Session Incidents Queries and Asides

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 404, 12 July 1928, Page 1

Session Incidents Queries and Asides

(THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, To-day. pOUNTER-ATTRACTIONS —not at V Bellamy’s—appeared to have affected the attendance when the House of Representatives opened yesterday afternoon. Several members were a little late, however, and as the day wore on it seemed that there were not, after all, so many absentees. $8? 5K Torpid Debate At intervals the Address-in-Reply debate now tends to become distinctly torpid. The situation can be likened to the position when opposing armies, each strongly entrenched, resolutely decline to yield from their positions. However runs the tide of argument, no speaker is likely to have much success in impressing his convictions upon the gentlemen across the way. He In Round Figures In round figures, New Zealand last year spent £ 500 on unemployment relief. This statement, which made the House gasp incredulously, was made by Mr. A. Harris. “I beg pardon—£soo,ooo,” corrected Mr. Harris, realising that he had erred on the side of moderation, not the usual habit in the House. & Esthetic However stern and rugged their “heman” features, members of Parliament aTe not indifferent to the aesthetic things of life. The spreading button-hole affected by Mr. J. A. Nash is well known, hi season, Mr. Nash usually prefers daphne, a flower for which the Prime Minister also has a weakness Several nmes during a recent debate Mr. Coates twirled a spray of daphne between his fingers.. Possibly, like Yorkwts or Lancastrians with their roses, Reform Is to have daphne for its emblem, with the next election a battle of flowers.

Hr ri? H? learning the Game It will not be rare, this session, to nnd aspiring politicians occupying seats in the galleries. They may be s the same, or detecting flaws m the armour of their prospective opponents. Several instances have occwred already, Mr. A. .1. Stall worthy, f to , stan d in the United interests or the Eden seat, having been the ®test of such visitors. Sweeping the Seas operations of trawlers sweeping ne floor of the sea with power-driven in tk Were refei 'red to by Mr. Allen Bell f House to-day, when the member th Elands, ardent champion of ne Winterless North, asked the Minjer of Marine to say at a later date vS a Utflority he lia d, if any, to presivu :v e use of Power-driven nets oute three-mile limit, notably in toe Hauraki Gulf. T ,. '•* Third-Party Risks Politicians of all parties, in the dark J* to whether the Government’s pror«rt \° introduce compulsory thirdinsurance for motorists means nnrvi Cr * atlon a hig insurance monf,or the State, pricked up their . s w hen the Hon, J. A. Young into tell Mr. A. Harris, who ti-tn Jfiticising the Bill on the assumpTh ° taat a monopoly would be created, jr I . when the Bill appeared he (Mr. Thi S * Wou ld be quite satisfied with it. a PPeared to imply that policies fm-+K any com panv will be acceptable tion purposes of the pending lcgislaBrevity cora r * established a rcRfmi to J brevity in the Address-in-u«T y » debate * Making no attempt to tb< : hour allotted to him, he drViSL all “ e wis hed to say, and then sat He ha( i spoken for only 20 f,' seemed unthinkable. InRolleston a-ired his views *h© general futility of no-con-Cumof amen dments under these cirfc«t.!? anc f 8 - and suggested that such s hould be introduced under the Doro/k! 08 of electoral law, making it Qenn -f for the mover to forfeit his certai ° r * ncur other penalty, if a cast < Perce ntage of votes were not ast in his favour.

Mr r * * * * Coates * ... a Chinese Joss *° retaliation by gibes at the G vf ‘rf S ’ p °hcy-less United Party, Mr. era fA to-day assailed Reformar deserting their leader when I{on<j lr V* legislation was before the th» st session. “They look upon esp Minister,” he said, “as ChinPlLi£J k ? n a joss—if they are disth*» J! it they take it down off iSfreTh 1 an « d stamp on it *” Jt was a could « ng ? ve minutes for those who This treatment Ir * oates undergoing