PARLIAMENT IN SESSION

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 9, 5 October 1927, Page 12

PARLIAMENT IN SESSION

ALTERATION TO TARIFF PROPOSALS ’ RESTRICTING EXCESSIVE BOND CLEARANCES PROGRESS ON GOVERNMENT BILLS The House of Representatives was in working mood yesterday. Resolutions amending in certain directions the tariff proposals recently framed were introduced and approved, and the Customs Amendment Bill, with the schedules attached, was introduced and read a first time. The feature of the new alterations to the tariff was the reversion to the old rates in several cases, while outstanding in the Bill were provisions dealing with restriction of excessive bond clearances, and with the power to institute retaliatory tariffs. Progress was made with several Government Bills on the Order Paper before the House rose.

A HORNET’S NEST REPORTS FROM CHILDRENS COURTS NO DIRECTION TO MAGISTRATES The difficulties a Minister would encounter if he attempted to advise Mag : strates how 'to administer provisions :6r the Child Welfare Act governing the publication of reports of proceedings in the Children’s Court were referred to by the Minister of Education (Hon. R. A. Wright) in the House of Representatives yesterday, when replying, to Labour suggestions on the subject. The Minister stated that the Act was quite explicit on the question of publishing the proceedings in Children’s Courts. He did not think a Minister could send memos, to Magistrates instructing them as to their duty. While a Minister might sometimes do the right thing, there was a strong probability that he might do the wrong thing. . Even Ministers of the Crown | were not infallible. Labour members: Ha, ha! ■ The Minister: The hon. members are looking for infallible men in the Reform Party, and. they are not to be found in any Partv, not even in the Opposition -Labour members: Name them. (Laughter.) The Minister said that if he interfered with a Magistrate by telling him how he should conduct his Court, he i would be severely criticised by members of the Labour Party. He remembered many years ago that the Minister of Justice was called upon to resign ’ his portfolio and his seat because he had made a suggestion to a judge. A Labour member: That is rather farfetched. The Minister: “It is not far-fetched.” Any Minister who interfered with a Magistrate would be putting his hand into a hornet’s nest. The Act left the matter of. conducting the Children’s Court to the discretion of the Magis trate. ’ ?■. v , Mr. P. Fraser (Wellington Central) : Some of them do not appear to have read the Act properly.: Mr.-Speaker: Order! Order! MAGISTRATE’S COURTS EXTENSION OF JURISDICTION The Magistrate’s Court Amendment Bill was advanced a further stage in the House of Representatives last night. It .was proposed, explained the Minister of Justice (Hon. F. J. Rolleston) to extend the jurisdiction of magisfrate’s cQiirt s' from sums of £2OO to £3OO. An important amendment 1 permitted .the serving'of summonses by registered post.— Last year £14,768 had been paid 'by litigants in undefended cases purely on account of mile- > age. A similar amendment made last year in the Justices of the Peace Act had been tried out and had resulted in 3 large saving. By arrangement with the Post Office the signature of the- reciipentofa summons would be obained. -. and that would be regarded as proof of service. The Bill gave the right of appeal on a nonsuit as well as on a judgment ■ : In reply to questions the Minister ?»' said he would consider extension of the amount of exemption in respect of furniture or tools of trade in cases of attachments for debts. He thought it would throw far too much work on to the. magistrates if the limit of - their jurisdiction was increased to £5OO. He thought £3OO was sufficient in the meantime. After a brief debate the Bill was read a second time and referred to the Statutes Revision Committee. LAND SUBDIVISION RECREATION RESERVES When the annual report on Public Domains was presented to the House of Representatives yesterday, several members urged the repeal of the law which made it mandatory that wherever land wias cut up abutting on a city, or borough, 6 per cent, of the area must be given to the- local authorities for the purposes of recreation grounds. The Hon .D. Buddo (Kaiapoi). and Messrs. D. Jone's (Ellesmere) and G. W. Forbes (Hurunui) supported the suggestion, but Mr. A. Bell (Bay of Islands) voiced his objection lb it. The Minister-in-Charge (Hon. O. J. Hawken) said the question had been very seriously Considered by the Miiiis--1 ter of Lands and by himself. It was quite clear that the Act as it stood did not fully meet the position. He agreed with members that to have a number of-small areas scattered about was not 1 desirable The' Minister of. Lands had in mind the. question of bringing down all amendment to the Act. It was quite evident that.in some of the larger towns the present Act was unsatisfactory, and that a good deal of waste was going on. It 'would be better for the sections to be sold and the money devoted to purchasing more suitable areas. There .was a marked lack of interest in some districts in regard to domains and reserves. Many were in a bad state of neglect. He would convey the representations made to the Minister of Lands, and no doubt something would be done to meet the positio*, '

