THE SESSION

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24371, 25 September 1944, Page 4

THE SESSION

* MANY TOPICS LAST WEEK CONSIDERATION OF ESTIMATES (From Our Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, September 24. Ranging from discussion of New Zealand’s representation at Moscow to consideration of the merits, as broadcast material, of “boogie woogie” and “wisecracks," with diversions to carpets in the Prime t Minister’s Department and to the wide powers of a Minister in the Legislative Council, the House of Representatives spent almost all last week on the discussion of departmental estimates. Members on both sides were in a critical mood early in the week, but on Friday they relapsed into the more urbane mood, which is becoming almost customary at the end of the week. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) did not seem to be in any hurry to have the business disposed of. In view of the slow progress made, he might have kept the House sitting longer on Tuesday than 11.35 p.m., or later than 10 p.m. on Thursday. On the other hand, the Chairman of Committees (Mr R. McKeen) kept members strictly to the narrow limits of the Committee of Supply discussions — more strictly than it had been necessary in recent sessions with numerically weak opposition. Actually the Opposition was not as effective last week as it had been at other stages in the session. There was often lack of cohesion, which in some part contributed to the protraction of discussions. This was absent on Friday, however, and points were made more clearly. As a result, the House passed the six votes administered by the Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash) and the Minister of Defence (the Hon F. Jones) in one day, after it had taken two for the. Prime Minister’s six votes. Mr Nash and Mr Jones had a relatively easy dav, but it is not to be expected that other Ministers will have such a comfortable day in committee. Back Benchers Active One feature of the week was that it was the Opposition, back benchers who opened some of the livelier debates on departmental estimates. It was Mr R. G. Gerard (Opposition, Mid-Canter-bury) , for instance, who challenged the administration of the National Service Department by a member of the Upper House, and Mr C. M. Bowden (Opposition, Wellington West) and Mr T. C. Webb (Opposition, Kaipara) played a leading part in the discussion of subjects on Friday. The discussion of the Hon. A. McLagan’s position ended in the usual.way, when the Opposition, after moving an amendment that the vote be reduced by £lO as an indication of disapproval, was content to have it defeated on the voices, instead of placing a division on record. The last occasion on which a similar amendment was moved was in 1932, when the Labour Party, then in opposition, objected to the Hon. R. Masters being Minister of Education. Labour members divided the' House, and Mr H. S. S. Kyle (Riccarton) and Mr A. Samuel (Thames) voted with them, the amendment being lost by 34 votes to 24. The'main Opposition attack on the appointment of Mr J. G. Barclay to Canberra and Mr C. T,r . Boswell to Moscow was based on much the same principle. It was contended that the Minister of National Service should be an elected representative, and that the choice of two men, rejected by the electors at the polls, to important overseas appointments was wrong. Mr K. J. Holyoake (Opposition, Pahiatua), however, did not accept the view that a man who had been defeated should necessarily be considered ineligible for appointments, pointing out that he had hsd experience of defeat. He did not concur in the Prime Minister’s estimation of the worth of these two men. The House spent some time on the building and furnishing of the' Prime Minister’s Department, which, the Prime Minister said, was entirely caused by the war, although additional accommodation had been provided in such a way that it would be useful after the war. Replying to an allegation by Mr F. W. Doidge (Opposition, Tauranga) that the furnishings were unnecessarily elaborate, Mr Fraser said they were no more than was es-sential.-To Mr Doidge’s statement that the carpets were “as good as any that had come out of Bagdad,” Mr Fraser said they were “plain and simple, like the incumbent of the office," which drew the Opposition interjection: “Not so simple." Broadcasting Parliament Discussion of the broadcasting vote on Friday brought out the information that it is not Mr Speaker but the Prime Minister who is in charge of Parliamentary broadcasts. However, Government speakers insisted that he had shown impartiality in this control and the subject was not pressed by the Opposition, after the Leader (Mr S. G. Holland) had made a protest. The first of the new members of the House of Representatives to have a hill passed is Mr H. T. Morton (Opposition, Waitemata), who had a local bill before the House last week, and received the customary applause when it went through without amendment. Mr Morton has shown some dexterity in his witty criticisms of the Government, but in the committee stages on his own bill he found the position reversed when Mr A. G. Osborne (Government, Onehunga) solemnly criticised -the provision for making regulations and drew freely on Opposition arguments for his points. An older member of the House, Mr E L. Cullen (Opposition, Hawke s Bay) also had his first bill passed, another local measure. Mr P, G. Connolly (Government, Dunedin West) had a similar opportunity with a Dunedin bill, but was absent, and the veteran. Mr J. W. Munro (Government, Dunedin North) piloted it through for him. The number of special subjects for which the Prime Minister has promised to try to find opportunities for discussion is growing still larger. Two more were added to the list last week. One, largely of local importance, is the South Westland railway petition; the other is the administration of the services and War Expenses Account. The promise in this case was given by the Prime Minister when he surprisingly revealed that he did not know the services estimates no longer came before the House. , ~ * ... The House will probably go °n with the Estimates on Tuesday. The votes for the Hon. D. G. Sullivan s departments may be next on the list.