Mr. Speaker. . .

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 731, 2 August 1929, Page 1

Mr. Speaker. . .

i Session Queries and 1 Asides ! I

(THE SUE'S Farllanntarv ntportsr j WELLINGTON, Thursday. Evidently because they were feeling that some sort ot interest should bo conserved for the Budget in the evening, members of Parliament in the House of Representatives this afternoon conducted debates on private members’ Bills with a certain amount of listlessness. It was not an inspiring afternoon to sit through. Several Bills went through their first readings, and some aroused discussion. Others did not. East evening for the third time in the life of the present Parliament the division bells clanged throughout the House. The occasion was the Compulsory Military Service Bill second reading. The Bill was thrown out. although several United members voted for the Bill. The first two divisions were the saap one on a report presented by the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, and the second was the momentous one which marked a change of Government ]j|i New Zealand for the first time in 16 years. » • » Today Mr. J. LinkJater (Manawatu) gave notice to introduce the Mana-watu-Oroua River Board Amendment Bill. * * » The Police Offences Amendment Bill (Mr. G. C. Black. Motueka), the Education Amendment Bill (Mr. J. S. Fletcher. Grey Lynn), the Auckland City Sinking Funds and Empowering Bill (Mr. M. J. Savage. Auckland West), and the Marriage Amendment Bill (Mr. H. G. R. Mason. Auckland Suburbs) were each read a first time. The Swamp Drainage Amendment Bill (Mr. H. M. Rushworth. Bay of Islands) was ruled out because it contained an appropriation. • * * Timber For Sale The member for Raglan. Mr. W. D. Martin, asked the Minister of Railways, the Hon. W. B. Taverner, if it were a fact that a private company at Hamilton had submitted an offer for the whole stock of timber at the Frankton house factory, and, if so, would the farmers in the district be given an opportunity of securing supplies of timber by tender or public auction or advertisement in the public Press. The Minister replied that no such offer had yet come before him. and should one come, he would take into consideration the point raised. “No Visible Means” Introducing the Police Offences Amendment Bill, Mr. G. C. Black (Motueka) explained that its object was to give the House a chance of reviewing that section of the Police Offences Act, passed in 1926, permitting the arrest without warrant of any person deemed to have no lawful or visible means of support. | “A bookmakers’ Bill.” interjected a member on the Opposition benches. a a * “ Harp That Once” A hush fell over the House and full galleries this evening as once more, after a lapse of over 10 years, Sir Joseph Ward, veteran Leader of the Government, once more brought down the Budget foe New Zealand. One wonders what thoughts ran through the mind of the Prime Minister as once more he disclosed to an expectant House the financial position of the Dominion. Members gave him earnest and respectful attention, and there was not that disposition to sleep nor that rustling of newspapers that usually accompanies a speech in the evening. It was In its way, an historic occasion, not only for Sir Joseph, but for all who were In the House, a a a Echo of German Guns An echo of the fiunfire of the German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisanau was heard In the House of Representatives this afternoon when a petition requesting payment for damage done to property by those German guns was presented. When the cruisers bombarded Papeete, in Tahiti, in November, 1914, they destroyed the storehouses and goods of A. B. Donald, ; Limited, general merchants and tradj ers, with headquarters in Auckland. ! On finalisation of the New Zealand list of claims against Germany, after the war, a sum of £16,375 was passed : as valid in respect of the claim of i Donald, Limited. In the petition the j firm stated that the real loss was | about £50,000. A sum of £3,977 was paid in 1923 and £834 in 1926, the Secretary of the Treasury explaining that only 30 per cent of the assessed value of claims was to be paid. Therefore. out of £16,375 passed as valid, the firm received only £4,811. Seeing that the Government bad received over £1.250,000 in reparations from i Germany, petitioners submitted that, the balance of the claim, amounting to £11,563, should be paid.