PARLIAMENT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 67, 19 November 1913, Page 2

PARLIAMENT.

Tuesday, nov:::.:::kr \r_ .; i • LEGISLATE v c CCUNGiI [Pke Press Association.! Wellington, November 18. The Legislative Council met at 2.30. The Bank of New Zealand, Post and Telegraph, Board of Agriculture, and footwear Regulations Bilr were introduced and read a first time. The Hon. E. H. Bell moved the second reading of the RadwayAuthorisacion Bill, which was carried without debate. As a matter of urgency, the measure was put through all the re-, maining stages. The Local Bodies Loans Bill was considered in committee and progress ..as reported. The Council re-considered the State Advances Bill in committee.—The Hon. J. E. Jenkinson moved to include the Minister of Finance on the Board. — The Hon. F. H. D. Bell opposed this oa the ground that it was likely to encourage the suggestion of political influence used in connection with the business of the B.oard.—The amendment was lost by 20 votes to 4. The Public Works Amendment Bill was considered in committee and passed with minor amendments.

, The Shipping and Seamen Amendment Bill was further considered in committee. Clauses 21, and 22 were

ruck milt and the Bill was reported

The Tramways Bill was taken in ommittee, with amendments made by ue special committee, The Foxton-

'..indon tramway was added to those 'numerated in clause 4.,—0n the moiou of Mr Bell, a series of amendments was added designed to em^I 1 hunicipalities to run trgmways during me period of the strike.—All the Bill ; Kissed through committee except the Vamways Bill; were read a third time .nd, passed. The Council adjourned at 5.6 p.m.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House met at 2.30 p.m

THE PUBLIC SERVICE

Sir Joseph Ward moved to introduce

he Public Service Amendment Bill. Mis,object, he stated, was to provide means of discussing an important arapeh of the Post Oco. Ho desired o place before the House the disabilities under which members of the Pub-ic-Service, presided over by Commis;ioneiis, suffered.. The-greatest drawback, was the fact: That The; officers •ould; not approach members- -of Pnr- ; lament 1 and 1 air l, their,■ 'grievances. Members 1 of the -Post and Telegraph ' ihgjWrtment had been, defied- thfc> ;ighttrysphiijit to tlnVCommissioner’! ;he,considerations! of* their conferences. The Postmaster General and Comm is - loner of Telegraphs was in, the extraordinary position of. being, a mere cipher. He reviewed the conditions which existed prior, to the passing of the Public Service Act, and contrasted them with the state of. affairs obtaining to-day, with a. view to showing; that'the difficulties of’a large .servict' could not at present he, bypught under the notice of‘the political, headp of the Jeparj ment, ■ The rank and.file of the. Service should have the opportunity of placing any grievances'which exist before the Minister.

The Hon. A. L. Herd man thought it was well that Sir Joseph Ward should have brought the matter before the House, so that the true position could bo put before the people. He contended that the Public Service Ac; was one of the most beneficial measures ever passed, despite tiie criticism of tiie Opposition and the Press. He was satisfied from personal conversa-i lions with members of the Service that, tiie new regime, under which merit and ability were recognised, was welcomed generally throughout the Service. The delegates who waited on tiie Commissioners had passed a resolution which admittedly was not based ou fact. The delegates themselves had admitted that they had no facts to submit in support of the resolution, which was that the classification of tne Post and Telegraph Department was not based on the same standard as the classification of other branches of the Service. There was an insult in the resolution, and the delegates had refused to withdraw it when politely asked to do so by the Commissioners. In his opinion the attitude adopted by the Commissioners was perfectly justifiable. It was surprising that the working of. the Act had been so smooth and there was no doubt that the advantages derived were im--1 menso. The resolution passed by tire ! delegates was a distinct reflection on I the Commissioners, and they would have the opportunity of'withdrawing

Mr J. A. Hamm asked whether the delegates should have gone before the Commissioners with bated breath arid bended knee, and he adversely criticised the Commissioners’ actions towards the delegates. The Hon. 1C H, ll|iode,s contended that there was no discontent in the Service, which had been alleged. T)j,o new classification increased the expenditure from £20.0,000 , to £BOO,OOO (sic.). Ho would have turned down the delegates if they had gone to him and reflected on his administration, as they had on the-administration of the Commissioners, whp were prepared to hear the delegates at any time, providing the resolution, was withdrawn. Mi\CJ. Witty said that they knew little more after the .Minister’s statement than they knew before. If the Minister had been, strong when the Act was brought in, he would have put his foot down and said,that he would not allow his department to he brought under the Act. i Mr W. A. Veiteh said that the Commissioners had hepp too thin-skinned

over the matter, and had paid too much attention to their own dignity, and not to officers of the Service. He submitted that a deadlock existed re-garding-the resolution of representatives to the conference. • >'

The Hon. R M. B. Fisher explained what had happened between the deputation and the Commissioners. When the Commissioners asked for proof of the deputation’s assertions, they were not forthcoming. He dwelt on the fact that only 8.4 per cent., ol the Post and Telegraph officers appealed against classification.