CHAMBER AND LOBBY NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND ADMISSION OF PRIVATE EMPLOYEES Legislation is to be introduced this session to enable private employers to place all or groups of their emplovees, regardless of age, under the benefit of the National Provident Fund scheme. In advising Mr. A. Harris (Waitemata) to the'above effect in the House of Representatives yesterday, the Minister in charge of the fund (Hon. R. A. Wright) stated that the decision had been arrived at as the result of careful consideration by the Government. Mr. W. D. Lvsnar (Gisborne) : Where will vou get the funds to justify it? The Minister: That point will be quite all right. lam just coming to that. So that there will be no disappointment, I want to indicate that private employers will not be in as good a position aS local bodies, who are in a different position. There will be no additional cost to the. Government under the new legislation. It will be provided for by the firms themselves. PROGRESS ON ESTIMATES ■FORTY-THREE CLAUSES PASSED ■ The classes of the Estimates passed by the House of Representatives at Monday’s sitting were as.follow:— Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Account 39,995 Land for Settlements Account 3,441 Land for Settlements . Account (Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Account) 2,629 Scenery Preservation 4,800 Lands and Survey 169,532 Valuation •— 49,421 Industries and Commerce 34,910 So far 43 classes have been passed, leaving 14 still to be disposed of.. It is expected that the remainder will be dealt with on the next occasion the Estimates are before the House. Amongst them are: Education, £3,003,474; Customs, £176,899; Marine, £118,650; and Pensions, £165,946. ASSAULT BY DETECTIVE SEAMAN PETITIONS PARLIAMENT. Au echo of an incident in which a former Wellington detective figured prominently was heard in Parliament yesterday, when a petition seeking compensation was presented on behalf of Henry Mornington Smith, boilermaker and seaman. Petitioner stated on July 29, 1927, Detective W. R. Cooper, of Wellington, accused him of vagrancy, and, although the accusation was resented, he accompanied the officer to the Taranaki Street. police station, where he produced evidence, that he had been continuously employed since his arrival in New Zealand,, except for two short periods when he was receiving compensation for injuries received during his employment. Without provocation, the detective struck petitioner in the face, and surgical attention was necessitated. As the result of a Departmental inquiry, Detective Cooper was fined £2, and in subsequent civil proceedings petitioner obtained judgment for £24 Ils/ Gd. against him. Cooper was compelled to resign from the force. Petitioner states that he is unable to obtain satisfaction of his judgment, and asks that as he performed a public duty, at a mone-tary-loss to himself, by remaining, in Wellington to give evidence against the ■ detective, he be compensated on that score, as well as for lhe loss he suffered through the assault. £ APIARIES BILL CONTROL OF DISEASE. The Apiaries.Bill was read a s’econd time in. the House of Representatives last night, the Minister of Agriculture (Hon, O. J. Hawken) explaining that the most important amendment extended the power of the inspectors to deal with diseases, including foulbrood. The Bill would assist the industry, which was progressing very well at present. Mr. W. J. Jordan (Manukau) supported the Bill, which, he said, would be a benefit to an industry producing honey to the value of £50,000 annually. Mr. D. Jones (Ellesmere) said the Bill was a drastic one and handed over the industry to the inspector without any right of appeal. He viewed the measure with much concern, and the Bill should be referred-to the Stock Committee (Laughter.) 'The debate was carried on by several speakers including Mr F. Waite (Clntha), who complained of the action of an inspector in ordering him to clear some bees out of his chimney. Replying to the debate, the Minister said that' all the drastic amendments were in the old Bill. The real object of the Bill was to prevent the removal of bees from one field to another. He'was prepared to refer the Bill to the Stock Committee. The'Bill was read a second time ai«cl referred to the Stock Committee.

