AN INCIDENT IN THE HOUSE.

Cromwell Argus, Volume LXI, Issue 3160, 27 April 1931, Page 3

AN INCIDENT IN THE HOUSE.

(To the Editor). Sir.—A letter bearing the signature

'•PuoUc Servant" is now going the rounds of the New Zealand newspapers. More than a week ago it appeared iu| certain journals in tue ."5011th. Tliis week it makes its appearance in the North. It is clearly tire Reform Party s effort to extricate itself from th;> position in which it has been landed by its own faulty tactics. No public servant would have been so badly informed as to make himself responsible for the statements contained in the lettei referred to. Those who, like myself, had the privilege of sitting in the galleries when the incident occurred v. ill know how wide of the mark is this peculiar "public servant/' Here arc the facts. Mr Coates stated that cuts were inevitable, and urged that some relief should he provided for married men with, less man .£3OO a year. He suggested the percentage mentioned in the letter. Mr 51. E. Holland, Leader of the Labour Party, urged Mr Coates to put his suggestion into the form of an amendment, and assured him that if he would do no the Labour Party would support him. This Mr Coates refused to do. lie pointed out that he was putting it to the Government merely as a suggestion. When Mr Coates! declined to move on the lines of his own proposal, the Labour Party framed an amendment embodying what the Leader of the Opposition wanted. Whereupon Mr Coates and the Reform Party went into the Lobby with the Government and voted against their own suggestion. The mendaciousness of the statement that the Labour Party prevented Mr Coates from moving his amendment is apparent when it is remembered that Mr Coates is entitiled to be called upon by the Chair in preference to any member of the Labour Parly, or any other private member for that matter.—l am, etc., 11. GRENFELL HOLLAND.