ABSENT MEMBERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 195, 16 August 1920, Page 4

ABSENT MEMBERS.

HOUSE AT HAJLF STRENGTH. I A P______MENTARY CENSUS. I i j (By Telegraph.-_-_ecial to "Star.") j WELLINGTON, this day. j Opposition members of the House ol ' ! Representatives were mildly shocked • because their indifference lost them the I best opportunity of the session to ! criticise the. Government's .policy on the \ , financial statement. ' Many speeches were ready, but would- ' ', be speakers were waiting "till next '■ week," or leaving it to "the other fellow." Apparently this lesson of -lost I \ opportunity has not been taken to heart, i for last week not an unimportant pro- _. gramme was put through with a House consisting a little more than half the f number paid to do the country's legis- i j i lative tasks. Your correspondent sys- ( tematieally counted the House at inter- _ esting periods each day to see how 1 many of the eighty members took part. ( -i The attendance varied from a minimum 1 ■ which just enabled business to be carried 1 on (tho quorum is twenty) to a maxii' mum of 50. or less than three-quarters !of the full roll. The average was just [ | over 40 during -the whole week. When • i Mr. Speaker took the Chair last Tuesday afternoon a census gave the following i results:—Liberal benches, 11; Independent and Labour. 13; Government, 123; total, 47. Discussion on methods ot | taxation was conducted by 'the Opposi- . ' I tion elements, who mustered all told ( |at 3.30 p.m., while the Oovernmcnt . ■ members maintained their average tally . .of two dozen. When buainess com- \ menced on Wednesday the attendance : was again 47, Government members hoimr in slightly greater force. Oppor- . tunity for an official census arrived at 8.30 p.m., when there was a division on , the question of removing Mr. Veiteh's State Bank Bill from the order paper. . i Members, warned by the division bells. j flocked in from the billiard tables, the library, and other resorts, and mustered a total of 58. Daily prayer, with which : Parliament opens, was heard on Tlvtws- , ' day by 45 members, viz.. 17 on the Op- . 1 position benches, and 28 on the "Right." . It was a dull afternoon for talk, except- , ' ing for Mr. Lysnar's enlivening reference : to his wool clip, winch he is not prepared : to sell to the Government now the war i is over. Twenty-eight members listened . to the pros and cons of this dispute, but i the division bell's calls at 10.15 p.m. on . nn amendment by Mr. Holland showed •: that 50 members were to be found if ' , wanted. Consideration of the annual i Ksti-matos in committee of the whole ; 1 Hou=e gives tbe fullest -possible opport inities of securing information regarding the administration of Departments .' of State, but most of the time on this • important work on Friday saw the ' House less than half its numerical ' strength. Forty-four members attended ; the opening of the sitting—l 9 Opposi- - I tiouist. and _5 Government—but when the questioning of Ministers without ' notice had deprived the sitting of in- ' I teres, of the unexpected, and members ' 1 knew exactly what was ahead of them . , for the day, more than half the House - found occupation elsewhere. After the ' dinner adjournment benches were thus occupied: Liberal. 10: Independent and | Labour, 6; Government. 20. A long disI cttssion on telephones was conducted in _ : a thin House, which never went above | .'ill, though its composition varied. Some , | members "said their piece" and disappeared, but the real test of the number available in case of need came at 11 ' i p.m., when a division drew 57 into the active arena for at any rate five minutes. . This was evidently the supreme effort ot . the week, for interest died down to zero, and a fitting climax to this dis- . appointing story of indifference came J , half an hour later, when the Native Department's Estimates were up for adoption. None of the native members were present, nobody else seemed to trouble, and the consequence was that the vote went through in a moment without a word, except for a mild reminder from the chair that the Government had ! undertaken not to submit for the adop- _ I tion of any estimates unless the report ,1 of the Department to which they re- <' i lated had been circulated among mem- t j bers. Nobody concerned himself, how- < ever, about the fact that only one copy 1 !of the Native Department's report had ( ; been placed before Parliament, that the * only persons who had seen it since its c presentation a few hours before were < .the Press and Gallery representatives. ' w (