PARTY DISCIPLINE POSITION OF MR. HARRIS DISPLACED FROM COMMITTEE CHAIRMANSHIP PREMIER’S DECLARATION “All that I can say is, that while I may have made mistakes, tnv conscience is perfectly clear that 1 have never used any legislation, proposed or prospective, nor such influence as I may possess, for the purpose of recognising any other interests than those of the people as a whole.” Tin’s’ declaration was made by the Prime Minister (Right Hon J. G. Coates) in the House of Representatives yesterday, during a discussion, in which Mr. A.' Harris (Waitemata) was the recipient of Opposition sympathy concerning the action of the Industries and Commerce Committee, in not reappointing him as its chairman The subject came up in the form of a resolution moved by the committee’s new chairman, Mr. W. J. Girling (Wairau), in which the committee expressed its appreciation of Mr. Harris’s services as chairman, and asking that the resolution be recorded in the minutes of the House. "It is a most dangerous thing that the Government should adopt the attitude that it will drop a member from a committee simply because, the member concerned takes a position hostile to the Government’s policy in certain directions,” said the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. H. E. Holland), after remarking that some comment should be made on the Government’s quite extraordinary line of action. The Government had first of all dropped Mr. Harris from the committee, and had then, apparently, reconsidered -the matter and decided to appoint him, although not to the chairmanship. The Leader of the Nationalist Partv (Mr. G. W. Forbes) said that when they had a resolution expressing appreciation of the services of the ■ former chairman, it showed that the

committee did not approve of what had been done. It was regrettable that partv discipline should have been thought to include the punishment of a member in the way that had been attempted. Mr P. Fraser (Wellington Central) said the resolution was not so much an appreciation as an epitaph. - (Laughter.) He could not see how Mr. Girling could retain his position as chairman if the House endorsed the resolution. The only consistent thing for him to do was to tender his resignation and retire as gracefully as possible. Mr. H. Atmore (Nelson), speaking as a member of the committee, affirmed that Mr. Harris had filled the Bill properly, and done good work. The election of the new chairman had been carried in a small committee, and they had now done the. fair thing in taking steps to show the country that they did not approve of the action of the Government. A short burst of applause from the Labour benches greeted Mr. Harris when he rose to express his thanks to the committee for the resolution, and ,to members for the complimentary remarks they had made concerning his , association with the committee. “It is no use my saying that I am not disappointed I was not re-elected as chairman of the committee, because I am disappointed,” Mr. Harris continued. Although he was no longer its chairman, he would still continue to take an active interest in the . committee’s work because he believed it had done, and could still do, valuable work for the Government Prime Minister’s. Views. “I think everyone who is acquainted with party warfare and tactics will recognise the little scene, which has been staged this afternoon in an endeavour to show the dominating qualities of the Government and its methods of treating a .member who, it is suggested, is being chastised,” said the Prime Minister. “There is nothing in,the suggestion. Mr, Harris is respected in his district and bv his associates in the House, but he has decided that he must be more independent, that he must not be bound by party shackles, and he is

quite entitled to do so.” Mr. Harris: Independent consistent with mv election pledges, of course. “To say that the Government went out of its way to unduly recognise Mr. Harris’s assumption of independence is ridiculous,” Mr. Coates continued. "Some'time ago Mr. Harris accused the Government of passing legislation to assist its friends, -and he charged the Government with corruption. That, I think, was an unfortunate statement to make. He knows perfectly well that the Government is not guilty of corruption, and that we will have nothing to do with anything of the kind. Doubtless it was in the heat of the moment that he made the statement, and while that may be all right from a member’s point of view it is not possible for a Government to stand under such an imputation. . • . Until that statement is withdrawn, it must be recognised that it is not possible for me to say anything else than that Mr. Harris must follow the line of independence he has chosen to adopt. That is his business, and his alone, and to it one can have no objec-

tion On the other hand, when it comes to the' appointment of a chairman of a committee the Government is entitled to select someone from among its numerous following. Mr. Howard: The committees are supposed to be unbiased. Mr. Coates: They are unbiased, you are a member of several committees. Mr. Coates added that he gave the resolution his cordial support. Nothing Cut and Dried. Mr. Girling said that as. far as he was concerned he knew nothing of what was going to occur at the committee meeting until his name was selected, and he was unanimously elected chairman. He had no feeling whatever in the matter except cue of appreciation of the member for Waitemata as ex--pressed in the resolution. When insinuations were made that the appointment was cut and dried he could only reply that he knew nothing of any. Reform caucus having made any decision in regard to the matter. The resolution was carried.