HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 November 1918, Page 8

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

The House met at 11.30, and immediately went into Committee of Supply to consider the Estimates, the debate on the Budget thus lapsing. The whole of the morning sitting was occupied in discussing the vote of £31,21)9 appropriation for the House of Representatives. Members complained bitterly against the acoustics and inconvenience of the new Chamber.

Mr. Anderson moved to reducj the vote by £1 as an indication that the advisory committee of members set up should have Eomo power to enforce the wishes of members against the persistency of Ministers and the Government architect.

AFTERNOON SITTING.

Wellington, Last Night.

The House resumed at 2.30.

On the vote of £214,743 for the Finance Department, Mr. Forbes complained that the department's system of getting information regarding those liable to pay 'income-tax was lamentably weak. He felt sure the country was losing thousands of pounds yearly, because hundreds of people who ought to be paying are not paying the tax. Mr. Young supported this view. Sir Joseph Ward defended the department. Members making this complaint must be sadly misinformed as to the working of the department.

NAVAL DEFENCE.

Discussing (he item of £100,.1."0 for naval defence, Mr. Yeitch said he thought too little vigilance had been shown in the matter of sweeping for mines, and consequent disorganisation had been occasioned to the coastal trade. He said the mines were known to have been laid for eighteen months before any steps were taken to clear them away. Then the department took fright and went from a state of extreme carelessness to one of super-precaution by the issue of unnecessarily harsh sailing restrictions, which were seriously affecting the movement of ships, and consequently the finance of certain harbor boards. Wanganui was a ease in point, and he asked for a modification of the restrictions. Hpn. T. M. Wilford said the honorable member was mistaken when he said that the mines were known of for eighteen months before any steps were taken to remove them. As soon as the Naval Adviser knew of them lie set to work to sweep for them, ami wonderful work had been done. The German vessel which laid the mines was known to have started out with COO mines, :hj of which had been recovered on the New Zealand coast, and the regions in which the mines were laid were now known.

Mr. MeCombs suggested that the Germans who laid the mines should be asked to lift them.

Sir .'o.-'cph Ward said dial was what was being done in the North Sc\ and the Germans had been asked In disclose the particulars of the mines laid on the MewZealand coast. The vote was passed. Answering a question on the vote for the. Post and Telegraph Department ( ■Cl.fi;i. r ).!)4l|, Sir Joseph Ward said a Bill dealing with the post and telegraph classification would probably lte introduced on Tuesday. The Hi!! would deal with the dissatisfaction regarding classification, and members would Had it a very good Bill. He anticipated, after the war was over, that much greater inland mail facilities would be given, by means of air services. This did not menu the main air service to which he had previously referred, but a service for country districts. The vote was passed. Radway Department ( £.'1,214.231 ). Several members discussed the grievances of the railway stall", and rrgod the Minister to go round and have & heart-xo-heart talk with representatives of the railwaymen, and get a true idea of what their jrricvanecs were. Hon. Herries said he proposed to have a conference with the men, and agree, upon an alteration in the schedule of the P and T, and next session he would come down and ask the House to pass the new schedules to the Act by which the present rates of pay wore # fixed. These alterations would affect all branches of the service, lie hoped to improve travelling facilities to the public before Christmas. The vote was passed. Public Buildings, Domains and Roads ( C'2l.22o:.—The vote was passed without discussion.

Native Department ( £7104) —This vote was also passed. The House adjourned at 5.30.

EVENING SITTING.

The House resumed at 7.30. During the discussion on the Justice Department vote ( .Co.J.'j.li)), Mr. Wilford stated that lie had received the result of tin; ballot taken hi the Police i'Vce on tin? subject of forming an association. .Seven hundred men voted to join the Public Service Association, ami only eighty-seven asked for a separate association.

On (he item 11,181 -for the Stamp Department several legal members paid a tribute, to tiie efficient manner in which this intricate anil difficult department was controlled by the present Commissioner.

The Hon. T. M. Wilford said the department was the second largest revenueproducing in the Dominion. He believed it would collect two million during tinpresent year, and he considered the department was undermanned, and the staff, who were experts, were underpaid Every year these officers recovered large sums of money that would have been lost if the officers had not been experts. They had. recovered .tiO.OOO on one estate. The work of this department was extremely intricate, and its multifarious operations were not properly understood or appreciated.

The vote was passed. Mines Department ( €27.370) was passed after a brief discussion. The Department of Internal Affairs (£304,482) was passed after a lengthy and desultory discussion, during which the Minister stated that the Government "had decided to grant a subsidy of £IOO to the Plunket Society for every nurse engaged by the society on their work for the year, or pro rata for a shorter period.

The Minister also stated that an application had been received from England for an extension of Dr. Trilby King's term of engagement on infant life protection work there, and he had no doubt that Cabinet would agree to the extension asked for.

Tourist Department ( £49,500).—Pa5: ed without discussion.

Defence Department (£408.274). Speaking on this vote. Mr. Ngnta paid a high tribute to Sir James Allen, who, he said, was during the past four years' the best abused man in the Dominion. For some of that abuse his department was, no doubt, responsible, and some of it was, no doubt, due to the lion, gentleman himself, but so far as the organisation of the Maori contingents \vas°coiicerned the work could not have been placed in better hands. When the ofiicial history of the war was written he trusted that the share taken, though small, by the Maori race, both in New Zealand and the Islands, would receive •proper recognition. »

Sir James Allen, replying, said there would bo two histories of New Zealand's share in the war written—an official history and a popular history. The latter would consist of three volumes, and be devoted to the campagins in Ciallipoli Palestine and on the west front. In those histories the fine part plaved by the Maori race would not be forgotten". Mr. Forbes made an appeal f<,>- lh" early return of the New Zealand men a. the front, many of whom had been away from their homes since the commencement of the war.

Mr \ pitch supported this view, and asked the Muustor whit he proposed to do m ti.e case ot Private 11. H Thompson, who was imprisoned for brima,,., against an ollieer whoso mode of me had since been censured by the Chief Justice.

Luring the discussion 0 n the venous pliase? of defence administration, several members added tributes to Si r James Allen, whom, they said, had well earned ft visit to Europe, where he could sec the military work as it i., [^ m „ (!o!U , there, and have an 'opportunity oi visiting the battlefields of iFranee. "

Mr. Buddo said that when the histor.of New Zealand's part in the war came to lie written the Minister would be «i----titled to a large place, because, in spite of all criticism levelled against him, ho hod stood firm on the main pointnamely, that at whatever cost, New Zealand must; do her duty.

The Minister, in replying, said iie had the papers of Thompson's case before him, and ho look into account the charge made by Thompson had be.m the suoi''"i 01 a eourt-miirtial, and the senf.o, lC( > of the c ol ,rt had been referred to th-. Judge Advocate-Genera!, who had Hot confirmed the sentence, but it would be subject to his personal attention- He I'oped to have all the men out of the camps by the end of next week. As to the men at the front, he expected that the men would have to remain on diity t.ll pca"e was declared, and he dm not, think the men would want lo return before then. If ships were available, he canceled the men would return at the rate of 10,000 per month. He hoped Mr. Massey. when in England, would endeavor to obtain for the men in Egypt furlough to visit England before returning home. The vote was passed.

The Customs, marine, and harbors, etc. (■<:U7,143), was passed. Talrv Department, (C 31.250).

Mr. declared himself in favor of erect'n;; as many woiT;ers' dwellings as possible. He expected an early reduction in cost of material owing to the reduction of freight, and anythinj he eon Id do in this important means of assist in:r workers members could rely on hi= dniii'2. The vote was nnased.