POLITICAL FARCE. ANOTHER EVENING WASTED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 28, 1 August 1907, Page 7

POLITICAL FARCE. ANOTHER EVENING WASTED.

ANGRY WORDS AND WARM PROTESTS. PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. Another political faice was enacted in the Housß last night. At 8 p.m. , the Noxious Weeds Bill was Teached. Mr. R. M'Kenzio took' charge of his Bill, and Mr. Tanner was votjed to the chair. Mr. Fisher, after Mr. '.Heke had spoken, moved to report progress. He said two important Bills — Abolition of Plural Voting and- Flour Duty Abolition — appeared immediately after the one before the committee on the order paper. The Noxious Weeds Bill was being deliberately used to strangle discussion on two veTy important measures. It would be easy to see by the -division list who were in favour of wasting time; Ihe Sill had boen befoio the committee from 3 p.m. till midnight last wcok, and not » single thing had been accomplished. Mr. R. .M'Kenzie hero interjected "Nonseßie." Mr. Fisher: ''The me&ber in charge of the Bill 'says 'Non'seijEo.' Why, when the scope of his Bill was limited to, Unison province, he abandoned it, but tij}>n he took it lip -again, for some extraordinary Teason. If -this eort of thing Is to' os allowed to continue," he concluded, vl 'l hope the country will take notice of it. I move to report progress." , i Mr. M'Konzie got Up to defend his legislative child. There was no reason to report progress, he said. Tho 'Bill was a. very important one, and requrrod' to be fully discussed. Gi course the inexperhnce of the member for Wellin^m Central led. him- into many errors. OHit Bill was far more important thatf.'any other on tha order paper. Ths people in the Auckland district were anxious about the Bill. ' ; Mr. Fisher ietoited that he did not know whether ho would not sooner fotar the taunt of inexperience than the, taijnt of decay > Mr. M'Kenzio : . You'll, be , that' way soon. ' ' ■ • i< Mr. Fisher : He knows that hief' Bill has been mutilated and that ifc ia-now only being used n& a subterfuge. If the Hous3 will not Report progress then "ifc means that the House is determined to waste time. The motion was lost by 33 votes to 16, the division list being as follows :, — Ayes (16)— Messrs. Aitken. Arnold, Barber, Fisher, day, Hogg', Izard, Jennings, Laurcnson, jNlTJacSlan, /Malcolm, Ngata, Okey, Poole, StaUworthy, Stevens. Noes i35)— J. Allen, Barclay, Benaett, Bollard, Colvin, Davey, Dillon, Durrcnn, Platmaa, Graham, Grcsnslade, Hall, Hanan, Heke, Herries, HJornsby, Houston, Kidd, Lethbrhjgc, H'Gowau, -jR. MTveuzle, T. Mackenzie, M*N»b, Macphersoii, Mander, Massey, Millar, PHr^Lta, Poland, Ross, Rutherford, Symes, Witty. A PAINFUL DISPLAY. Mr. Symes then commenced to show why Auckland city should be included in the ccopo of the Bill. This was the point where the ' Houeo had left off the previous evening. - As soon as the member for Patea had resumed his seat, Mr. Fisher, rose a&d said: "I move that you do leave the chair." This elicited an appeal from Afdssra. Flatman and Colvin, who' asked th«» committee to stick to tho BUI and refuse to countenance the move of" the member £or Wellington Central. ' ' On division Mr. Fisher's motion wag , lost., tho figures being: For 16, against 31. Mr. T. Mackenzie urge 3 members to discuss the merits of tho Bill and settle the question one way or the other. He was not afraid of Mr. Hogg's Bilib. He was op"poEed to the abolition of the flour duty, and ho wanted tho present system of voting adhered to. Mr. lzard said ho was not afraid to state his views on Mr. Hogg's legislative* propositions. Mr. lzard also took advantage of the opportunity to deny that he had taken any part in the stonewall on the previous occasion. Mi: Heke mado a statement which, extended over five or seven minutes, and Mr. Gresnslado followed, whereupon Mr. Heke discovered a point of order., Mr. Tanner (in tho thair) failed to 6e» eye to cyo with him and asked him to resume his scat. Mr. Heke, however, stuck to his "point," and a "sccUe was narrowly averted. A VIGOROUS PROTEST. Here Mr. Laurenson rose to his feet, ne said tho Bill had been before tho House for many years now, aad he had not spoken on it once. "Matters have now come to Such a pass," be said, "that tho member in charge of the Bill, for the sake of the honcur of the House, should withdraw il. We lenow what this buffoonery means. We know thftre are two Bills — behind this one — which certain members object to. I have taken no part in the discussion because I have too much raspsct for Parliament. If members have no respect for. themselrea certainly we ought to have for Parhamsnt. If there is one ihing which brings Pp.rliamcntAiy institutions into contempt, it is the sort cf thing we have listened to to-night." He absolved Mr. M'Kenzio from any blame, but he must realise that a number of members were opposed to his Bill, and a number were prepared to use it as a stalking-horse". Mr. T. Mackenzie (Wankoniti) had sai«j hc> Was opposed to Mr. Hogg's -Bills'. Wei! he (Mr. Laurpnscaj'hftd no objection to anybody knowing how bo would vote. He would support both me«surcs. "I hope," he caid, ia conclusion, "that members will be men and behave themselves." Mr. Gray made a similar appsal. Mr. M'Kenzio hotly declined to with' draw his measure. As to Mi 1 . .Lauvonson's request, ho declared that "it would be much more appropriate from the pulpit than frdm tho floor of this chanibor." He suggested that mombors should: got to division at once if you would onJy keep quiet," he added. He p.lro thought ib advisable in say that, "hs had as much respect for the House as any other 'member." Mr. James Allen also spoke. "Talk about tho honour of Parliament," he said, "there are better ways of upholding it than by crawling under the table." ' I Th<J member for Lyttelton described the member for Bruce as a fine actor. "All his tragic warmth was simulated," . Mr. Laurenson declared, "and the House knows it. Mr. Allen also knows',that there is no man in this Houso who could give him a better dressing down than I could. I could skin him, but 1 will let him off thin time on condition that ha is a better boy !' ! Having thus delivered himself, the member lor Lyttelton walked out o£ the chamber. Mr. Hoke then came upon the .&cen» with an amendment to have such portions of the Northern" Maorir^'ay. of Island, Egmont, and Kaipara electorate* as come within tho Auckland- land dis. trict excluded from the operation of the Two hours had vow beeu waited, and the- 1 House adjourned for supper. At 10 p.m. the proceedings wete'tosumed. Mr. Heke's amendment was lost on a division, aiyi Mr. StaUworthy Utfled a somewhat similar pro D osi£ioni .

