PARLIAMENT

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 142, 24 September 1910, Page 5

PARLIAMENT

LEGISLATIV3 COUNCIL. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. In the Legislative Council this afternoon, on tile motion of the AttorneyGeneral (Dr. Findlay), a resolution of condolence with Sir Maurice O'Rorke on the loss of his wife was passed. IMPREST SUPPLY. Amendments proposed by Governor's message in the Public Debt Extinction Bill and Foreign A-suranCe Companies' Deposits Amendment Bill, agreed to by the House, were adopted, and the Council adjourned pending the receipt of the Imprest Supply Bill from the House. i

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

The House met at 2.30 p.m. The Premier gave notice to refer to She Land Committee, for investigation and report, the allegations made by the member for Stratford (Mr. fUne), on August 10, viz., thnt certain members of Parliament acted as agents and received commissions on tho sale of estates to the Land Purchase Board. The Committee is to have power to call for persons and papers and examine such witnesses as deemed necessary. 'FRISCO MAIL SERVICE. Mr 1 Massey referred to the new 'Frisco mail and the arrangement made with the Union Company, while the Oceanic ipompany were taking steps to reinstate the old service. He contended-it would 'be better to pay £2OOO per voyage for the reinstatement of the old 'Frisco service than pay £I6OO for tlie proposed new service. The contract for this; ought not to have been signed before the matter had been laid before Parliament. He hoped details of the arrangement between the' Government and the Union Company would be laid before the House at an early date. Mr. Taylor (Ohrisbcikurch) attacked the Union Steamship Company, which had become so powerful as to constitute a monopoly. He hoped Cabinet would not lose sight of the promise made a year ago to establish a State service between the two islands, so as to link up the Main Trunk lines of the Dominion. Referring to the 'Frisco mail service, he saw no good reason for abandoning the new arrangement. He fa.vored tlhe Vancouver service as agn/inst the 'Frisco service on the ground that the former would help otir own trade.

OF LASOARS. Referring to ,the employment of Lascare on boats trading with the Dominion, Mr. Taylor' held tihat stejjs should' be taken to force the shipping companies to grant their seamen decent conditions of laibor. If sometlufig •' was not done in the matter, the seamen would take it into their own hands with disastrous results to the Dominion. Mr. Wilford said the law prohibiting Lascar labor in sihips trading to the Doininion would have to be ratified by the Imperial Parliament. The way to attain thir object was to subsidise steamers as Australia was doing. He suggested that Sir J. G. Wlaird should move a resoMion on: the matter in order to test the feeling of the House. THE 'FRISCO SERVICE. Mr. Taylor said he was against the subsidising of the American service, ow-' ing to United States legislation placing restrictions on Dominion trade. Mr. Herdinan .believed the present Suez Canal service met the requirements of thd greater par.t of fhe Dominion, and contended that Wellington ought to be the centre for the distribution of. mails. Mr. Pool favored helping the Dominion company in connection with the mail service rather than an American concern, and entered a plea in favor of Auckland as the direct port of call. Mr. Myers desired that a provision be made four steamers to meet the mail boats when tlhey arrived at Sydney. The Hon. T. MacKenzie said the new service would assist in building up a trade with the Islands and the east coast of America, and from the trade point of view the "Government had taken the right course to secure that service.

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE.

Mr. Hemes asked what steps the Premier had taken in regard to the forthcoming Imperial Conference. He understood that Sir J. G. Ward had not yet received an invitation. He would like to know if the Order Paper of the Conference was submitted beforehand to the cabinets of the various dominions. Up to the present, despatches between the Governor and the Home authorities in connection with the last Conference had not been laid on the table. Just ibefoTe the House rose, Sir J. G. Ward gave notice that he would move on Tuesday to 'have the Standing Orders amended so as to admit of new business 'being taken after 1f2.30 a.rn. The House rose at 5.30 p.m. .

THE DOMINION AND IMPERIAL PROBLEMS.

In the House in the evening Mr. Herries urged Sir Jossph Ward to give the House a. lead in the matter of the Do: minion's attitude towards Imperial problems. He hoped the House would be given the opportunity this session of debating Imperial questions.

THE 'FRISCO MAIL SERVICE. In replying, Sir Joseph Ward, dealing with the 'Frisco mail service, said he had letters from the Oceanic Steamship Company, which, however, were private. The subsidy demanded was £35.000 yearly, and the contract had to be sufficiently long before the company would enter on the service. The Auckland Chamber of Commerce had taken up the position of dictating to the Government in connection with the seivice, but if it thought the Government would alter this it made a huge mistake. Everybody knew the Government had been attempting to secure an All-Red route, and he had laid the papers on the table of the House dealing with the suggested routes. Tenders had been called for by the Canadian Government, and would not be in till November. At this juncture the Government was asked to enter into a provisional agreement with the Oceanic Company. The course suggested was exceedingly stupid. He emphatically declared the Government would not do what the Auckland Chamber of Commerce suggested, although the utmost had been done by that body bv means of the press and communications with members of the House to influence the Government in the desired direction. In regard to the suggestion that steamers should be provided to meet the P. & 0. boats at Sydney, the cost would be too great to warrant'the Government embarking on such a scheme. The proposed new service was entered into for one year, advisedly in view of the prospect of the Vancouver* service being established. The pn> posed new iservice would not be a imnil service. The steamers to be used were obsolete and would take 2? days to

crawl across the Pacific. If a sa4as£ao» tory arrangement could not be made fad a Vancouver service, then the next bMfl service should be secured, but (the prtN posed arrangement with the Union Company was not satisfactory, i LASCAR SEAMEN. '' Turning to the question of Lascar eea« men, Sir Joseph Ward said he recognised the importance of protecting white labofc from the competition of this kind, but he did not believe it possible to get the Home authorities' to approve legisjfe* tion restricting British subjects from going to any part of the Empire. He suggested that the matter be brought - before the Imperial Conference with a ' view to making it compulsory for Bri-tish-owned ships to carry white crews. He advocated the Dominion having a Vancouver service of its own by meant of the Union Company steamers. The Dominion would then be able to control the service absolutely, a position it had never been in before. Refrigerating space could be provided on these stepra* ers, thus assisting trade in frozen meat. In regard to the IMPERIAL COUNCIL mentioned by Mr. Herries, 'he (,the Plre» mier) had his own views', Ibtot these might be opposed to those of other delegates to 'the conference. P&iiiament could not decideH the great variety of questions to be discussed at the Im« periali Conference in a day. Until) the Dominion received an invitation tt would be presuraptious for the House to dis« cuss the question. 1 CHARGE OF WASTING TIME. On the motion that the Imprest Supply Bui be read a second time, Mr. Massey, answering Sir Joseph Ward's chaijg® of wasting time, said it was the constitutional practice to ventilate grievances hefore grafting supply. He had done all he could to expedite business. Business had to discussed fully, and he would be no party to having it rushed through the House. The debate was. carried on by Messrs. Taylor, Allen, and Laurenson. (Left Sitting.)