PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 August 1917, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, Last ..Night. Tlie Council resumed this afternoon. On the motion of Sir the Standing Orders were, altered to' give the Council pov<er certaip 3illß conlining mouey chiua%<;whetlieij 'initiated n the Lower House or by the Council. Hon. J. MacGregor spoka at' eonsider■■bJo length on the second reading of the uries Act Amendment Bill, previously ntroduced by him, which proposes that . verdict iby three-fourths of a, jury will ie sufficient when a complete agreement s not arrived at. The debate was adjourned. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The House met at 2.30. jTQUOR IN NO-LICENSE DISTRICTS. The Minister of Justice laid on the table a return showing the quantity oi ;iquor sent into and charges and convictions for cilices in no-license districts in 1915. Tiiis excited a lengthy discuslion, during which views reflecting or ill phtses of the liquor question were sxpresaed by various speakers. CLASSIFICATION OP PRISONERS. The Minister of Justice laid on th« table the prisons report. Mr. Webb contended there was absolutely no classification of prisoners at Wellington and Lyttelton gaols, first offenders being compelled to herd wit! Ben convicted of murder. The lattei institution was simply an incubator oi irime. Our prison system to a great extent made criminals. The men, being leprived of newspapers, had nothing to converse about except their • own ;rimes, and many men came out worse ;han they went in. Consequently, Conicquently' it was not long before they (rent back "home," as they call it. Ho lid not blame the authorities at Lyttel;on gaol so much as the system, there .'oing no ward in which the sick could be treated. The medical system generilly wanted revising. 'Reformative weatnent did not exist at Wellington aiid jyttelton prisons. He complained that vhen men were released from gaol the police immediately followed them up lud warned aa employer against a man, vith the result that he lost his billet. Mr. Herdman said he did, not believe such a system existed, Mr. Webb declared he was able to wove his statement and would give the Minister instances. He contended that ■he object of the prison system should )e to turn men out better than they Tent in. and for this purpose, he con;ended, there, tnust 'be a complete system )f classification of prisoners, Mr. Hornsby regretted that no better jpportunity was given the House to dis:uss prison reform. He complimented ;he Minister on the many refoi ms effectid in recent years. Crime was, to a ireat extent, a disease, and what wae wanted was improved environment, and :n extreme cases, sterilisation. The debate wu interrupted by th( 5.30 adjournment. The House resumed at 7.30. Air. Alassey stated that- at the reluest of the 'Cost of Living Committee tie had agreed to add Mr. A. Walkei to the members of the committee. BUDGET DEBATE. The debate on the Budget was continued 'by Air. Youiig (uaikato), who said members iiad either to silently agree to the proposals or take a great responsibility in opposing them. He urged that great care be taken not to injure industries by excessive taxation. GENERAL GODLEY DEFENDED. Sir Jas. Allen said Mr. had mad*, nhat he considered was an unjust attack ijii (General Godley, and he thought it lils duty to reply to it. The attack waa made largely on, what Mr. Parr heard at ihe front, and it would have been bettei if he hud gone to General Godiev direct and heard what he had. to say, "and uring complaints to New Zealand, where octu-ral Uodley wsus unable to refute them. Unless the hon. member \va >- fectiy sure of .his ground, such <s a were subversive oi discipline, li might result in great loss of life. Ii referred to tho tact shown by General udley when he arrived in New Zeala . to bring the Military Service Act itc force, and then passed on to describi; the great done by General Godley in organising the force which left. th. nhores to tuke part ill the war overieiis, Any statement that G\m*ral Godl» had exercised his tact with his superior;; was ungenerous. and such allusion.; wen. lot honorable; certainly they were not just, He combated the idea that General Godley owed all the.honors conferred on him to his association '.vith New Zealand. The only honor he received on the recommendation of the New Zealand Government was that of knighthood before he left these shores. All other honora tvere the result of recommendations by bis superior officers as the result of hie work. He denied there had been any favoritism in