THE HOUSE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1191, 28 July 1911, Page 7

THE HOUSE.

BUSINESS COMMENCED. - After the opening ceremony, the H6use ftlet for business. Notice was given of a large number of motions for returns, and introduction of Bills, etc., The; Mental Hospitals Amendment' Bill was introduced ,by Governor's Moj.sage and read a first time. The Expiring Laws Continuance Bill (Sir James Carroll) was read a first time. Mr. . 1. JENNINGS (Taumanumij gave notice to »move the Addross-in-Keply. ■ T "« Go Tnr ?°r's proclamation announcing t«£ Roy,il Assent (o the Shipping and Seamen s Amendment Act of last session was read by the Speaker. OBITUARY. SIR JAMES CARROLL, Acting-Premier, referring to (he death of the Into Hon. \\. C. Smith, M.L.C.. said he was sure he would have the House with him in proposing a motion of appreciation and of sympathy with the deceased legislator's widow and family. The late Mr. Smith had been always'a public-spirited citizen, and had takeu a keen interest in local and general politics. Though quiet and unostentatious in manner, lie was a painstaking and diligent legislator, and was ever a friend of the struggling settler. The Acting-Premier moved: "That (lie House record its appreciation of the services rendered to the Legislature of the Dominion by the late Hon. Jlr. W. C. Smith, and tender assurances of its sincere sympathy to. his widow and family." Mr. MASSEV (Leader ,of the Opposition) joined with the Acting-Premier in all that he had said about the late Mr. Smith. The latter had shov;n himself a strong, unassuming man, with plenty of practical commonsense. At the same time, he had been always ready to assist the distressed. Mr. HALL (Waipawa) said he had bad the honour of knowing the late Mr. Smith for the past thirty years, and had been associated with him on several Jocaj bodies. Mr. Smith was a. man of keen perceptions and. of deop sympathy with those who needed it. lew were aware of the amount of good ho had done in the electorate in which the speaker had succeeded him. Tho Hon. T. Y. DUNCAN, (Oamaru), speaking as an old associate of Mr. Smithes, declared that there had never broil in the House a. warmer-hearted or more sympathetic man than ,the honourable gentleman, whose loss they now deplored. Mr. Smilh had had the interests of settlers particularly at heart. The'motion was carried. On tho motion of tho Acting-Premier, it was agreed that the Houso adjourn until 2.30 p.m. to-day, as a mark of respect to the memory of the late Hon. \v. C. Smith. PETITIONS. A number of veterans of the Maori Wars, resident in the Wanganui district, all of whom are in possession of the NewZealand war medal, have.presented a petition to the House of Representatives asking that they may be granted some recompense for their services: by way of military pension or otherwise. The petitioners claim that the present peacetul and prosperous state of tho Dominion is largely dim to t.hoir services during the Maori War of 1860 to 1870. They number thirty-eight", some of them are over eighty years nf age, and none are under the age of sixty. The petition was presented, on their behalf, by Mr. J, T. Hogan (Wanganui).

Mr. D. M'Laren (Wellington East) lias presented a petition on behalf of James Wilson who asks tor compensation from the Government on account of injuries receivrd while he was engiged in t'lio work of coaling 11.M.5. Challenger, from Ihe collier U'airuna, in Sydir'y. oil May ril, 1900. Wilson asks 111 at ho bo given either a monetary grant, or some permanent. employment in the Government service. Mr. W. T. Jennings has presented a petition to (lie of Representatives in which Taonni Hikaha and Tntahanea, members of the Maniapoto tribe, pray that. legislation may be passed which will clearly define the jurisdiction of the Native .Land Court, so that the ownership of the Hangitoto Tulnn Block, Numbers: 1, 2, and 7' (otherwise known , as Pukuweka) may be inquired into without Oho petitioners lying trammelled by previous decisions', which, tlioy allege, prerent. the Court from deciding the matter in accordance with justice.