Mr. Speaker. . .

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 717, 17 July 1929, Page 1

Mr. Speaker. . .

Session Queries and Asides i (THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Although it was denied vehemently that there was any truth in suggestions that the Government was not ready with its legislation and therefore was bringing down papers and provoking discussions on them, the House of Representatives today was very slow in getting on with the Ad-dress-in-Reply debate. Indications are that the futile business of talk will keep on keeping on until the Government is ready to bring down some of its legislation. There was a long discussion on pensions this afternoon, started by the laying on the table of the Pensions Department's annual report. Mr. A. M. Samuel (Thames) made a long speech on the need for removing anomalies in pensions legislation, and further anomalies and the need for liberalisation and reciprocity were the keynotes of other speeches on the subject. Another Government Bill made Its shy appearance this afternoon. The Minister of Labour (the Hon. W. A. Veitch) gave notice to introduce the Rent Restriction Continuance Bill No. 2. The present Act expires on August I. The Bill provides for an extension of 12 months. Mr. W. E. Parry (Auckland CentraD gave notice to introduce the Miners’ Phthisis Bill. Mr. D. McDougall i Mataura) aud Mr. G. C. Black (Motueka) were granted one day and two days respectively leave of absence. Labour's Brevity Another plea was entered by Labour this afternoon for the House to end the Address-in-Reply debate and to get on with the solution of the unemployment problem. Mr. W. E. Parry (Auckland Central) rose during the discussion on pensions, and refrained voluntarily from speaking on a subject which is dear to his heart. He spoke for three minutes, urging the House to get to business. With the Leader of the Labour Party (Mr. 11. E. Holland) speaking for 20 minutes in an effort to get the House to move, and Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West) doing the same thing for five more minutes, so that to the present discussion Labour has contributed only 2S minutes of speech. How changed are the ways .... Underweight Bread Mr. R. Semple (Wellington East) gave notice to ask the Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) what steps he proposed taking to ensure that bread was being sold at the correct weight. He said that .out of six loaves weighed recently one only was of standard weight, the rest being below. Universal Half-Holiday A general Saturday half-holiday is uggested by the Minister of Labour the Hon. W. A. Veitch), who gave [Otice to move that in the opinion of he House provision should be made or the general observance of Saturday as the statutory and weekly halftoliday for shop assistants. Mr. J. S. Fletcher (Grey Lynn > ranted to know if the Minister of tailways (the Hon. W. B. Taverner) tad investigated the position with egard to the railway workshops estinates being exceeded by half a milion. Had he made inquiries of his ifficers, and what had their answer >een? When Mr. J. S. Fletcher (Grey interjected during a speech by Hr. A. M. Samuel (Thames) on penlions, he was urged to be silent with l reference to “political Lilliputians."’ Vlr. Fletcher could not let that go un■hallenged, and later told Mr. Samuel hat he’d rather be a political Lillipr:ian than a Reform political giant who —here Mr. Fletcher hesitated, amid mcouraging Reform cries of “Read it rut” —voted one way and thought mother. He then referred to Mr. Samuel’s having voted against a measure that would have liberalised pensions. Mr. Samuel asked him to be fair and give the facts, and then began !o consult Hansards with a view to reprisals. 14s a Day or No Subsidy If local bodies do not pay unemployed men the rate of 14s a day they will not receive the Government subsidy, according to an answer given to a question in the House of Representatives today by the Prime Minister to Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central). Mr. Fraser asked if Sir Joseph Ward's attention had been drawn to a report that the Waira'i River Board was proposing to pay 12s and 9s a day to relief workers, in spite of the fact that it was receiving a Government subsidy. Sir Joseph Ward said that he would communicate with the board and ascertain the position. If those wages were being paid the subsidy would not continue. (Hear, hear.) A similar question was asked by Mr. J. W. Munro (Dunedin North), about workers on Kingston Road, Cen tral Otago, and Mr. E. A. Ransom Minister of Public Works, replied that he would investigate.