THE GOVERNMENT’S PRO-

GRAMME

The House resumed at 7.30 and went into commitee on several Bills. On the Legislature Amendment Bill, Mr Ell asked the Minister to accept an amendment providing for the abolition of the country quota of 28 per cent, for rural districts within five miles of secondary towns. 'i'he Hon. F. M. B. Fisher said that he Could not accept the amendment'. The Hon. A. T r Ngata asked the Minister to state whether the Government were going to take advantage of the Bill to move an amendment re-> pealing the second ballot.

Sir Joseph Ward said that there was a. feeling, rightly or wrongly, that something unusual- was going on in connection with,the Bill, He asked the Prime Minister to make a, statemefit on the .matter.’ He did not think that any- 'Government shpulc,!. live by a trick, ‘ ... I

' The Hon; W. F. Massey said that he would tell the House why they had not taken the Opposition into their confidence. It was because of pb-striiction-by the Opposition. My Milssoy. then proceeded to state what business the. Government proposed to go on with this year. Ho was going to take the Leader of the Opposition at his word and make a test of his strength on the second ballot repeal proposal. The Government did propose to. repeal ho second ballot in the Bill before the House. The Bills proposed to bedealt with this session w.ere :—Legislature Amendment, Education, Stamp Duties, Railway Colts struction, Workers’ Compensation (the present . Bill will have to be re-draft-ed), Native Land Laws, Education Reserves, Distress and Replevin, Temporary Employees, ? Rangiora Drill Shed, Victoria. College, Judicature ("Defamation Bill woiUd l he dropped), Import Parts of the Shops and Offices Bill, Arbitration (Bill/' Customs '(tioohing to do with tariff), Rating, Cast Coast Settlement, Labor, Licensing Bill (if possible), Counties Bill,’Alining ahd;Fruitgrowers (providing £2b,-; 000 fi ypaf for cold Storage), Bill fop Draiiiage of the Northern Lakes and; Wlikbing-np 1 Bill of a’hiihdrod classes.’ Opportunity would 'be 1 giVen to- Mr Hauler of moving the second reading of., tire. Gaming BUI, There may be Others, but that was. all lie could think of. , , Sir J oseph "Ward said that ’’Mr Massey did not realise what he was asking the House to do. He had named oyer 20 Bills, to say nothing of theones in the Council, aagl one of- those was the Naval Bill, and the was pot going to be by Hie provisions of that Bill.

Mr Massey said that,the Bill only provided, for a training ship. If he could not make satisfactory arrangements with the Admiralty a Bill would ho introduced next, year providing for the building of a Bristol cruiser. Mr Massey further stated that the,amend- j went in connection with, the second ballot repeal would be moved that , night if. opportunity offered. Nothing , was provided in its place, hut next ! session the House would lie given an : opportunity of discussing the whole of the electoral laws and a substitute for the second ballot could then he moved.

of the Bill was then proceeded with, though the. discussion savored very much of a stonewall. The House settled down to what looks like a prolonged ""siege on the Legislature Amendments Bill. The i Opposition tactics are those, of the orthodox stonewall, their, speeches being devoted to outlining the various j amendments they propose', to move at a inter stage. They are working in shifts. Both sides declare that it is a fight ho a finish. When the finish will tome it is impossible to estimate, but on present appearances it will not bo for several days. Shortly before one o’clock, Mr Guthrie,, the Government Whip, moved to strike out the word “act” in clause 1. Mr Poland forestalled him by moving a prior amendment to strike out the previous word “this.”

The chairman then confined the discussion to the word proposed to strike

The House is now listening to a lengthy dissertation on the word “This,” and \v;is, left,sitting at 2 a.m.

ALL-NIGHT STONEWALL. AN INVITATION TO “COME OUTSIDE.” Wellington, November 1!). After tho Telegraph Office closed at two o’clock, the stonewall was continued unabated. Part of the tactics to gain time was to bring the Speaker into the chair to rule on the question of relevancy, which under the Standing Orders rests entirely in the discretion of the Chairman of Commitetes. On the last occasion this proceeding was resorted to the Speaker instructed the chairman not to take further notice of such a request, and if any member persisted in questioning his ruling, such member must be committed for contempt. ! Shortly after 2 o’clock, Mr Ngata produced ■ Webster's dictionary and spent some time in an exposition of

the various forms in which the word :, '‘this” could be used. ' The speakers during the night were Messrs Poland, Forbes, Witty, Isitt. Atmore, McDonald, Ngata, Hangilmoa and Sodden, the Ministers taking turns in charge of the Bill. At 4.15 Mr Seddon was cautioned by Mr Mine, acting chairman, against discussing the influence of Latin on the English- language, his remarks being ruled irrelevant. At o o’clock a division was taken on Mr Poland’s amendment, which was lost by 9 to 22. ■ A sharp passage took place between Mr Atmore and Dr. Pomare, in which the latter invited the former to come outside, when the chairman interposed, Sir Joseph Ward moved to report progress, the discussion , proceeding on that question until 6.40, when Mr Massey announced that he had just received the sad intelligence of the death of Mr Laursenson, which occurred at 4 o’clock. He at once moved that the House adjourn till 2.30. • The House rose at 6.40 a.m.