SCENE IN HOUSE.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18208, 20 October 1924, Page 10

SCENE IN HOUSE.

MR LYSNAR'S OUTBURST. TROUBLE OVER MEAT CONTROL. AMENDMENTS DEFEATED. (SPECIAL TO "THE PRESS."') WELLINGTON, October 18. The House of Representatives wasted much time in talk at Friday's sitting, and by the time a comparatively important Education Amendment Bill got through Committee, it was one o'clock on Saturday morning. The Committee then proceeded to deal with the MeatExport Control Amendment Bill. Mr TV. D. Lysnar. who had given notice of lengthy amendments that would revolutionise the present law. objected to the Government- going on with the Bill. Ho suggested that they should report progress on the Bill and ask leave to sit again. Mr Massey said he was not responsible tor what had taken place. He had endeavoured to keep as short- hours as possible, but what had happened that evening? They had done practically nothing. Only one Bill had been put through. A member: What about the local Bills? Mr Massey: Local Bills really do not count in the business of the session. The trouble about Mr Lysnar's amendments was that they would: alter the ivhole policy of the country and of the Government. 'Die only way he saw of getting out of the tangle was to pass the Hon. W. Nosworthy's Bill and •have- the proposed amendments referred to the Agricultural and; Stock Committee to take evidence. Mr Lysnar: Refer the whole Bill to the. Committee. Mr Massey: No. There is nothing in it that needs referring to the Committee. The Hon. W. Nosworthy said the House was prepared to pass the Bill, whioh was practically the same as the Dairy Produce Bill, which had been passed without any opposition. He would not agree to upset the whole policy of the Meat Board without consulting the farmers. Mr Lysnar's amendments could' go to the Committee. A Question Resented. Mr Massey reiterated tho statement that there was nothing to be gained by referring the Bill to the Agricultural and Stock Committee. The amendments could be referred to the Committee. Mr McCombs: Will they oome back again? Mr Massey (with some heat): I am not going to answer the hon. gentleman. I am responsible for the Business of the House and I conduct it in a straight-forward, fashion. I have never misled the House. Mr McCombs: 'lt was a straightfoi*ward question. Mr Massey: To my mind there was an insinuation, that the Minister in charge 1 had some improper motive in his mind. Mr McCombs: Well, you want to force an unreasonable position. Mr Massey (warmly): You have no right to say so. Mr McCombs: Well, I say it. Mr Massey: Well, the lion, member is wrong. I have been kept hero in a state of health in which I should not have been kept by the unreason-' able proposals that have come heforo the House, but I am not going to back down to a tiling like that. Mr McCombs said the Bill and the proposed, amendments should be allowed to eo tq the Agricultural and Stock Committee. Mr Massey: The lion, member apparently does not think thera is any honour in so far as the concfucb of the business of the House is concerned. _ With the threat of a stonewall _ in the air, alter some further discussion the Prime Minister remarked: Oh very well, please yourselves. Let's get on with the Bill. Mr McCombs said there was no reason for the Prime Minister getting into a temper like that. Mr Massey:'Go on with tho Bill. Mr Lysnar said the position taken up by the Prime Minister was quite unreasonable. He had no time to facilitate anything in a reasonable way that was brought forward for the producers of the country. Tho producers were not worthy of consideration, said Mr Lysnar, raising his. voice to a high pitch, but the big trusts and the combines must be sheltered. Mr Massey: Oh, you know all about it, then. Mr Lysnar: Yes. Progress Motion Defeated. After further discussion, during which the novel spectacle was witnessed of Mr Lysnar being supported and cheered on by tho Labour Party, Mr Massey referred to the insinuations of the member for Gisborne (Mr Lysnar). j They had, he thought, allowed the I thing to go a little too far, and he was just about tired of it. Mr Lysnar, after further discussion, moved to report progress, and to ask leave to sit again. Mr McCombs said the member for Gisborne was getting anything but fair play in this matter. The motion to report progress was defeated by 30 votes to 24. There was considerable laughter in the Chamber -when the chairman called the names of Messrs Lysnar and McCombs as tellers for the ayes. Mr Lysnar had the support of his Labour friends and the Liberals in the division. The Hon. A. D. McLeod, in a forcible speech, • ridiculed the idea of the member for Gisborne in endeavouring to amend the process, of election to the Meat Board without consulting those most interested —the sheep and cattle-owners of the country. He also condemned in strong terms Mr Lysnar's proposal to give two representatives to Hawke's Bay and Gisborne, with 6,000,000 sheep, and only one representative for the West Coast and the Wairarapa sheep districts, with 6,200,000 sheep. The member for Gisborne was attempting legislation that would mean repudiation worse than was carried out in Queensland. It would mean repudiation and confiscation. "And yet,'' said Mr McLeod, with added emphasis, "this is the honourable gentleman who has challenged the Labour Party time and again. The honourable member was asking the House to pass legislation against genuine business persons whose capital had been invested in this country for 20 or 30 years. Such a move would not reflect credit on the House. Mr McCombs suggested that the Board might be elected on proportional representation. (Laughter.) He thought that the member for Gisborne was an exceedingly reasonable man. (More laughter.) Mr Lysnar Shoots Speech. During a further outburst, Mr Lysnar condemned the speech of the Minister for Lands. He said the Minister had been talking nonsense. The Massey Ministry was dead. It was pitiable to have the

