BIG STRUGGLE STARTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 276, 19 November 1913, Page 8

BIG STRUGGLE STARTS.

SECOND BALLOT STRATEGY. GOVERNMENT'S RUSE DISCOVERED. OPPOSITION DEMANDS F:_t__KAlV_jY___. THE LONG DELAYED RESPONSE. __.PEAL TACTICS DENOUNCED. Sin JOSEPH WARD"? EMPHATIC STAND. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary rteporter.) WELLINGTON. Tuesday. When the House went into committee to-night on four bills, the first of which was the Legislature Amendment Bill (a purely technical measure providing for the appointment of a deputy clerk of Parliaments in the event of the illness or absence of the clerk I, members generally little realised they were about to open the campaign in earnest on the i ic-rion of the repeal of the Second J'.a.lnt Act. A suspicion was, however, permeating the Opposition benches, and this was heightened by the evident anxiety- of the Minister in charge of the bill to get tbe short title through before any discussion arose. The attempt was frustrated by Mr. Ell, leadiug out with a feeler by asking the Minister if he would accept an amendment abolishing the country- quota of 2S per cent, for the rural districts of all secondary town electorates. The towns in question are Invercargill. Nelson. Timaru, Napier, Wanganui. New Plymouth, Oamaru. and ralraerstoi*. North. The Hon. Mr. Fisher replied that he could not accept the amendment. The Hon. Mr. Ngata then rose, and said that on the face of the present bill it was merely for the purpose of overcoming a technical difficulty, but the Opposition would like the Government'- assurance that at no period of ihe bill would an attempt be made to introduce a clause to repeal the Second Ballot Act. Cnless they were given such an assurance the present 'oill would have to be regarded as a measure to include a second ballot repeal clause. The Chairman was putting the short title clause without reply having been vouchsafed by the Minister, when several Opposition members in turn rose, and repeated the request for the assurance. ELECTORAL LAW. "The Prime Minister may not he aware that, rightly or wrongly, the impression i< setting abroad that some unusual method is jroing to be adopted in repeaiin-* the Second Ballot Act." said Sir Joseph Ward. "All that I want to ask, therefore, is that we should have a fair and constitutional method of deal-in:-with i lie electoral law. I don't know what the Government's intentions are. bill 1 do say ili.u any Government that tried to hold on by a political trick would no; be worthy to live an hour. I.Ministerial laughter.) It is possible. o; course, that ihc Government could bring down ■: Governor's Message to this bill, wilh n repeal clause relating to the s mil ballol in it." Tiie Prime Minister: We are not going * ■ l-ri.i_» iiny Governor's Messages down ti- liii- bill. "Well." replied the Leader of the Opposition, "it i-; being noised about that a political trick is going to he attempted to sc'-iire the repeal of the second ballot. ' and we wish to know from the Prime Minister in a ,-tr.iightforward manner what he proposes to do."' PLEA FOR TIIE PROGRAMME. Sir Joseph Ward then asked once more what measures the Prime Minister proposed to put through this session. "Why doe- the Government show such extraordinary reticence in telling us what it is proposed to pass? As an Opposition we have a duty to perform, and there are certain measures which we mean to oppose. But. apart from that, we are anxious to facilitate business. The Prime Minister wants the co-operation of the Opposition, and it is usual for the Government to desire that co-operation. We are prepared quite straightforwardly and frankly to say what measures we are ready to help him put through. Let him. therefore, tell us what he proposes to ilo. and we will tell him what measures we will assist him with and which we will ennte-t as far as we are able. Why docs he not tell us what we are entitled to know-?" The Prime Minister: You sit down, and I will tell you. Sir Joseph Ward: Very well, let us go through the Order Paper. THROWING DOWN THE GAGE. The Prime Minister: Let mc tell the Opposition that the reason the Government has not taken them into its confidence is because of the extraordinary delay and obstruction. (Ministerialists: Hear. hear, and Opposition, laughter.) The Premier went on to point to the previous night's debate and the discussion on the Minister's motion to introduce ihc Second Ballot Repeal Bill. (Op-po-dtion laughter.) He declared that the ob-truction on the motion to introduce that measure was without parallel iv the hi-tory of th« New Zealand Parli.iinen". iShouts of ironical merriment from tiie Opposition benches.) "We are _-oing on with the bill, and we are loin., to accept the challenge of the lion, gentleman, and make this bill it le.-t question with regard to the second ballot. Now you've got it. nppositiou members laughed derisively, nnd Mr. I-itt was heard to say: "Why did you keep it so quiet." The Workers" Compensation Act, continued the Prime Minister, would have to be practically re-drafted, but he hoped to go on with it, all the same. The -shops and Offices Bill would have it* more important sections taken out and put through this session, and he yvas trying to do the same thing with the Arbitration Bill, which was"considered by the Labour Bills Committee that tr-ormng. There would he a Customs Con-oUdation Bill, which could not be avoided this session, but it had nothin" t < do with tiie tariff. There was a Native litirc*r-Bdl before the Native Affairs V".' ■"■'•:''.'.'• : ' nd a ' Wp = t r -"'>st Settlement w-a-ch contained nothing to object ;. . -'*'' N: -val BrlL-in charge oi the -'■ -'i-trr of Defence, who was unavoid-at-i- absent, would be gone on with ' Members: What about Licensin-*- j the Prime Minister: I am not able to ! speak ot that at tho moment. TJntil a few weeks ago we had made up orrr m-uds to go 0 n wjt_ it, hut it m be necessary to *?ostpo_- it until next A LONG LIST, «» I __^!!- r that the Counties

cult measure, also the Mining Bill, and a Fruitgrowers' Assistance Bill, intended to provide £25,000 per annum for cold storage in connection with the industry, as well as the following bills alread}- on the order paper: —

