PASSING RETRENCHMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 22, 27 January 1922, Page 7

PASSING RETRENCHMENT.

STONEWALLING AT MINIMUM. GOVTIRNMENT'S NARROW MAJORITY. sasrvTMrrEENc hours in coMArnrriiE. (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Discussion in Committee on the Retrenchment Bill was prolonged from 7.30 p-m. on Wednesday till breakfast time on Thursday, and mily a few clauses passed, through theTC was but the slightest sign of stone-walling. The time was spent making 'bona fide explanations of amendments, and in hearing replies from those supporting the bill. The old-time system of running shifts of speakers to keep up the oratorical stream was not attempted, in fact, it would have been impossible to get much sleep as divisions began to be extremely numerous, and after 1 a.m. no fewer than 3.1 were taken. During the early hours a rapi.-l scries was taken to test out how far members were prepared to go in restri-"ting the operation of retrenchment. The supporters of Mr. H. E. | Holland's motion eliminating all salaries under £450 from operation of retrench|mcnt only numbered ten, but the figures came closer as succeeding motions dealt with the lower salaries, the nearest point being reached on the seventh division on la motion b- Mr. -I. Mel'oiubs that no | salaries under X -~<o be touched. This secured support from Liberals, fndepenI dents, Labourites and. significantly I enough, from lice members of the Reform I party —Mr. J. M.c Dickson (Chalmers), Ch.tha Mackenzie l Auckland East). A. K. Newman iWellington East), R. A. Wright (Wellington Suburbs) and G. It. Sykos iMasterton). The minority reached its best tally in a total of 33, though the Government still carried a majority of four. The Premier was frequently reminded of his narrowescape from defeat, but ho seemed unconcerned, for this was the high tide of opposition. 'COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN'S ORDEAL. For twelve nnd a half hours Mr. A. S. Malcolm, Chairman of Committees, sat in his place, carefully watching every word of the discussion with the object of keeping all the speakers close to the point of relevance. He allowed no time wasting which could be prevented by the Standing Orders, and it must.be admitted, even in face of the battery of amendments from the Labour benches bearing evidence of stonewall intentions, that except when the Premier refused to report progress in the early morning, there was no organised obstruction. The Chairman applied his discipline in an impartial manner, the first t" be corrected being the Prime Minister, who could not resist the temptation to remind those who wanted retrenchment curtailed that ho must have money. When he wished to show what other countries had been doing to reduce expenditure., Mr. Malcolm gently reminded him that it had no bearing on the point of whether retrenchment in New Zealand should not apply below salaries of £450. Members showed a desire to obey the (hair, it being a frequent introduction to some illustrative remark: "If yon will allow mc to say so, Mr. Malcolm." IN THE AFTERMXVN. Somewhat refreshed Iry nearly seven hours' adjournment, member* resumed in the afternoon on the clauses dealing with education reductions. They discussed these on reasonable lines, nnd adjourned for dinner with only four clauses and the new -clauses remaining 'for attention. Though the Chairman of Committees declared himself fit. he was induced to accept relief during the afternoon, Mr. V. R. Reed (Ray of Islands) taking the chair. Exactly on the stroke of midnight the final clauses of the hill were adopted in committee after seventeen hours' strenuous work. The night's proceedings had again been characterised by straightforward discussion, first on superannuation points,-finally on the reliability or otherwise of the procedure to be adopted to ascertain tbe variations in the cost of living with a view to providing a guide to the Finance Minister when deciding the amounts of the second and third cuts. LIBERAL LEADER MOVES RECOMMITTAL. Immediately the Speaker put the question that the amendments made in i committee be adopted, Mr. Wilford moved Ito recommit tbe bill with the object of | enabling the Government to reconsider | the clause providing for cuts on lower salaries. He urged the Government even at that late stage, to again look into the mattpr. He did not believe that tho proportion of reductions in the higher salaries were quite equitable or fair, but as there must be some differentiation be would confine his motion to the clause covering tho reductions on lower salaries. He reminded the Covornmcnt of the close divisions in committee, when it was sought to limit retrenchment to salarierlof £2. r >o and over, when the Government ; majority was only four. Tho same | narrow margin was shown nn tho riroi posal to confine the reductions to salaries j over £210. These figures should cause the Government to seriously consider the J position. I Mr. McCombs supported the motion. I contending that the Budget Estimates j provided no excuse for making a raid on public servants' salaries, which, during this financial year would yield only £200.000. Mr. Massey unsuccessfully raised the point of order, that as the clause had been | adopted in committee by a large majority any motions which bad lioen | aln-adv defeated could not again bo put. Ml. Wilford: 1 propose to move an entirely different motion. Mr. Statham supported tbe recommittal, declaring that he must take the opportunity of protesting against an j inequitable" method of distributing the burden of reduction. He bad brought forward a graduated scale which the Premier would not accept. The motion was rejected on division by 38 votes to 20, and the third reading debate then commenced with every prospect of lasting many hours owing to the large amount of unreported committee activities which members wished to put on record.