PARLIAMENT.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8484, 11 July 1907, Page 5

PARLIAMENT.

(Abridged from Press Association Report.) LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. WELLINGTON, July 10. The Council met at 2.30 o'clock. The debate on the Address-in-Reply was resumed by Hon. J. Rigg (Wellington). After expressing approval of the appointment of Dr. Findlay as Attorney-General, he proceeded to discuss the proceedings of the Imperial Conference. He was one of those, he said, who did not think the bonds of the Empire could be strengthened by shop-keeping methods. Sentiment would be more likely to bring about that result. The Maritime Conference had done good, and achieved results better than he expected. Regarding the proposal to alter the designation of the colony, the term "dominion" did not, to his mind, express either dignity or importance. Dealing with the recent labour troubles and the Arbitration Act, he said he was satisfied that the Act was a good one, but the defect lay in the administration of it. Things were better when the judges of the Supreme Court administered it than since several judges had been appointed for the purpose of administration. Concluding with reference to the prosperity of the colony he said that no Governor's Speech would be satisfactory that did not deal with the great social problems. Hon. C. M. Luke (Wellington) moved the adjournment of the debate. The Council rose at 4.45 o'clock. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. The House met at 2.30 o'clock. NEW BILLS. The St. Andrew's Church (Wellington) Trustees Empowering Bill and the Agricultural Labourers Accommodation Bill were read a first time. QUESTIONS. In reply to questions Ministers stated that it was the intention of the Government to proceed with the amendment to the Friendly Societies' Act this session, and where practicable to include the amendments suggested by the conference held at Wellington last year; that it was intended to legislate with a view to restricting the immigration of Chinese to New Zealand; that the resolution from workers urging that the duty should be removed from imported wheat and flour was receivng careful consideration; that it was not contemplated to introduce a Fair Rent Bill this session; that in the Arbitration Bill to be introduced the recovery of penalties or fines impDsed by the Arbitration Court will be cons'dered; that every care is being taken to issue awards in connection with the Exhibition strictly in accordance with the judges' decisions. Where objections have bpen made the fullest enquiry will be made. In only two instances has it been thought necessary to cancel the awaivls; the applications for the extension of telephone co nmunication in sparsely populated di: iricts will be dealt with on their merits.-At present reductions could not bo authorised; that the importance of vleeprsea fisheries has been taken into consideration, and the Marine Department has done what it could to encourage them. The Government had chartered the Nora Niven (trawler), and hoped .that it would result in locating valuable fishing beds; that the question of altering the Government Railways Superannuation Fund Act so as to allow of broken service being computed for the purpose of retiring allowances had received full consideration at the hands of the Government on many occasions.' The request could not be granted; that the suggested abolition or reduction of the sheep tax would be considered before the proposed amendment to the Stock Act was printed; that the Government was not prepared during the present session to make any change in the existing scale of teachers' salaries. It was hoped to improve the scale, but the precise way this could be done was not a question that could be settled immediately; that the Government did not contemplate introducing an amendment to the Municipal Corporations Act this session: that the question of pay for al i grades of railway men wili be considered when the classification proposals to be submitted to Parliament are under'review; that the progress of motive motor for farming operations is being closely watched. LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ELECTION BILL. On the House resuming at 7.30, Sir W. J. Steward (Waitaki) moved, as he has for many years past, the second reading of the Legislative Council Election Bill. He st«ted that whilst he was convinced that the majority of members of the House were against any proposal to abolish the Upper House, he was equally convinced that the majority of members were strongly of the opinion that there was' a better means of appointing members than at present. Mr A. R. Barclay (Dunedin North) said that he was convinced that the Council was neither necessary nor useful. He intended to vote against the Bill as it did not go far enough. Mr T. M. Wilford (Hutt) said that it was idle to give a second reading to the Bill because if it passed all its readings it would meet the fate of other Bills that had been sent to the Upper Chamber and would be cast out. MrT. Mackenzie (Waikouaiti) said that he would support the Bill for the purpose of indicating that the present system of making appointments was unsatisfactory. Mr F. M. B. Fisher (Wellington Central) welcomed the Bill, and hoped that it wow II receive the sunport of members. Mr H. G. Ell (Christchurch South) was opposed to the existence of a second Chamber, and would support the second reading of the Bill. The Premier expressed his admiration of the persistency of Sir William Steward in bringing forward tl:o

Bill and stated that ths ojections to the Upper Chamber should come from members who were of opinion that the Chamber stood in the way of reform. Since 1891, however, the Upper Chamber had been more Liberal than the House of Representatives, and had assisted in placing social reforms on the Statute Book of the colony. He strongly defended the whole of the recent appointments to the Upper House as they represented the country as a whole. Personally he had never made a promise to place any one in the Upper House. He could not support the member in charge of the Bill. Mr W. F. Massey (Franklin) expressed the opinion that Sir William Steward desired to go a step further in democratising the Upper House by having the members elected by the members of the House of Representatives. He considered that Sir William Steward had every reason to be satisfied with the reception the measure had received from members of the House. Referring to the appointments recently made to the Upper House, he said that they were not men who would have been selected by the people. He considered that men who had been members of the House of Representatives —and there were plenty of such—should be nominated for the Upper Chamber. He referred to Dr. Findlay's defeat as a candidate for a seat in the H-mse. Yet he now held a place in the Executive. The position was intolerable. Mr C. M. Gray (Christchurch North) expressed the opinion that the Council was no better than the House in the matter of hasty legislation. Mr J. Allen (Bruce) expressed the opinion that the election of Councillors by the House of Representatives would be ten times worse than the present system, but he intended to support the second reading on the principle of election. Messrs McLachlan, Major, Stalworthy, Barber and Hanan also spoke. The motion was carried by 40 votes to 29. The following is the division list.: —Ayes: Messrs Aitken, Alison, J. Allen (Bruce), Arnold, Barber, Bennett, Bollard, Bucldo, Colvin, Davey, Ell, Fisher, Greenslade, Hanan, Hardy, Herries, Hogan, Izard, Jennings, Lang, Laurenson, Lawry, Lethbridge, Lewis, T. Mackenzie (Waikouaiti), Macpherson, Malcolm, Mander, Massey, Okey, Poland. Poole, Reid, Ross, Sidev, Symes, Tanner, Thomson, Witty, and Sir W. Steward. Noes: Messrs Allen, (Port Chalmers), Barclay, Carroll, Dillon, Duncan, Field, Fowlds, A. L. D. Fraser (Napier), W. Fraser (Wakatipu), Graham, Gray, Hall, Heke, Hornsby, Houston, Kidd, McGowan, R. McKenzie (Motueka), McLachlan, McNab, Major, Millar, Parata, Remington, Seddon, Stallwjrfchy, Wilford, Wood and Sir J. Ward. NOXIOUS WEEDS AMENDMENT BILL. Mr R. McKenzie moved the second reading of the Noxious Weeds Act Amendment Bill, which was carried by 41 votes to 2S. The House adjourned at 11.45 o'clock.