matter brought up in tiiis way. '"I'll keep you here till daylight," shouted Mr Lysnar. "Don't blame me: blame the Government." (Laughter.) Mr Mc'Coinbs (smiling): A rotten Government. (Laughter.)

Mr Lvsnar. now shouting in a-voice-that could be heard outside the Chamber, said that if honourable members would not- stand up for the producers t-hev must take the consequences. lie pive them fair warning. The Government was not game to put these Trusts down. He complained of their going on with a thing like that- at two °o 'clock in the morning. Thcy considered the big combines and the banks. That was all they were living for. A Labour member: Hear, hear. Mr Lysnar again threatened to keep the House up all night. "I blame the Government." he shouted, "and I blame the men who walked into that lobby with them." Laughter.) Ho moved to report progress. The Chairman: You can't do that again. Mr Lvsnar (waving an arm in the direction of his friends on the Labour benches, who were cheering him on): Someone else will do it for me. (Laughter.) ''Party," he added, "is a curse to this Dominion." He again condemned. amidst much laughter, the members who had "skulked into that hole there" (pointing to the lobby door). "That," he added, "is a, lovely spiritIt does .not appeal to me as a British instinct, and I hope I will never lower mvself to crawl into the lobby after a "Government to prevent such a matter as I have' brought up from proceeding." Iu a loud voice, he thundered at the Government benches: You have not got-the pluck to go home. The Chairman: Order! Order! The honourable member must withdraw that. Mr Lysnar: Very well, Mr Young, I withdraw jt with pleasure. (Laughter.) He would test the feeling of the people. The Hon. A. D. McLeod: How about 'besting it on the platform? Mr Lysnar: Oh, I'll test it.' The Minister.- Put in your resignation and 'test it now. Time for Bed. Mr Edie, the member for Bruce, joined mildly in the fray. He said it was time every decent man was in his bed. It was not fair to the country, and not fair to members, to keep them up. ■ . A member: Well, you are keeping us up now. (Laughter.) At the suggestion of a.Labour member Mr Lysnar, when he could not move a second time to report progress as no progress had been made, moved that the chairman leave, the chair on this issue. Mr McCombs made a stonewalling speech, giving various reasons why, in the interests of the chairman himself the Committee .should vote that he leave the chair. The motion was defeated ,hy 30 votes to 22, Liberals and Labour voting with Mr Lysnar. Mr Massey pointed that if the proposal that the chairman leave the chair were carried, the Bill would be as dead as Julius Caesar, and Mr Lysnar would be defeating his own object. The Government, however, had; saved the Bill. A member: Bill has saved his own Bill. (Laughter.) Members now seemed to be getting rather tired of Mr Lysnar's tactic-s. He was not now receiving so much encouragement, and the threatened "stonewall" had petered out. Mr Lysnar's Amendments. Mr Lysnar began to move amendments. He called -for a division on the firat one: That the Governor-Gen-eral shonld not appoint anyono to the Meat Board' who was rejected by the producers as hereinafter provided'. ■ After the bell had stopped ringing and the chairman was waiting for tho sand in the glass to run out before ordering the division,' Mt* Armstrong I raised a laugh by suggesting, that, it would he a good time to take the I Gaming Bill after they had finished with Mr Lysnar'. , Mr Lysnar's proposed amendment was lost by 39 votes to 21. Mr Lysnar saidl they had now made j a little progress, and he hopecl the | Prime Minister would relax and allow this matter to lie adjourned.. He assured the Prime Minister that he was doing his party no good. Mr Massey (warmly):. It is not for you to judge. ~ n _ Mr Lysnar: The people or tlie Dominion must see that things are unsatisfactory when the Government resorts to tactics like these 'to block legitimate amendments. . Amidst a good deal of merriment Mr Lysnar said he gloried in a 'fight, and lie never ran away from one. Mr Massey: You call this a fight! •Mr Corrigan: A sham fight-. _ Mr Lysnar (vehemently): Yes, it is, and there may be more under it than vou think. If . the Prime _ Minister thinks he is going to play with things like this I don't think the people of the Dominion will stand it. I think the thing must come to judgment. A member: Let's take a vote and we'll all go home. _ Mr Lysnar again moved to report progress. He appealed to "whatever renmant of faii-minded spirit the Prime Minister possessed. _ A little later, looking in the. direction of the Prime Minister, he said': I .-see a smile on his face. That looks a litt e more horveful- It's up to him to play the came and show a bit of decent British respectability. (Loud laughter.) The Chairman: The hon. member must not suggest that any member of this House is not respectable. (LaughteMr Lvsnar: I was trying to demonstrate that lie was respectable. Chairman: The honourable member must speak to the motion to report emphasised the necessity for their getting home to their wives and their children. (Laughter.) It was about time they were there. Mr Massey Replies. Mr Massey: The honourable gentleman suggests that I am unreasonable. Mr Lysnar: You are just now. "Mr Massey: I am just as I was before but the member for Gisborne is the most unreasonable man I have ever met in all my Parliamentary life, and thii* is the opinion of the House, It is oSt my own- (Hear, hey.) I mgnested that these clauses of the honourable member should go to a committee That was not agreed to, and it was said that we could not be tT I did not say that. \r r miss6V! !No, but tho.!) was whst I taT. P»t BP irith the. honourable member as long as I posSlb ]!li Lysnar: Perhaps I have equally Alassey: "The honourable member must not threaten. Mr Lysnar: You should not threaten. -Kir- Afinsev If the honourable membeMiS?hs'ean listen me he .ever made a bigger mistake in his life. Mr Lvsnar: If vou threaten me you m ; ke a'mistake. (Laughter.) Mr Massey (verv calmly;: There is n0 threat on my part- I never threatened anvone in the House. I stated the po ß ition" as it seemed to me and my vord should have been accepted. Mr Lvsnar: What did you say? Mr Massey: Oh, I say nothing now. Mr Lysnar's IndependenceMr Lysnar said he regretted to hear the Prime Minister make the remarks he had just made. They were not justifiable. If they, were justified, he at foot of nest column.)

