Mr. Speaker...

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 754, 29 August 1929, Page 1

Mr. Speaker...

Session Queries and Asides

(THE SUNS Parliamentary Reporter) PARLIAMENT BLDGS., Wed. Four weeks and 5S speakers marks the progress of the Budget debate. Today was uneventful In the House of Representatives, several members taking the opportunity to air their views on taxation and kindred subjects. The reports on a number of petitions were presented and the findings in two instances were contested, resulting in both petitions being referred back for further consideration. In the Legislative Council today the Hon. T. K. Sidey gave notice of his intention to introduce the Summer Time Bill, also a Bill providing for the establishment of a fidelity guarantee fund for solicitors. ... Mr. A. J. Murdoch (Marsden) has been appointed chairman of tha Public Accounts and Finance Committee of the House. « . * Ex-Magistrate’s Plea No recommendation was made regarding the petition of P. L. Hollings, of the Bay of Islands, who sought reinstatement as a stipendiary magistrate. The committee added that it was satisfied there were no aspersions on the character of the petitioner, bat the matter of reappointment must rest with the Government. More Bias! “I want to say something about the Minister of Education, the Hon. H. Atmore, and his agricultural bias,” said Mr. H. G. Dickie in the House this evening. “I wonder the Minister does not get a gramophone record made, because he talked agricultural bias six times a day when he was in my electorate. My opinion Is that you cannot give people a bias toward the land. The more you educate people the less they want to go with singlets and dungarees on to the land. I think I am talking nothing but common sense when I say that, and the less we hear about the Minister’e agricultural bias toward the land the better.” Mr. W. D. Lysnar: The taxation will correct that. • • • Stockings and Shorthorns “There is only one farmer in the Cabinet,” said Mr. H. G. Dickie today. “We know the Minister of Marine, the Hon. J. G. Cobbe, was annoyed when that was pointed out recently, but I submit the Minister knows more about silk stockings than he does about Shorthorn cattle.” Mr. W. J. Poison: Very unbecoming for a bachelor. • * • Criminal Delinquents The treatment of criminal delinquents in New Zealand was referred to by the Hon. T. M. Wilford, Minister of Justice, in the House today. Mr. Wilford said the methods adopted In New Zealand for dealing with offenders were considered to be sound and practical, and compared favourably with the methods used for the suppression of crime elsewhere. Of the total number of convictions during .1928 in the police courts in 89 per cent, of the cases alternative methods to imprisonment had been adopted. The records showed that during the past 16 years 79 per cent, of the total persons who had undergone sentences of reformative detention had not been convicted subsequent to their release. Dr. Burt, a well-known London expert, had quoted 62 per cent, of successes where sociological and psychological examination of delinquents had been made. In this respect it should be noted that successes under the New Zealand Borstal system totalled approximately 90 per cent. Happy to Pay An alternative to the increase ic. the primage duty was suggested byMr. H. G. Dickie (Patea) when speaking in the Budget debate in the House this evening. Mr. Dickie said he would not mind if the duty on spirits was considerably increased for the purpose of raising the revenue said to be necessary. “I do not see why we should not pay a shilling a nip for our whisky,” added Mr. Dickie “It would bring in a lot of money." • * « Imprest Supply Bill Replying to the Leader of the Opposition, Sir Joseph Ward said that an Imprest Supply Bill would be brought down on Friday. Privy Council Appeals Replying to a question In the House today Sir Joseph Ward said he had seen Press reports that the British Government proposed to allow any Dominion to abolish the present right of appeal to the Privy Council. The New Zealand Government had no intention of altering the present position. He had received no official communication on the subject.