EXTRA EDITION. PARLIAMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 130, 29 November 1909, Page 8

EXTRA EDITION. PARLIAMENT.

TO-DAY'S SITTING. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Tho House met at 2.30 p.m. Several further petitions were presented in favour of universal compulsory military trainiug. Mr. Speaker, through Mr. Wilford, gave notice to ask for a return showing the amount paid per day to the miners engaged in the State collieries for the year ended 30th October, and details if the accidents which have occurred at the mines during the past two years. Notice was given by Mr. Wilford to ask the Minister of Railways if he will bring down a report as to the cost of the electrification of the railway line between Wellington and Lower Hutt, with a view to running fast motors capable of carrying seventy passengers on the duplicated line. CONDUCT OF BUSINESS. Sir Joseph Ward gave notice to move that on and after Saturday, 4th December, Parliament sit on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. ; local Bills to have precedence, and after them Government business to have precedence. Mr. G. M. Thomson asked the Prime Minister if he would agree to the House sitting from 10 a.m .to 10 p.m. oft three days of the week, and that" two days be set apart for committee work. His reason for asking the question, he said, was that it appeared to him that members were wasting time in the afternoon and in the evening being absent from the House until called upon to vote. It was not an edifying spectacle," and had, he thought, reached the point of a public scandal. Mr T. H. Davey spoke in favour of the House doing its work in the day time, but he believed that many members preferred to speak to crowded galleries in the evening. A Member : Wellington members. Another member : That is go. Mr. Davey believed that the House should sit in the day-time, and do its committee work in the evening. Mr. Hanan pointed out that 1 the experience of New Zealand, Australia, and the House of Commons was that if they wanted new proposals carried they must resort to late sittings. Much of tho waste of time in the House was, he urged, due to party wrangles. He believed that work? would be expedited by clearing the galleries. Replying to • an interjection, Mr. Hanan said that any opposition to the Land Bill by the Radical section of the | House would only be done in a form | consistent with reason. Sir Joseph Ward, in replying, £aid he would prefer sitting from nine to five o'clock. He believed that was the proper way of conducting the business, Such a proposal would not, however, be agreed to by those who wanted to leave Wellington for the week end, although he believed it would v obviate the waste of time caused by members talking to the galleries. It would be one of the greatest reforms ever brought about. If the House met in the morning it should sic until the work of the day was finished. (Left sitting ) TO-DAY'S BUSINESS. The first business on tho Order Paper for to-day is the second reading of the Death Duties Bill, to be moved by the Prime Minister, who, it is understood, will give a full exposition of the desires of the Government under the proposed measure. The Shipping and Seamen's Amendment Bill is the next item on the Order Paper.