by" £1 as an indication that the salary was too low.

A division was taken at 7.45 a.m.— Ayes 13, Noes 27. Mr Parata moved a reduction of £1 in the salary of the engineer at Tokanui as an indication that a better salary be paid. The moiton was being debated when the breakfast adjournment was taken. Wellington, 11.55 a.m.

After breakfast the debate showed no signs of Magging, a fresh lot of Liberals taking up the running. At eleven o'clock the Chairman put the question, and the amendment to reduce the salary of the engineer at tokaanui'Was lost by 30 to 13,