Education Amendment Bill, Stamp Duties Amendment Bill, Railways Construction and Land Amendment Bill, Native Land Laws Amendment . Bill, Education Reserves Amendment Bill, Temporary Eniplovees' Bill. Rangiora Drillshed " Site Vesting Bill, Victoria College Amendment Bill (second reading) and Judicature Amendment Bill. The Defamation Bill and Cook Islands Government Amendment Bill would be dropped. " There is a little bill dealing with the drainage of one of the northern lakes, merely a technical bill." continued the Premier, who went on to say that the Washing-up Bill would be a very 'large one. containing .probably a hundred clauses. Later on it might be necessary to introduce one or two bills providing for technical amendments, in addition to which tiiere would be a Maori Wash-ing-up Bill. Those were the only Government bills to go through. The only other matter was the second reading of the Gaming Amendment Bill, to which he "had promised an opportunity to the member lor Waipawa. " Now T have taken the House into my confidence as far as it is possible to do." said the Premier. Sir Joseph Ward: Will there be another Imprest Supply Bill? The Premier: If we cannot finish before the end of the month—and I don't see how we can—then an Imprest Bill will be necessary. I hope now the Opposition will help mc to bring the session to a satisfactory conclusion. THE NAVAL POLICY. Sir Joseph Ward remarked that perhaps the Prime Minister did not quite realise what he was asking the House to do.- There was also a Naval Bill, the intention of which, he believed, was to establish a local navy in this country. The Prime Minister: A training ship. Sir .loscph Ward: "I say the bill is really intended to establish a local navy. I don't care what the bill says, but "i know what it means. (Ministerial laughter.) We arc not going to be put off 'on the supposition that a bill for a training ship is the policy of the Government." Coming to the bill before the House, Sir Joseph Ward asked why they had not been informed about the proposal to repeal the Second Ballot Act on the bill before them. Mr Massey: Because of the yv-ay you acted when the other bill was brought before the House. (Derisive Opposition laughter.) The Leader of the Opposition asked if it was intended to introduce any substitute for the second ballot. Th" Prime Minister: There will be no substitute proposed in the present session. The House will be given an opportunity to deal yvith an Electoral Bill next ses- i sion. -and then, if the House likes, a ~substitute can be provided; but I do not propose to waste more time ( this session over anything like a substitute for the second ballot. THE BRISTOL CRUISER. In answer to another question from Sir Joseph Ward, who remarked that, yvith the Naval Bill, some twenty-six bills were on the programme, the Premier declared that the only proposal in this year's Naval Bill was for the provision* of a training ship. If. however, a satisfactory arrangement could not be reached with the Imperial authorities next session, the Government would ask Parliament for authority to arrange for the buildim- of a Bristol cruiser. The Premier corXuded by expressing the hope that, without doing any injustice to the measures, the list of bills proposed to be dealt with would be disposed of by about the middle of December. Sir Jo-eph Ward: The hon. gentleman will surely recognise that, while asking us this session to repeal the Second Ballot Bill, he tells us he is going to introduce an amendment to the electoral law nest session. Does he consider that to be straightforward? Surely the time to repeal the Second Ballot Act is when he introduces a substitute. The hon. gentleman will save a great deal of time by doing so. Of course, if he is determined to adopt the process of putting this through by exhaustion, there is nothing else for it. If we cannot avoid exhaus" tion we are quite prepared to accept our responsibilities. A STONEWALL. The Opposition, assisted by Labour members, commenced to discuss* the short title of the Legislature Amendment Bill in a discursive way that foreshadowed many hours of stonewalling. Mr Hindmarsh revived one of his former efforts at electoral reform, announcing that he would endeavour to insert it in the bill. He occupied ten minutes in merely reading the amendments. A frank speech was heard from Mr Wilford, who said the Government was playing "political cricket" according to its o-w-n ideas, and was out to get as many runs as possible while at the wicket. Ihe bill was clearly designed to save the Ministry, it ought to be labelled "A bill for resuscitating the apparently dead." "I MAY WITH CONFIDENCE" As the evening yyore on member after member on the Opposition benches announced the amiable intention of introducing one or more amendments at a later stage of the debate. "So far as the humble, and. I think, 1 may with confidence say. the genial member for Auckland Central is concerned (Hearty merriment and applause). he does not" rely on the second ballot," declared Mr Glover shortly after 11 o'clock while chiding the Government for attempting to force the measure through. "THE LITTLE BLUNDER BOOK." "Why isn't there a clause in this bill for the ballot of billets?" asked Mr Wilford. adding amid Opposition laughter: "I have got in my little Blunder Book No. 4 the whole history of the ballot for billets. I also propose later on to move an amendment doing away with the whole system of party government. (Members in chorus: "Hear, hear.") I don't propose to disclose the details of my amendment at this stage, but it is coming." (Laughter and applause.) The nimble-witted member for Hutt was evidently in good form, and kept the ball rolling iv true entertainer style. He gave notice of amendments innumerable. He disclosed one intended to inI trodure women into our Legislature, and I another, yvhich he announced with the utmost gravity and apparent earnestness, was designed with the object of increasing the salaries of members upon certain novel conditions. Taking the committee mto his confidence, he stated that this particular amendment of his proposed to increase members' honoraria to £350 a IS"i"' f„ r0 J lding e ~~ h SPSsion --*•*<" exactly 50 days, and that every member be fined £1 for each day he sat. By this means tie cost to the country 'would remain the sa me as at present i ™™™ Herriea < wh(> «W -a temporary charge of the hill): But that -would do a-i_-y- la TJ___ar-ejralC S '

