Busy Ministers

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 425, 6 August 1928, Page 8

Busy Ministers

THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT

(THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON. Saturday. PARLIAMENT’S only spectacular effort during the week was the rejection of the lieligious Exercises in Schools Bill, round which fierce public controversy lias centred. Much of the minor Government legislation brought in during the previous fortnight has been advanced a further stage, while presentation of several departmental reports has given members the opportunity of airing their views on subjects of greater or less national importance.

! AS with the Summer Time Bill, the protracted stonewalling which was j a feature of the Bible-in-Schools cam- ! paign last year was not apparent on this occasion, both sponsors and opponents being content, after brief preliminaries, to go for a straight-out verdict on the second reading. In the result, the defeat of the Bill by two votes occasioned no surprise, even to Mr. Holland, who, although a week or two earlier he had ventured jto express confidence in its prosj pects, seemed now, as the hour drew j near, to be resigned to defeat, and to find adequate consolation in contemplation of a reduced majority against ;

his proposal. All his support, save for the solitary vote of Mr. T. K. Sidey, came from the Reform side of the House, an additional convert being Mr. R. P. Hudson (Motueka), while the fact that a group of Ministers cast silent votes in his favour afforded members of the Opposition a satisfactory ground for criticism. A further caustic element was introduced, notably by Mr. J. A. Lee, who showed cheery disregard for the feelings of his clerical constituent, in Labour references to the recent utterances of Canon James, but on the whole the debate was conducted without recourse to personalities. For the rest the week passed with a minimum of party controversy. Production of the Cook Islands report brought praise for the Government's

administration, and for Sir Maui Pomare in particular, from all sides of the House. Labour has been generous with its concessions on several occasions lately, and here its praise was almost open-handed.

Members were so eager to speak to the Health report, which was presented on Friday afternoon, that they “talked it out" with great enthusiasm, so that the arrival of half past five found the Minister bereft of his opportunity to reply, a situation that can hardly have appealed to the Hon. J. A. Young, who is certainly not the least conscientious of Ministers. One and all spoke with enthusiasm of the work of the school dental division, and, if they were as sincere as they sounded, the Government, which was even upbraided by a Reformer, Mr. W. S. Glenn, for its parsimony toward the Health Department, should not lack support for any extension of the dental programme submitted in the coming Budget proposals. The Financial Statement, expected next week, and its subsequent crop of reports and estimates, will furnish plenty of material for discussion in the House. There are also the Bills now going through. The number of these was augmented on Thursday by Sir John Luke’s Music Teachers’ Registration Bill, which, in spite of the apparent levity of the preliminary discussion, appears to have a fair chance of succeeding. Two more Government Bills, the Public Reserves Bill, and the Cinematograph Films Bill, dealing with film quotas, were added on Friday. Busy Minister The Hon. F. J. Rolleston, whose responsibilities have been increased since the departure of the Hon. W. Nosworthy (as indeed those of all the ministers have been, there being now three vacant places in the Cabinet) has been a busy man in the Chamber lately, and on Friday had to have a lot to say upon his Property Law Amendment and Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Bills, while the previous day the burden of repelling Mr. J. A. Lee’s onslaught on the military service system was mainly his. Mr. Rolleston’s cold, impersonal logic is, however, equal to most demands.

During the week Mr. T. M. Wilford returned, and was in his seat, shaking hands with all and sundry, within a few hours of landing. As expected, his return brightened a Parliament that is not rich in his particular type of incisive humour and his legal dissection of the Property Law Amendment Bill, followed by a diverting dissertation on the divorce laws, seemed for listeners almost like manna from the heavens. Mr. Wilford had much to say, so much that it almost sounded like a forensic preliminary to the United Party’s impending conference, at which a leader for the coming fray will be selected.