TRAMWAY BILL PASSED.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 16961, 9 October 1920, Page 9

TRAMWAY BILL PASSED.

« ti PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTA- * HON STRUCK OUT. « CHBISTCHUECH MEMBERS AT t] LOGGEEHEADS. tl II tl (srr.ci.AL to ''the pkxss.") n fi WELLINGTON, October S. t] The Ch.ristcn.urch Tramway Rstriet a Hill, as amended by tho Legislative rl Council, was received in tho House of Representatives this afternoon. Clause a 18, giving tho Board power to adopt w tho system of proportional reprcsenta-1 ii tion, was struck out. , J * Mr Isitt moved that the House agree with the amendments. He explained g that one amendment made in the Bill f instituted tho franchise that the cliair- I p man of the Board (tho Hon. J. Barr) j * had promised to the member for Lyt- i telton, and which, the member for j Christcliurch South had failed to have t inserted in the Bill when lie had charge of it in Committee, ia the absence of ' a Mr Isitt himself. Another amendment j approved by both the Local Bills Com- i mitteos authorised trustees to invest 1 f funds in tramway bonds. Mr Isitt added that the contentious amendment was in clause 18. The history of that amendment was somewhat interesting. « Mr Barr and himself liad understood „ ■when a concession was made to the wishes of the Labour l'arty in the mat- , tor of the franchise, and in permitting the secretary of the Tramway Union to be a candidate for a scat on the Board, that the demands of that party had ' been met, but subsequently the Local a Bills Committee inserted clause 18, at the instigation of the memberfor Lyttelton. This new clause established the 5 principle of proportional representation 1 | in connexion with the Tramway Board. F He strongly objected to that clause. If a I he had been present when the Bill was i before tho House in Committee, ho !! | would have moved for the deletion of j 1 I the clause. Mr Isitt added that be believed in the principle of proportional representation, but he saw no reason j > at all why the system should be applied s to the Tramway Board. The result I would be to develop sectionalism on tho » Board. Tho system had already bad t this result on the Christcliurch City ? Council. No good purpose could be i served by the amendment, but some I members seenwd to have a beo in their c bonnets when tliis question wps mooted, i i It could only have tho effect of intro- I ducing factions in the Board. _ (Hear, jl bear.) Surely they should sink their •; t differences and agree in such a matter ] to work for tho general good. a Mr McCombs moved that the amendments bo agreed tOj with the exception j of the striking out of clause 18. Ho t stated that in ,1914 an Act was passed s at tho instance of the Reform Govern- s ment, giving certain local authorities t power to adopt proportional representation, and in 1915 it was thought wiso i to bring other local bodies within the ] scopo of tho Act, and allow them to | adopt proportional representation' if < they so chose. This Act did not, however, force it on them, but any city t could, if it liked, adopt the system to- , morrow. He was surprised at the £ member for Christcliurch North resisting in connexion with tho Tramway j Board, tho same democratic measure T that other local bodies could adopt. The Local Bills Committee of the House had agreed to the clause. by 5 votes to one, and the Labour members were now only asking that the obvious intention of tho law of 1915 should bo given full effect to, and that there should bo no escape from the principle bv legal quibbling The lion, member for Ciiristchurch North was showing his zeal for the people, and his zeal for Liberal principles by endeavouring to * -prevent the from adopting the principle, even if it wished to do so. It was a measure for which the thanks of tho community were duo to the Reform Government. The present Tramway Board, he admitted, was not in favour of it, but that was no reason . why a restriction should bo placed on any futur6 Board. _ Mr E. J. Howard said it would be noted what a happy family the members for Ciiristchurch were. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He strongly resented Mr Isitt's cheap sneer at himself . Ho (Mr had accidentally got into tho position of having to take chargo of the Bill belonging to his friend, Sir Isitt, when the latter w&s absent at Petonc—at Mr Wilford 3 meeting—endeavouring to keep up a very shaky wall. ' An hon. member: Yon did it well. Mr Howard: "Yes, I did it well." As to the clause that had been left out of the Bill, the chairman of the Board had told him next morning that it had been left out accidentally owing to a printer s error. It was not a kindly thing for Mr Isitt to refer to that matter when he (Mr Howard) took charge of the Bill in the absence of Mr Isitt. He had failed to seo that mistake, but there was hardly time for him to read the whole Bill, and he thought he was doing his best in heloing to get tho measure through. The fly in the ointment was that the member for Ciiristchurch 1 North had asked the Primo Minister) to take charge of his Bill for him, i when ho should have had tho conirnon | ' courtesy to ask a Christcliurch member ' to take chargo of it, showing plainly " that as between Mr Isitt and the Prime 1 Minister there was everything in common. (Laughter from the, Government benchcs.) But when the member for Christchurch North got back from his meeting, he found tho House had already adjourned, and he was in a great stato of mind, because he had not had an opportunity of wiping out proportionaf representation. That was all he wanted.'* OonsoqTiently, Mr Isitt wSis very angry witV h-im (Mr Howard). An hon. member: Shame. p Another hon. member: Forgive him. Mr Howard went on to say that the J Christcliurch tramway employees were | a most unhapoy family. j Mr Isitt: Nonsense. r Mr Howard said they wero so be- ? I cftU se there was no Labour member on ~ t.he Board, and the people had to submit : to the most childish rules and tions. Talk about pin-pricking and 5 industrial unrest, they had it there. Mr D. G. Sullivan said he hoped the C House would agreo to the amendment " proposed. The member for Christ- I _ church North had gone astray, and was ] nofc keeping in touch oven with the * affairs of his own city. The Christ--1 church City Council did its business as „ well as any other City Council, and p there woula be just as much wrangling under the ordinary system as there would be under proportional representation. Even within the last week the Government had passed another measure extending the system of proportional representation—lie referred to tho Electric Power Boards Bill. He could not see tt*hv in the name of conscience, tho Tramway Board should not be given the t sanlo privilege. They should not deny 6 to one single body the right that was . granted to other bod'ies. 2>r_ Thacker said tho tramway was a -> debenture system, which would become r - the property of the city when the det, hentures went out. The tramways belonged to the people —tho busy bees of ,r the°citv —and if it was wanted to give i- a n sections of the community a say in the control, then ■ proportional repre--7 sen tation should be agreed to. There I could be no disaster if the clause was left alone. He deplored the jibos of one' member against another, and he ■- thought the member for Ciiristchurch South should have been thanked for s! looking after the Bill. .4 Mr Lysnar supported the Bui as amended. It was wrong to force a k svstem on the Board that it did not hon. member: It does not. force 2 it on

