Parliament.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 120, 14 October 1914, Page 8

Parliament.

COUNCIL. AFTERNOON SESSION. By Telegraph.—rer Press Association. Wellington, Lasit Night. . ... '.-iincil met at 2.30 p.m. Tho report ol the Government Committee fixing the standard l of wine- at 40 per cent, of proof spirit was agreed to. i'iie Keiuounts Encouraging and Education Kcoervesi Bills were read a first time.

t Tho Fisheries amendment Bill, the Taieri Land Drainage Bill, the Rangiteiki Drainage Amendment and ilTUiuraki Plains tills were read a second time. LOCAIi RAILWAYS.

The second! reading of the Local railways Bill was' moved by Hon. H. D. Pell. He outlined the provisions of the measure for establishing boards and safeguarding the interests of the State. The railways would be local oikisi owned' by local bodies, • . . ■

lion. Wigram said tlie Bii was'a great improvement upon the measure of last year.

Hon. 0. S.imuel said it was impossible to ignore the disadvantages of privately own id railways. After all the experience gained dt was a pdbyi that the const/ruction and tunning of the railways should be left in inexperienced 'hands.

Hon. Jones considered the Bill was groping in the dark to accomplish something which might he olbtainddl by a bolter method. Hon. Moore, while believing in Statetwned railways, said he would vote for t.e second reading. Hon. Paul said the system proposed was likelv to be a very oolstly one for the backbloeks settlers. Hon. Morgan said h e hoped the Bill would -I'K.mic law. He pointed out that in hig district the progress of construction had been very slow, and they hail no facilities for making; roads. Bon Carncross 'feaid there should be some guarantee that the lines would pay two or three pur cent upon the cost before the Government permitted a line to be constructed. Hon. H. 1). Bell, in reply, said ho was quite prepared to make an amendment to clause 54, to make it possible for a local board to contract wiblt the Minister of Public Would* to construct a line. The Bill was then rend a, second time and the Council rose at 5.15 p.m. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AFTERNOON" SESSION. The House met at 2.30 p.m. In reply to Mr. G. W. Russell, the Minister for Mines' said he could not possibly find immediate .work for the 500 men rendered id'.e by the suspension of' work in the Htuiitliy, miirao.. The <>mplovmeiit of 500 niengivas no light talsk, involving/ a great deal 'of preliminary expense. He would certainly do his best to help the Huntly mea, although their work might not necessarily be in the Hunlly district.

THE RAILWAY SYSTEM. A Bill dealing with deviation), etc . in connection with railways, was introduced by Governor's Message Mr. Russell said this was evidently tlie Ililey Bill, providing for an expendi- . lure of £3,200,000 on station buildings, deviations, etc., the bulk of which would be spent in the. Auckland district. Sure-' ly this was election year and money was being provided to. buy up Auckland Votes. Was this the piiritiv of tllie party who howled against the expenditure on Dunedin station? The scheme was altogether beyond the finances o( the country'. The "Bill was one that would have startled even Sir Julius Vogel, artd was a travesty of th e profession of a Government which came in to stop borrowing. All that wo should aim at was to keep out railways on the simplest plan consistent with safety, and not to launch upon "wild cat" scheme* of this sort, the product of a Government of boomstera, Munderers a«ll horrowcrs. Hon. Roderick McKtmzio characterised the Bill as one of the most extraordm.ir.. ever .s-.-.bmittod to ilVull.-unont. \ wat ij,,.,- l, :!u t« consider was how far th« works proposed wire necessary. Miiny of t'.em \vrr n luxuries, and wi-iv .•to be executed at the exn iwc of u-nUs in the b-.u-'v countr- . Railways to open up grown, ,li*irieU were more imihwf:i:it. Xot more than oco-sixUi of til's """"' v *'* The whole scheme wis w.ld and rrc.kle.--s, and wn* simply t.ic outcome of paying air. mi,,. :ln [, x . truoTdmnrv salary.

