LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 49, 21 November 1907, Page 9

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

MILK.SUPPLY. ; The; Hon. J; cMarahall asked the Attorney-I Gqpecall.yesto'rday afternoon "Whether it is of tlio Government during the to'Jtako. info-consideration tho irnportanti question of milk-supply throughout tho.vP.omjriioii ... . ~.< - i .. . JSioi/Attorney-General (Hon.: Dr. J. >G.KntUayV s'ttiditho- Government had already gij&tf-attention to this matter. ■It was'to bo resetted Jjliat' in many cities, the' milk supriot;as'pure as''it,should be. The Minuter. for,. Agriculture was about' to ajpof expert? to • inspect the byres" and • cows, :, and improvement would doubtless.- result. The Health Department wivs';also : given .fresh 'powers in regard to milki'suppjy by tho' Sale of Pood arid Drugs Apt recontly passed, l'ho municipalities had power under tho Municipal Corporations Aot to;make bylaws regulating the milk-supply, 'Some of .tho cities had been urged to os- / tablishv milk dopots or''clearing houses, and the' Wellington City Council now had such a • .proposal'.' under consideration. If the municipalities did what seemed to' him thoir pl?iiri|duty ; in this matter, arid if.the legishad referred to were taken full advantage of,. tho milk supply should- be as near" perfection as possible, • . . • i NATIVE LANDS, ; The : Hon. .-J,. D. Ormond moved to* have I returns', 1 : whieh"- were 'Oast session ' on:-'unproductive-Nativo -land; in: the "North• Island; brought up to date, iind r mad6"'to ininformation; -and 'laid :oa-the I table t within i two weeks .'of- the* opening-oi I j)ext',Bession::-r...;• v , • TteTAttßrney-Gcfteral said-'the Hon. Mr: ' Ormond- had,, d.oijo good service. to the country by obtaining the returns mentioned, but Under-Secretary for Lands, advised: that to .comply: with the motion as it stood' would ;invblve a prohibitive expense. Surveys and other that wero being obtained for the Nativo-Land Commission would bo available for consultation. The return could, howover, be : brought up to date, and other information would be fur* nished if the cost was not too great. The Hon. J. D. Ormond expressed, satisfaction \vith'this'promise, and withdrew his motion.

. PUBLIC HEALTH BILL. - '. Tljq, Council decided not to insist on the amendment objected to by tho Hous'fc in the Public Health Act. Amendment Bill. HURRIED" LECJSLATION. ' ; A PROTEST. ' • Tie Hoi). H. F; Wigram, on the reap'pearance,. of sovoral local Bills; uttered a prptost; against, the hurried manner in which these Bills had come forward, the result bo,the' -JiOcal Bills Committees had Men..unable to give thorn-proper attention. One of, the most important functions of.tho Council'was to: take particular care, .in the passage of .local Bills, which often involved matters,■ of importance. Some stops should be; i taken to prevent Bills cominn; forward without time being allowed to consider them, ■, Tile'. Hon, C. Louisson, as chairman of onji;,of;tho Local Bills Committcos, endorsed what had been said by the Hon. Mr. Wigram. 'Locaj Bills had come before: -the Cofiimitteos in a very hurried manner, and he hoped the Attorney-General would endeavour on -future occasions to arrange- for tlje -Committees to have more timo to cun« sidei; such Bills. The'; Hon. J. B. Callan supported' the protest's,'•and said the system was a vicious one. It .was,: physically i impossible to master the Bills in the time available: If tho local Bills were passed through the other Houso early'iin the session," the Council would have tipcito..consider, thom,. v .

Remedies.Proppskl. I ;,TherHon. S. -T. George said tho complaint was an annual. ,'One. i ■ It. would bo a very pood thing for thi* Council and tho Dominion if. some method r were employed to' enable local/Bills to .-bp; properly dealt-with.- He suggested that>'a fule should be laid down that, .local . Bills > ( must be t-ak'on early in the session, The Honr J.:E. Jenkinson: "Don't suspend the. Standing Ordors. There's a remedy to your,-hand. - - The/ Hon. suggested that lileal Bills should be'.introduced first in the Conn* cil, instead of'Jtho House'. : . -The Hon:-'Jv. D: Ormond advised a reversion;to th4'- ; old'' system, undor which Mfch Minister looked into every local Bill affect- 1 ing his oW Department, and asked advk'h from the Crown Law Officers. It was not: right for" l ,tho' Council to pass a number of i Bills without understanding thom, an WftH.' dphc'-.qnjthi!'preceding day. 'iThe iKCon.- T, Thompson said the Luoal Bills: Cpminitteos should refuse to procet-4 with.'the' Bills until they had tho requisite information. If they took that Stand, the poweriHhat bo would' promptly supply tlio information. : :.v -ka.'r < • Place" at Fault. .Colonel Fcldwick said the delay occurred in the other House, where thero was onls-opa. Local Bills Committee, whereas the Council "Had thrco. He thought the At-torney-General might draw the attention of his' colleagues to this aspect of the matter, 11 Abolish the other Cham- \ Colonel Fcldwick: "That would Mt' jSpi, right, but we should ask the other, Qnnjriber to; mend its ways.- Tho Local J^llij a Committees of the Council did their best to l properly examine all the Bills." "Tlie Hon. C. M. Luke associated himself with; tho protests that had been made. . Hon. J. A. Sinclair said tho Com-i

mifcteos wero not bound to report the Bills to tho Council in any hurry. 'l'ho Hon. \V. 0. I l '. Carnoross said there was a method in tho madnoas of delaying local Bills in " another plage." It was reoognised by those responsible that members wero apt to bo very good hoys as long as local Bills in which thoy wero interested woro still hung up.

