DRAGGING HOURS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 440, 23 August 1928, Page 13

DRAGGING HOURS

“QUORUM SOMETIMES, SOMETIMES NOT” PARLIAMENT’S PROCEDURE (TIIE SUH’S Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Hoary Parliamentary traditions were challenged by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. H. E. Holland, when he moved to-day that the vote of £85,494 for the Legislative Departments should be reduced by £lO, as an indication that the Legislature sehouid in future adopt more businesslike methods of doing its work. The New Zealand Parliament, said Mr. Holland, must surely be the most unbusinesslike of any. Members were long kept in the dark, first about the date of the opening of the session, then about the closing thereof, and finally, about the date of the general elections. There should be a specific date each election year for the holding of the general election, so that members and the House could follow some systematic plan. The date of the opening of the session should be made known three months ahead, and the Government should also be in a position to indicate when the session would close. Mr. Holland suggested that the House should meet daily at 10 a.m-, and close daily at 6 p.m. If the present hour of opening. 2.30 daily, were continued, then the House should rise each day not later than 10.30 p.m. The Prime Minister, the Hon. J. G. Coates, said the* question of Parliament's hours had been cropping up for at least 30 years, but those suggested by Mr. Holland were unquestionably the shortest yet. He made a comparison of methods of the New Zealand Parliament and those of the House of Commons. The latter did not give nearly the same facilities as New Zealand gave for private members’ Bills. The question of altering procedure and routine lay with members themselves. There was a Standing Orders Revision Committee to deal with such questions. The hours could be shortened by introducing the closure system. Mr. G. W. Forbes said both he and the Prime Minister were on the Standing Orders Committee, but he could not recall that it had ever met. The discussion was renewed in the evening, wlien Mr. W. A. Veitch and Mr. G. "W. Forbes and others continued criticism of the existing system. Mr. Veitch pointing out that members really had no active voice in the administration of public departments. Mr. B. Jones said that no inember of the House was deceived by the motion before the House. Had Mr. Holland not moved this motion, which he knew could not possibly succeed, members could have gone home at half-past nine; instead, this futile motion would keep the House sitting until midnight. He suggested to Mr. Holland that they agree to terminate the discussion at once. Mr. Holland: I will move to report progress at once, if you wish. Mr. Jones: Then we would have to resume another time. Mr. Jones said that Mr. Holland’s tactics were all part of the game of party politics. It was part of the campaign to mislead the public into the belief that the Government was rushing business through the House.