Hon. llen!m»an said that since tha Government had come into office th , v i la ,] made many discoveries, and oiw of them wasthat throngh the misinamugciiipnt of their pre,!,,cossorfc our raiCivav system had been allowed to get will of date and obsolete. The eritiei*,, of tl„. On. position showed that thev still wanted ; to leave, the railway as •they were Against that they had the advi,v of an e.M>r-rt gentJ.invin who ha<i told them what thev had |„ do (o ma th(> raihv . n , s ma condition to fulfil their proper" f lm : . tioi.B to let the farmers get their „•«- "nee. to mil rket ~uMcly. ]t [ v .„ not to be borrowed i„ one "vear. It wis to be spread over five y.ars. ~1 )t w njaui point to b,. remem'bered w;w tint 1 he expenditure was necessary to bri,..(he railways up to date In n'ply to ]l,on. Jlerdm.-wi, arr Yei>], pom;,cd out all through ),«. report Mr "'ley gave the Neatest credit to Iris prdeces,,.r Irr t!, e way i,o hail managed ■'!'" railway. \ rt «,„ M i]lisUr f f iMd uwulted ,„ i:1,,. railway system he eon™, „ 1)S , u , T , at ww n - h'» « as the work done w,t li„ (Sl in . n< ' was not only eredifaWe hn \ ' ." n.arvello„ k . Th 0 policv of ih ™» n ntwa, evidently to feed hli'eite,,, lllls , li lc.gis.al]i,n passed thk kiwork than imported ones. y n * oirk l\ •»ed over when the new arnei-,! „,? P ? - tinted. The nG^-^^

diture on maintenance was. a most serious' matter, and ought to be earefully enquired into. Mr. Mac Donald said Mr. Hiley liad never condemned the work of Mr. Honayne. That was left to the Ministor of • Justice and tiliat was the ( greattwt a&sat the present Government had. They did not hesitate to [inveigh againlst a former civil servant 01 against their [ political opponents. Discussijig the bui'lding of railways, Mr. Mac Donald condemned the small contract ee/atem »nstrtutod by the Minister of Public Works, which he said/ was wasteful aind was not providing work for the unemployed. The Premier said the (Minister for Justice had east no slur on Mr. Pionayne, hag censure being directed Hgaunii their predecessors in office. The whoi.' position of our railways was set out in the first paragraph of -Mr. Hiley 1 .-, !>. port, in which he stated that the re'quiremenlU had outgrown the system, and thy Bill was necessary before the railways could bo> made up-to-date. Ail he asked was that the other side wtm <1 put the position fairly, and show that the money was not going to be expended in oee year. Jt would possibly lie spread over even more than live -lean.-.. He had been told Ww-t U'W was" ek« tioit yciyr, KJ. j, OT< mcm ji erß uuggcsL tliat because it waa election yatr all the public works or expenditure should stop? He could tell them he was not ■ going to stop, notwlthtondimg the war, and they were gwing through a great crisis. Tho Bill would not in:.erfei'c with tflie ordinary construction of railways and roads. Another Bill; asking for a further, loan, would be introduced later on for these purposes, but in the meantime it was necessary to brin«' the working railways uip-.io-da.te". ° (Mr, Witty was denouncing tlte Bill when the House rose for the dinner adjournment.

After supper,' Messrs 'Wilford, Payne Hanan and HI spoke tin opposition '/a tlie moasttr*.

'Sir Joseph Ward, continuing .the debate on the Railway Bill, said the public debt of .t'he Dominion had increased since the. present Government tamo into office 'by fifteen million while the credit balance 'had Jjcen reduced. The indebtedness this year, with the war cxpen" tm-e, would be not less than eight mil.lions. No one knew how much more, let ui face of bheso added responsibilities the Government proposed this wild scheme to borrow over three millions. i?' 9 ",'^ a , P TOBiti on such as. to make all thoughtful men pause. The Government, was electioneering in the maddest: manner In spite of Mr. Hiley',, statement the proposals m l lis ro , )wfc , u . ri> Dasea on <| le assumption that the monev market would be norma*. He was in fav;or of reasonable improvements 10- o pe n "ms but not for the extravagant proposals m the Bill. ° p left Sitting'.