Speaker Rules On Sir Basil’s “Sir”

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29893, 6 August 1962, Page 10

Speaker Rules On Sir Basil’s “Sir”

(From Our Own Reporter)

WELLINGTON, August 5.

Sir Basil Arthur had a long talk with the Speaker (Mr Algie) before he took his seat in the House last week as member for Timaru, It was only then that he accepted that the use of his title would be proper in the chamber when referred to by the Speaker.

Sir Basil Arthur says this does not mean he has changed his views about his title. He expects that his friends will continue to introduce him as Basil Arthur in every-day affairs.

It was three years before Sir Basil Arthur claimed the title after his father's death and that, he says, was in consideration of his heirs who might hold different views. (He now has a son). Formal rejection of the title could have suggested—quite pointlessly—a difference of opinion in the Labour Party on the use of titles. The Speaker’s reason for supporting its use was deference to the Monarch who established it in the first place. Sir Basil Arthur's election was hardly known when the first flood of letters swept upon him. Eight of them requested his support for grants from Golden Kiwi lottery profits. He has been successful in two cases so far. Petrol Prices

More serious effort is going into his maiden speech, scheduled for Thursday evening when the Commonwealth Fabric Corporation compensation Bill’s second reading will probably be tabled. As a former oil company employee. Sir Basil Arthur knows something of petrol prices in Timaru and South Canterbury. In Timaru, petrol is IJd higher than main city prices. Further afield it is up to 4|d a gallon more for back-country farmers like Mr A. D. Dick, the new member for Waitaki with a farm at Tekapo. The South Canterbury Petrol Price Differential Action Committee, formed last year with local body backing, hopes to get support and action from both these members. Seaweed Worry For Mr Dick, a major problem has been the evil-smell-ing mountain of seaweed that washed ashore at Oamaru on unusually high seas about a month ago. The shore there is under the control of the Oamaru Harbour Board but the decaying weed, about 10ft high and dumped for hundreds of yards along the shore quite dismayed this authority. The unsavoury issue was swiftly whisked through the offices of the Marine Department (responsible for clearing nuisances from shore not under other authorities), the Health Department and the Railways Department (whose employees at the Oamaru Station are close to the problem). Even the Ministry of Works was considered' as a source of equipment to move the enormous volume of weed. At last, in recent days, there have been reports that the sea itself has run high enough to remove some of it. Consumer Service Miss M B. Howard, member of Parliament for Sydenham, has not yet signed up with the Consumer Service to get its quarterly report on consumer goods tests. There is word that the service itself may invite her to join since Miss Howard was critical of its work and said she did not know where to get in touch with It. Miss Howard has said she will not take the advice of a Wellington newspaper columnist to refer the many letters she receives on shodfly goods to the service. The columnist had recalled that it had been initiated by the last Labour Government; but Miss Howard said the service was not doing the job planned. "The information should be free.” she said “Many people cannot afford the 10s subscription.” Saving Coal Watchful for schemes to sustain the imperilled coal industry, Mr P. Blanchfield.

member for Westland, is impressed by Die success of a South African enterprise Using German and American inventions, it produces petroleum. tar. wax. acetones and many other chemicals from gasified coal. Basic materials are ample coal, fresh water and fresh air. Having studied an account of the South African Coal. Oil and Gas Corporation, which operates a complex and very large plant near Johannesburg. Mr Blanchfield has given notice to the House of a motion calling for a mission to South Africa as a preliminary to setting up a similar works on the West Coast coalfields. Note To Soviet The Government last week quietly replied to the Russian protest against the expulsion of the two Soviet diplomats last month. It seems to have been largely a formal matter, but when asked about it the Prime Minister disclosed that the reply rejected the Russian protest That probably ends the exchange which neither party has been doing anything to provoke further. All the niceties of diplomacy have been observed. Neither the Government nor the Russian Legation would disclose the contents of each other’s notes and the public relations work has been left to the sender in each case. Only the Russians supplied a copy of their protest for publication. This follows a policy apparently designed to impress with disarming frankness and disbelief over the whole affair Since the Prime Minister’s announcement about the expulsion, New Zealand officials have remained silent and. in the House of Representatives. it has been the subject of only one question and that was hardly a serious one.