LABOUR JOINS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 147, 22 June 1923, Page 6

LABOUR JOINS.

IN NO-CONFIDENCE DEBATE

ELECTORAL REFORM AND COUNCIL ABOLITION. ]

(By Telegraph—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. So many amendments and additions itlfli the riffht of road at the moment. Viewng the position, Mr. Massey gloomily "marked that it meant a month s work. The latest development came from Official Labour, and was entrusted to Mr. Sullivan (Avon), who devoted most of his hour to electoral reform. gested there had been a " ll1 " between the occupants of the ™ benches on the subject of voting relorm. a* eras s^SSwk portional representation. ~.,_„ 1 Mr Wilford: We all voted for proportional representation before last election, and when we failed we voted for preferential voting afterwards. Mr Sullivan expressed an earnest hope that preferential voting would not be accepted under any conditions. Mr. Wright: What is the objection °Mr. Sullivan: The objection is that it has practically all the defects of the second ballot. It leads to intrigue between parties, and conjunction of parties to overthrow another party. Aβ a matter of fact it was not democratic. It was rumoured throughout the country that the Reform Government intended to introduce it. The member for Avon then proceeded to illustrate how preferential voting could be manipulated to secure results not fairly reflecting the opinion of the electorates, and he concluded with the declaration that bad as he believed the "first-past-the-post" system to be, lie and his colleagues would prefer it to preferential voting. Hej moved to add to Mr. Wilford's motion of no-confldence, after the words "electoral reform," the words "providing for proportional representation and abolition of the Legislative Council." j A MONTH'S WOBK. ' I Mr. Maesey, just before the close of the afternoon sitting, asked the Speaker of the House to state the order in which the amendments would be taken.

Mr. Speaker said the first amendment to be taken would be that of Mr. Sullivan (Labour member for Avon), which was an amendment to the Leader of the Opposition's amendment, which latter would be next dealt with. These must be treated as no-confidence motions.

Mr. Massey smiled wryly at this statement.

Mr. Speaker added that before the main motion by Mr. Rolleston could be taken the House must deal with the Hon. A. T. Ngata's amendment to Mr. Xash's amendment, after which Mr. Nash'a amendment would come up. When all these matters had been disposed of the main question could then be settled. "A month's work," commented Mr. Massey. •