PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 247, 11 July 1908, Page 7

PARLIAMENT.

SITE FOR THE NEW HOUSE. " A UTOPIAN CITY." LOAN BILL PASSED. . A- FARMBR-ON "ARBITRATION/. for, the -Upper House to finish " its det>ate ; on' '.tho'" Address-in-Reply. .. The discussion' was continued. until ton. o'clock last night,"'and oven then"it had.to' be. adjourned until -Tuesday. The first speaker in tho afternoon;'tho Hon;- J.. Marshall, talked of West Coast mining matters, and'advpeated ari increase of tho duty on Oregon pirio. - Mr. Trask and Mr. ( Anstey: followed:./Tho latter, who spoke as a practical - : farmer, mado the epigrammatic, assertion that if farming, with all : its diverse - conditions, ' was regulated by tho', Arbitration Court, there must be a different award ..for. every paddock,, a new one : ©very day, "and 'a variation for every change, in. tho,weather. Mr. Loughnan and Mr.' Beehan,'followed ait' the evening sitting., ' ■ .- ' _ • -

: The announcement was -mado yesterday when the" Houso .met r that ithe . Wellington Harbour Board and Reclamation Empowering Bill,,which had been, referred to..the Joint Committee on Standing-' Orders, • had boon classified as a private Bill, and. accordingly . could proceed., as introduced. This will be a relief to those-who desire to see-the "Bill PISS. ..' • ". ■ • ■ The House:at 3 o'clock launched out on a debate that was destined to last until 9.30' o'clock, in tho evening. The Premier moved his motion to set up a committee to decide upon Parliament's- future to which motion Mr. - W., T.' Wood moved an amendment that the committee, have power to report as to tho .advisability,, of removing .tho capital site from Wellington, and establishing it: either at Manawatu, Marlborough, Nelson,: or. WairarapaV .Though' weary' sighs greeted the amendment,- the,'Houso livened- up considerably when. Mr. Laurenson contended that, the capital;.site could, -with advantage, bo planted • somewherein the .province of Marlborough,; the loxact. location 'of the ■ site, however, being not announced. 1 Tho Prime Minister opposed tho. motion;, and- showed that at least, two millions of money would be required as an initial outlay to create: this ." Utopian " city. : Mr. Massey, Mr. Herries,' the Hon. W. Hall-Jones, Mr., J. G. W. Aitkon, and several others , submitted their views, and Mr.-Fisher declared the movement an agitation by tho' Land Nationalists to found a - Land. Nationalists'- city. •; .One remark of-'Mr. ■ Laurenson's • during the discussion is : 'worthy of .special jmektioii; viz. , that this matter was going to bo a plank in many 1 general election ; platforms. At ,9,30. Mr. Wood's amendment,; altered so as. to include all portions of the Dominion in'its scope, was lost: by 42 to 27. The Prime Minister's motion 1 for the setting up of the ■ committee was ■ then carried. , Tho rest of. the • sitting was occupied in putting the Loan Bill through :its .final, stages, which- was accomplished on .the stroke of midnight. '