Mr Wilford concurred with enthusiasm, venturing the opinion that each time a member attempted to stonewall under) such conditions his brother members, would rise in their wrath and slay him. j A little after, the same member remarked, amid roars of Opposition laughter, that he believed it was a fact that the Ministerialists who had invented the ruse by which the second ballot repeal clause "was to be sprung on the House had been awarded a special gold medal for life saving. LABOUR-SAVING DEVICES. Several talking respites had been secured by appeals for a count of the House prior to midnight, when Government members began to take up their quarters for the night along the benches with the help of great coats and hastily mobilised cushions. By this means some check was made to the frequent counting of heads for a quorum. In order that Reformers might not lose all the nice points of the debate occasional calls were made en the slumlierers to up and to arms. Sometimes the sleepy owner of the arm left it masted long after the count, to the amusement of his fellow members and a butt for the facetiousness of the stonewallers. Another method of spinning out the hour was by watching for rulings and forcing a division on an appeal ta Mr Speaker. 1 A FLANKING MOVEMENT. Shortly before 1 oclock the senior Government Whip rose and moved an amendment by deletion of the second word of Clause 1, yvith the view of substituting another word. The move was au unexpected and somewhat disconcerting one. but before the amendment could be put the member for Ohinemuri announced a prior amendment, the deletion of the first word of the clause. This was the word "this," and members of the Opposition yvere np-v constrained to display their ingenuity in discoursing on this simple and expressive word. At 1 a.m. Mr Atmore was moralising on the possibilities of improving on the use of the language by more thorough consideration of the small words. At 2 a.m. Mr Ngata produced "Webster's International." and spent ten minutes in the exposition of the various forms in which the word "this" could be used. The blockade was maintained throughout the night by Messrs Poland. Forbes. Atmore, Ngata. Rangihiroa, Macdonald. Seddon, and Witty, each of whom took turns in talking round the word "this," while Ministers took relief turns in charge of the bill. At 4.15 a.m. Mr Seddon was warned by Mr Hine. who was in temporary occupancy of the chair, to refrain from irrelevancy, the occasion beitig the member's discourse on the influence of Latin upon the English language and literature. At 5.30 a.m. a division was taken on Mr Poland's amendment, which was defeated by 9 to 22. Sir Joseph Ward (who had entered for the division) then moved to report progress. At 5.30 a.m. Mr Forbes yvas protesting •at having to remain in the vitiated atmosphere of the House in a state of debilitated vitality. Mr Atmore was speaking a few minutes later, when Dr Pom-are entered the chamber rubbing his eyes. Nelson immediately appealed for an adjournment on behalf of Dr Pomare. "The Minister is visibly fading away under the strain." said Mr Atmore compassionately. "Talk sense!" retorted the Minister irritably. '~,,.. Mr Atmore: You could not understand it. Dr Pomare (truculently): Come outside and I will show you! Mr Atmore was replying to the invitation, when the Chairman interposed, saying in reference to Dr Pomare's remark. "It is hardly worth while taking notice of the ho*i. member's interjection." Mr Atmore: I quite agree yvith you. (Opposition laughter.) At 6.40 a.m. Mr Massey announced that he had just received the sad intelligence of the death of Mr Laurenson, which occurred at 4 a.m. The Premier then, moved to report progress. L'pon the Speaker resuming the chair, the Premier moved the adjournment of the House till 2.30 p.m.. intimating that he would then move the usual motion of regret and condolence, respecting the death of the member for Lyttelton. He informed members of committees that they would not meet. The House adjourned at 6.45. The news of Mr Laurenson's death cast a decided gloom over the chamber, although the extremely critical condition of the member had prepared the House for the worst news. Several members who hud been associated with the deceased for many years in legislature were visibly affected upon hearing of the exMinisters death.