awarding honors to New Jiealanders, and read a list of 1398 decorations conferred on the New Zealand for.ee, and claimed that New Zealand had every reason to be satisfied with the distribution. Anyone who criticised the number of decorations given could onlj imply that officers Were neglecting then men. Such a charge was groundless, but Mr. Parr's statements were based on the growls of disappointed taen, Australia had received 3766 decorations, which meant proportionately we received 1.7 and Australia 1.2 per cent. General Godley might not be popular, but he was a good soldier, as was proved by the fact faat the New Zealand Division was seLond to none to-day. Unpopularity was not a sign 'that a. mail was not a good soldier. How did Mr. (Parr know thsft General Godley did not possess the respect and regard of the men? He only eaw a few of tie men; he had not spoken to {in. In some respects the charges were oaly of a general nature, and might be substantiated by mure particulars. Fot instance, what evidence had he that General Godtey was not giving New Glanders an opportunity to learn staff work! Be enumerated officers doing staff work, Mid stated that New Zeala ode rs were doing thai class of work in both the particular class of work eould not be floae by everyone, and Gtnetal Godley would he neglecting las duty if he appointed inefficient men to his stall. He, being the commander of an army corps. Ivas tta best judge of who wae moat fitted to do tie work. Mr Parr had deglared that General Godley was not a good soldier, but the stfttewait wtw unsupported tar evidenca. Ete quoted. m

Birdwood, in which ho said titat i to ask General Godtey not to iinwiwwff :;-i| ily expose himself, which would Kvely dispose of ®e dtarge Repeatedly heard that General Was a coward and stock to the Whose opinion was to be taken, Birdwood's or Mr. Parr's 1 He dhdb?lgedS| Mr. Parr to oome out in the •# i '| give the names of his tnfwrmants, tf information was not given in but if given in confidence then thai jfjj ttdence should not l»ve been betrayal l From what he saw of SetieraJ GotDfifJp* tn New Zealand, he came to the <fea4ks| Hon that General Godley the human qualities, ana pertapß Df his unpopularity was due_ to the that he was a strict disciplina*teij, bqi'., v | the splendid work of the New Zealand i Division was the best proof that 1® teased fine soldierly qnaSQoa. , Continuing, Sir Jas. Alton said "tkfjj New Zealand Government liad nevw fttad l'| the proportion of the that had always been done by the W«-v? Office. In view of the information Jtf/Sj feceived from General Godley at tliß/v| front, he could not have done than he did to keep up the ntents to full strength. He could ,n»r|disclose what special purpose it wM ftf which the British Government had H)M| tS| for a new brigade. He had not tajMßjyl any steps to reduce lie quota, a* was done entirely by the War Cwddjfejjj and was entirely dws to improved ditions at the front. He read to account for the whereabouts of men on the 17th August, and expl«»«3 the conditions on which were granted, with a vfevr to rtK»wWfj|s that territorial officeia were not ing undue consideration, and ftofi '.p&m equitable arrangement wm made dfcM low a fair share of cqmfliift«k»fi commissioned officers at the front.,. 9t|| claimed that the system of officers was as fair ae it tn lwpi*j£P|| possible to be. The motiiod of dfpMßfl with the men of the First Division vpffiß were rejected as medically unfit plained, and he concluded by a that the whole mail' body in Egypt JwW|| Palestine would be 'fought back Ml, yWj|j| as transports were ailable, while tkoiwijS in France would b r rought back at HMIjS rate of 250 per mon:H tiH the end of war if transports were available. TsMjjj®|! men would be away from the front Bix months. This would mean thW should have to find au extra 1600 TBgMH but if the reinforcements were kept -I#|§ at the present strength this could 'Mji| (lone without difficulty. If the man pßg9»» ferred it they , would be able to • •pw|B two montlitt of furlough stead of coming back to New After the supper adjournments, fISSj ftliodea (Ellesmere) continued the bate, detailing his personal _ exper&lWfß with General Godley at Gallipoli, t£<u|9 futation of the charges that hie (Qofiwfljj was not a brave man or a good iuVljiß|| Mr. Smith (Pahiatua) suggested land wfis mortgaged, the exumption of £IOOO should I £3OOO in peace time, also that if ! had an income of £6400. half of ■ cams from war bonds, he would pKyJwH I the balance as if he was liable to'jjM||| on the whole £6400. ■ '/.tS ' The House rose at ,•