"BROKEN THE LAW."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 198, 23 August 1928, Page 10

"BROKEN THE LAW."

GOVERNMENT CHARGED. MB. VncAfcttfG'B APPOIKTMBIfT "MUSSOLINI TACTICS." (By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. The House of Representatives spent an hour early this morning in discussing the appointment of Mr. H. H. Sterling as General Manager of Railway! at a salary of £3500 a year. Opposition members expressed strong resentment of the manner in which the appointment was made. The Leader of the Opposition, who raised the question, declared that the Government had acted illegally, and he would challenge this illegal act of the Administration. The law provided for the control of the railways by the Railway; Board. It had never been altered, yet the Government had abolished the board and appointed a General Manager without any regard for Parliament's will, fixing the salary at £3500, with superannuation at the rate of £2000 after seven years. "How can the Government expect the Eiople to obey the law?" asked Mr. olland, "when the Government goes beyond the powers of the law, relying on its immense majority to condone what has been done!" Mr. E. P. Lee (Oamaru): How has the law been broken? Mr. Holland: The law says there should be a Railway Board. Mr. Lee: What nappens if the board resigns ? Mr. Holland: Then a new board should be appointed. The Minister of Finance: Have you never asked us to validate grants made by your local bodies. Mr. Holland: That is a different matter altogether. This alteration should have been carried out in the constitutional manner. The position, Mr. Holland asserted, was that the new General Manager was illegally in control of the railways. Therefore he moved to reduce the Legislative Department's estimate by £9 to indicate disapproval of the Government's action in abolishing the Railway Board and setting up a new control. Mr. M. J. Savage (Auckland West) said this savoured of Mussolini tactics. A Ministerial explanation should be made. ■SfeV;. Coates interjected that it did not &entlemiia or

Mr. Savage: We don't count now, but the time may come when we will count.

The Prime Minister interjected that he had made an explanation recently to Parliament.

Mr. W. A. Veitch (Wanganui) said he approved of the change to a General Manager, bat he strongly opposed the method.

Mr. J. McCombs (Lyttelton) asked if Mr. Coates realised he was treating Parliament with contempt. Having usurped its authority, he refused explanations. He was earning the title of the Mussolini of New Zealand.

Mr. Coates (smiling): No, no! For heaven's sake don't call me that! You make me annoyed!

Sir George Hunter, who was ActingChairman of Committees, informed Mr. McCombs that it was against the Standing Orders to refer to another member as being similar to a person who was not held in high repute.

Mr. McCombs: I bow to your ruling and accept your judgment of Mussolini.

The Prime Minister: It was not by any means a reference to the Italian statesman, but the terms in which it was used were derogatory. Not Exempt from Income Tax. He added that a atatement about the j appointment of the railways manager would be made when the Railway Estimates were before the House, and also when special legislation was introduced. Technically, no doubt, the appointment might be illegal, but it was not unconstitutional. It was untrue to suggest that the manager was to be exempt from income tax. His superannuation would be provided for in the bill. Parliament was the only body to stop the payment of a salary. The appointment dated from June 1, and at present Mr. Sterling was occupying a dual position, being engaged for a good part of his time with the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company. He was being pand on a pro rata basis for the time he spent on railway work. He would be free for full time railway work about the end of September.

Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central) asked if the Railway Board had got the railways into such a desperate position that it had to be "sacked." He thought the appointment was good, but the method was bad. Mr. Sterling was getting a princely salary and a lordly retirl ing allowance.

Mr. Holland protested that the ex-| planation o* the Government's assumption of a dictatorship was inadequate. Constitutionality rested primarily upon legality.

Mr. H., Atmore (Nelson) said the Government's action reduced Parliament itary government to a farce. It would very properly be reprehended from one end of New Zealand to the other.

A division taken at 2.30 a.m. resulted in the defeat of the amendment by 43 votes to 15, and the Home rose at 2vMy