A crop of suggestions arose out of the last amendment., Mr. Greenslade was most frequently in evidence, and this fact led Mr. Poole to interject : "You aro like a phonograph. Yon are always turning on the same record !" "COMPROMISE SUGGESTED. It was now 11 p.m., and the House had done nothing. - In response to a suggestion made by Mr. Ngata, the member in charge of the Bill (Mr. M'Kenaie) announced that he was prepared to add a new clause making the operation of the Bill permissive, i.e., that the law should only be enforced after a majority of ratepayers in a particular locality bad so decided by vote. • This did not please Mr. Rutherford, and he announced that if thare was any danger of his district coming under the Act he would opposo tho measure in every legitimate way. Mr. M'Kenzie was somewhat nonplussed. Ho cast aside his suggested new clause; Mr. Stallworthy adhere to his amendment and the dismal volume of talk continued. Mr.- Hall moved to report progress at 11.30 p.m., but he was defeated by 28 Votes" to 30. I ..Mr., Stallworthy's amendment was also lost. -The -time up to midnight was filled up with further talk. A PEACE OFFERING. Anxious to see the end, £ho Premier intimated that if progress was reported he would move the adjournment of the House. • ' Progress, was accordingly reported, and the Premier moved the adjournment. Mr. Hogg once again rose and made a spirited protest. He said it was the sacred privilege of members to 'introduce legislation which they thought would be in 'the interests of the country, and he had exercised that privilege. The House had trifled .With the business of the country and a 'number of private Bills had been -kept back at the instance of tho Chairman of Committees. .Mr, Hogg was compelled to withdraw this expression. He wont op to say that lie only desired the expression of members on the Bills he had introduced. Ho did not care whether they were passed or not. -.Tho House had been playing the fool, and not a single Minister had rose to" protest; ■ Parliament was being demoralised. All -he could do was to enter'his 'protest. It pained him to notice the, conduct of some of the new members. He 'declared that "ho "would hot relax M 3 efforts*. to have hJ3 Bills discussed. Mr. R M'Kenzie said he had equal rights with the member for Masterton. He nad no objection to Mr. Hogg's Bills. One" of them he would certainly oppose — the other he was indifferent to. - Messrs. Flatman and Greenslade denied tHat they had blocked the business of the country. ..Mr. r Hogan, in tho course of a brief speeclr,- deprecated the weste of. time that had taken place, and suggested that the Premier should do something to jirevent the blocking of business. Reform in Parliamentary procedure was necessary. -The display the House had been treated to had been disgusting to many members. ■ Sir Joseph Ward 6aid the Government was in no. way responsible for what had occurred. He* agreed with Mr. Hogan that there was need for expediting business, me previous day he had to spend nine hours in tho second reading of A' Bill, and he had a ri^tt to complain. The member for Masterton had no right' to -lay blame on the shoulders of the Government. For years and years back, time had been wasted on private members' day. It made one wonder whether "private members' day" was of any use at all. Mr. Hogg would be consulting tho feelings of members if he postponed one of his measures — the othef. could be determined on a straight out-vote on the tariff. The House adjourned at 12.40.