Mr Lysnar: Never mind, it is ® the door open, and it would cause content. Sir Witty said the clause was permissive, not mandatory. He sugges that the Bill be referred Hack. wiui a view to holding a conference ot the t conflicting parties to see u Yj°rint come to some agreement- He clia see why there- should be any reason heat. t , f Mr Isitt objected to the statement that Labour was not represent? the Board. The chairman of thai; Board, the Hon. John Barr was one-ot the straightest, soundest, and most li g of Labour men (la = ' from the Official Lalwur hcnches)— >ut the extreme Labour Party classed 1 ' and the speaker also, as Judas I-a riots. So long as Mr Barr was chairman of the Board, the members noa realise tliat labour would not 511 . ' and that nothing renllv would be done. Then the Board « . in addition, in its mananer, a, consc - tious, humane man. who from ! youth, liad held strong labour syn thies. Mr Isitt' went or- to refer ■ garbled statement regarding nis ac that had appeared in a Christc paper. On the occasion o , welcome of the new Leader the Liberal Party, he had, Before leaving the House, s^ e1 }. -. Prime Minister, and had ?skod hni there was any way out of his difficul • Mr Massey had said, "Can t you o of your colleagues to take cl'argo o nni?" He (Mr Isitt") ha« replied, "No," because he thought iT they toot eihargo. exactly what did take T** 1 - would hapnen, and that this clai would be slipped through without word of comment. As a matter of fac--, the House hardly noticed the c]a^ s °- The Prime Minister then agreed to tnko charge of the Bill himself, and he (Ml Isitt) informed tho Loader of © Voosition of tho fact. Afterwards he (Mr Isitt) went to Mr Massey, and said ho was afraid that no » and he askod tho Prime nis^r^ f would be in time if he got back at ten o'clock. Mr Massey replied that he thought he would, but meantime the "Bill had como on earlier than was ox- ; pected, and. had got through m his absence. , tt„ | Mr Isitt said he was not angry- ±±e never, mentioned tho matter to Mr , Howard. „ . . Mr Howard: But your friends did. Mr Isitt said the member for LytteiI ton was o master of pernickety iiair- ' splitting, and he had told him U 1 Isitt), and also Mr Barr, that after the franchise clause had been agreed there would be no further, trouble. But afterwards they found this clause put into the Bill. He was in favour of proportional representation in the city, but on such a body as tho Tramway Board lit would lead to sectional differences, lit was absolutely unnecessary on a ! Tramwav Board, and the Board was bittorly opposed to it. He asked the House to stand by ham and oppose the amendment. Mr Howard, by way of personal planation. said he had cast no reflection upon the Hon. John Barr, nor upon the secretary of the Board. What he had stated was that thero was no representative of the Labour Party on the Board. The Hon. E. P. Lee said he thought there would still be power under the Local Elections and Polls Act to have proportional representation, even it tne clause were cut out. , Mr McCombs said -that was riot so, because the Board had been legally advised that the Tramway Boara was not a "local authority." Mr McCombs's amendment was defeated by 36 votes to 16, and Mr Isitt s motion was then agreed to on the voices. .... ... The following is the division list.— • Ayes (36). Atmoro Lee Bitclicner r , Bollard H c l^ od , Coates McNicol Dickson, J. S. Mander Field Massey Glenn Masters Guthrio , _ Nash Hamilton, J. R. Nosworthy Hamilton, A. Parr Harris E°™ are Hawken Potter ; Herriea Powdrell T-focklv Keid Hudson Rhodes, R. H. Hunter Svkes Isitt Jones TV right Noes (16). Bartram Mitchell Edie Pa"*. Fraser P° lancl Holland Saiapi Mom a i f? Howard Statham Kellett McCombs Wltt y