The Hon. J. T. Paul thought somo of tho Government Bills, as well as local Bills, might bo brought down carlior. A Councillor ought not to say " Ayo " to a Bill ho did not understand, Ministerial Rep!;/. Tho Attornoy-General suggested that as this complaint was perennial, there must be a dcfect inherent in our parliamentary system, If the Bills wero held hack until tne Local Bills Committees had the fullost information, and until every member of t.ho Counoil understood all tho Bills, how long would tho Council bo here?— And who would stay? • For thoir own convonioneo, they had to hasten the progress of Bills through this, p'.nco, but the fault lay in " another plaiw" llow far could it be remedied ? Mr. OrmoiK 1 had recalled the golden days when ho was ii office. Well, in 1875, tho local and persona' Acts passed were five in number. ThiVfV i years later tho number had increased to 44. Could the Ministers examine tho Bills thoy did at tho time Mr. Ormond had 10forred to? It was idle for Councillors to say that they must master ovory Bill. Certain Bills could not be understood without n special training. A measure dealing, say, with ■ reinsurance would require a study of half a lifetime to master it. They therefore had to take things on trust, and assume that: tho experts had given their best thoughts to tho matter, and that tho Law Draftsman had done his duty. Ho asked Councillors to bo frank with themselves, and'not pretend that thoy were _ capable mastering every Bill as fully as its author. Ho was glad tho protost of Mr. Wigram and the other members had been mado 1 , but it scorned vto him that the remedy they wanted was a Bill to roform tho House of Representatives. And how did they propose to do that?

LOCAL BILLS PASSED. Tho following local Bills wero reported from Committco, read' a third time and passed: — Waipawa County Bill, Maniototo Hospital and Charitable Aid Bill, Auckland Harbour Board and Birkenhead Borough Empowering Bill, Dunedin Drainage Bill, Hutt Park Bill, Makara County Bill, Greymouth Harbour Board Loan Bill, Wairau-Harbour Bill. The Gisborne Harbour Board Enabling Bill was recommitted, and amendments wero made. Tho Bill was then put through i-ta final stages. Tho Waipawa Borough Bill was further considered 111 Committee, read a third time and passed, after a " six-months-hence " amendment by tho Hon. J. D, Ormond had boon dofoatod by 13 to o. PUBLIC SERVICE SUPERANNUATION. Tho Attomey-Gonoral moved tho. second reading of tho Public Sorvico Superannuation Tho Hon. J. Rigg congratulated tho Government on the measure, but thought tho rates of contribution should bo tho samo as in the railway fund. It would be less favourable to the State, but tho concession would be well deserved and'would in timo bring about a general scheme. The.Hon. J. E. Jenkinson said he regarded the Bill.as a paving of the way for private oimiloyees, to do likewise. - , Other speakers supported the Bill. - ' A Tribute to the Premier, The ; Attorney-General, in acknowledging the congratulations of the Government, said the only, Minister who was entitled to these congratulations-was the--Right Hon. thoPremier,' who had continuously striven to benefit' tho members of the civil service. The' post- and'' telegraph superannuation scheme and tho railway, superannuation sehomo wero due to him, and this measure, the co'pirigstono of those that had gone before, was still more entirely; his work. ,The Premier roOEiived less recognition as a humanitarian than he deserved. This Bill was conceived in the best interests of humanity and in triio sympathy with that broad current of hmnanitariariism which flowed through the legislation of the last fifteen yoars. The Bill was subsequently committed. Tho Larger Allowances. . The Hon. J. E. Jenkinson suggested that no retiring allowance should oxcced £300 a year, and that the smaller allowances should be increased accordingly. The Attorney-General said that tho numerous smaller allowances could not be greatly increased in this way. Moreover, ample allowances on retirement would be an inducement to the most capable men to seel; the most responsible positions in the servico. Some drafting amendments were mado, and when :-10. clauses had been passed progress was reported. BILLS PASSED. Tho Stock Act Amendment Bill (which abolishes the sheep tax) and. the l'ackotLicenses Bill were read a second time on the motion, of the Attorney-General, and were afterwards put through Committee without amendment, road a third tinie ; and passed,The National Endowmont Bill was also put through its final stages, JUDICIARY BILL. On the motion of' tho Attorney-General, tho Judiciary Bill was removed from the Order Paper with a view to it being re-ii: troduccd next session, The Council rose at 9.30 p.m.