added, then the Prime Minister was not playing the game with him. "When I came into this Honse ho expressed his satisfaction, and he has been content to use me with the belief that he was going to do something." The Chairman reminded Mr Lysnar that he must speak to his motion to report progress. Mr Lysnar: I have come into tins House as an Independent (laughter) and I have never given up my independence. Mr Massey: That is all right. Mr Lysnar: And I am grateful that I have maintained my independence. Nothing has given me more satisfaction than to lcnow that I did not answer to the crack of the Government whip. The Chairman: Order, order! Mr Lysnar: While I have been here I have endeavoured to act fairly and to play the game. X have nothing that I regret except that sometimes, for party reasons that were not too serions, I have voted against my conscience. (Laughter.) Mr Armstrong: I thought yon were independent Mr Lysnar: It was on a very few occasions. (More laughter.) _ Mr Lysnar added something about his being against Trusts. . Mr Massey: I don't do business with Trusts. The Committee divided on Mr Lysnar's amendment dealing with the election of the Board, which was defeated by 28 votes to 17. Honse Grows Tired. 'By this time Mr Lysnar's friends were deserting him, and on the amendment on which he "might haivo expected most support —that no overseas company, firm or person should be allowed to acquire any freezing works in the Dominion, and that no New Zealand works should be worked on behalf of an outside company—he was defeated by 27 votes to six. "During the later stages of the discussion Mr Lysnar said that if the Government was not prepared to do its duty the sooner it made way for somebody else the better. He threatened to give Mr Nosworthy a solid half hour on the third reading; as good a half hour as he had ever got in his life. He also alleged that the Government had tricked him. The Bill was reported from Committee, but Mr Lysnar did not get an opportunity of giving Mr Nosworthy the threatened half hour, for the latter moved that the third reading be postponed till next sitting day. This was agreed to on the voices, and a very tired Honse at 20 minutes to 4 adjourned till Monday evening.