SESSION INCIDENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 440, 23 August 1928, Page 16

SESSION INCIDENTS

WELLINGTON, Wednesday. Private members’ day to-day was commandeered by the Government. Several papers which evoked only mild discussion were presented during the afternoon, and after that the Budget debate was wound up by the Minister of Finance in a speech not marked by any particular flourishes. During the afternoon a number of petitions praying for relief from motor taxation were submitted from various sources, and Mr. D. G. Sullivan (Avn) gave notice of intention to introduce the Workers’ Annual Leave Bill. A long debate followed in the evening when the House went into committee. The v appointment of the general manager of railways was attacked by Mr. H. E. Holland, whose motion to reduce the legislative vote was defeated. There were several lively exchanges during the evening. The Legislative Council met at 2.30, when the Law Practitioners Amendment Bill was introduced and read the first time. The Council adjourned at 2.35 until 2.30 next Wednesday. “Quite Normal” “It is quite normal procedure,” said the Prime Minister, in reply to opposition protests against the commandeering of private members’ day. Mr. J McCombs pointed out that no notice of motion had been given. Mr. Coates: Do you suggest that on the budget or address-in-reply this is not usual? An endeavour would be made, he said, for an extra day to be set apart for private members later on. Whose Invention? Authorship of the slogan, “Less government in business and more business in Government” was claimed by the Prime Minister this afternoon, when he said that each time Mr. G. W. Forbes used it, he paid him, as author, a tremendous compliment. Subsequently Mr. J. McCombs retorted with the assertion that the slogan was coined by the late President Warren G. Harding. Mr. H. Atmore: Oh, it’s only another case of two great minds thinking alike. . . & * “Outski” An argument about the length of the session and the possible date of the election grew from the questions of Parliamentary methods, introduced by Mr. H. E. Holland. Said Mr. Forbes: If we wait for the Prime Minister to make up his mind, Lord knows how long the session will last. Said Mr. McCombs: Is the Government waiting till the country has turned the corner? If it had gone to the country six months ago it would have been “outski,” and the Government is not quite sure that it won’t be that now. * Local Summer Time If Mr. T. K. Sidey’s Local Summer Time Bill is given full opportunity by the Government, it is likely to be passed. Numbers of the strongest opponents to the national measure signified that their opposition was only from the rural point of view, and that they w T ould not carry it into any scheme affecting the town only. Nevertheless some will feel uneasy lest Mr.

Queries and Asides

(THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.)

Sidey’s Bill, while achieving local summer time, results at the same time in national confusion. It is on this basis that most of the opposition is raised, and it is on the possible effect upon the railways and other State institutions that the Government’s attitude will be determined. Time Extended For the first time since he has been a member of the House, a good-number of years now, the Hon. O. J. Hawken had his time extended when replying to criticism of the Forestry Department on Tuesday. The presentation of the Forestry Report had opened up a number of important questions, and for a time the discussion was so keen that it looked as though the report would be talked out. * A Statesman’s Son Mr. T. E. Y. Seddon made his longest speech of the session in a contribution to .the budget debate on Tuesday evening. A precise, correct sort of speaker, Mr. Seddon lacks the challenging fervour of his famous father. Though one of the senior members of the House —he entered Parliament when a very young man—he speaks but rarely, and then almost solely on local topics. Possibly, holding the name and principles of Liberalism sacred, he is ill at ease among his colleagues of to-day. * * * A Laughing Cavalier Warned that Mrs. Maguire would give him serious opposition at the coming election, Mr. J. A. Lee displayed no alarm. “I will be a laughing cavalier for a lady,” he said, amid general merriment. * An Alarming Report Mr. A. M. Samuel yesterday informed the Minister of Agriculture that an alarming statement had been sent by the Press Association from Palmerston North, to the effect that several head of imported cattle on Somes Island had foot-and-mouth disease. The Hon. O. J. Hawken; There is not the slightest truth n it. There are some imported cattle on Somes Island, but they are perfectly sound and healthy. The regulations were most rigid. No English cattle are being permitted to come in until the disease; is stamped out in England. Labour’s “Majority” A Labour threat to attack Refoim on the recent invitation extended by Mr. Coates to the United Party was made by Mr. W. E. Parry last evening. Mr. Parry was making an election forecast when Mr. Coates, amid much laughter, asked, “How do you think things will work out?” Mr. Parry: We will have more members than we have now. Mr. Forbes: Oh, too modest. Mr. Howard: We expect to have a majority of four. C(Laughter.! Mr. Coates: Does that include the Uniteds? Mr. Parry: No, but you will near more about that in view of the invitation you made the other night.