PARLIAMENT.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 112, 8 November 1910, Page 3

PARLIAMENT.

JOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. •NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND BILL. 'AN ECHO OF THE "£4O STEAL." The House met 'at 7.30 o'clock yesterday evening. NEW BILL. The Westland and Nelson Native Reserves Amendment Bill (Sir Joseph iWard) was read a first time. NATIONAL PROVIDENT FUND. • On the final stages of the National Provident Fund Bill, Mr. Massey said ho thought, the measure contained some serious defects, which, he considered, ,would seriously interfere with its working. One defect was the limitation of the salary of a contributor to £200, and another was that sufficient was not being done for a widow. He should have prei erred to do more for the widow, even if it had been necessary for the State to provide a larger contribution. He also thought the problem of unemployment could have been dealt with by the Bill. As to the State contribution of 25 per cent., he said he did not believe such a large amount would be required. „ Considerable discussion took place on the same lines, all of which were fully set out when the Bill was reported during its committee stage. Most of the criticism was levelled at the limitation of the wages of a contributor to £200 a year, several members urging that it should be £208— or £4 a week. Replying to the debate Sir Joseph iWard twitted the- Leader of the Opposition with bedng always on the look out for votes, and also with haying "forgotten the widow" when the Bill was going .through committee. The limitation of income, he added, was only temporary, it only meant that no one could join the -fund if he got more than £200 a year, but he could continue on the fund no matter how much his wages amounted to. One special feature of the Bill, he added, was the provision made for cases of maternity. If the benefits to the ■widow were increased, the cost of the scheme would be increased both to the ■State and to the contributors. Besides, the Bill was not intended primarily to assist the widow ; that was only a part . of it, but it was designed to help the .widow ..with a large family, who would ■derive very substantial benefits. No incurance company in New Zealand was offering anything like the benefit* proposed under this Bill. For instance, insurance companies required a strict medical examination, and the absence of that requirement was the reason that, under the Bill, no one could obtain the benefit of the scheme until he had been a contributor for five years. To have accepted the suggestion that the maximum salary of a contributor should have been ■raised to £208 would have meant a recasting of th« whole scale. What he wanted was to commence on a fair and strong basis, and he believed the measure would enable a strong fund to be built up, and at the same time confer enormous benefits on the people who adopted the .scheme. The very fact that young people of 16 years of age could joan the fund and become entitled to a benefit of £2 a week in their old age was m itself a very strong argument in favour of the scheme. , The Bill was read a third time and * >aS " c ' NEW BILLS. The following Bills were introduced by Governor's Message, and read a first time •. Old-age Pensions Amendment, New Zealand Loans^ Act Amendment, and the Law of Libel and Slander Amendment Bills. PUBLIC REVENUES BILL. When the Public Revenues Bill cam© up for consideration of repor.t, Mr. Massey moved that the Bill be recommitted so as to enable ,the House to deal with clauses 46 and 47. These he regarded as the most objectionable and iniquitous ever proposed in connection with any law in New Zealand. Clause 46 permitted the Government to make a payment irrespective of any appropriation or limit. Clause 47 permitted the Government to transfer money voted for one work to another. Both were objectionable, and it was under the former clause that the- "±J4U steal" had been carried out. When the Bill was considered in committee on Friday night, it was in the presence of a very "'thin" House, and he now moved tßat it be recommmitted, with a view to the repeal of these clauses. » Sir Joseph Ward replied that the clauses mentioned were rarely, if ever, put into operation, but it was necessary that they should remain in the Bill. What was referred to as the "£4O steal" — an increase to members' honorariums— had been negotiated by an Appropriation Aci. The necessity for such clauses as these could be best illustrated by reminding the House that it, say, an increase in_ the pay of railway employees came into operation in the recess, it could only be carried out by the aid of such a clause. Since 1900 tne clause had only been used seven times. The £40 increase in members'* honorariums had been included in the Appropriation Act of 1900. This had been denied by Messrs. Allen and W. Fraser, but the Act had only to be turned up to prove his words. If these clauses were removed^, then something else would have to take their place to meet cases of emergency. Clause 46 had never been abused, and had been used seven times in ten years. The proposal to recommit the Bill yra,s lost by 34 to 26. IN THE PAST. On the third reading debate, Mr. Anderson taxed Mr. Ell, member for Christchurch South, with having, in 1901, declared that the Public Revenues Bill contained a most mischievous and dangerous clause, in that it gave the Prime Minister the power which in England had been taken away from Kings —the power to spend money without the sanction of Parliament. Mr. Ell : I was in my political swaddling clothes then. Mr. Anderson continued by remarking that in 1901 Mr. Ell had been one of 16 members who voted against this Clause. Now, as Government Whip, the member for Christchurch South refused to vote for the recommittal jpf the Bill in order to strike out this very same clause. Mr. Anderson also twitted Mr. Laurenson with having voted one way in 1901 on this subject, and another Way in 1910. Mr. Ell, in reply, said his change of opinion was justified and he did not regret it. He had not gone back; rather he had gone forward. • He was more experienced now than he was in 1901, and he had, in the interval, witnessed how this clause had been operating in the interests of the Tailway employees and the workers of the country. Mr. Massey said he had no doubt JJr. Anderson would accept Mr. Ell's apology. Mr. Ell : I have made no apology. Mr. Massey : Well, it is -apparent that the hon. gentleman has suffered a change of views on the subject of political honesty.

Mr. Ell : Don't get nasty and angry. Mr. Massey : The hon. gentleman is now Government Whip, and a possible Minister. It is easy to understand his change of views. Mr. Ell : Nonsense. Mr. Massey : It is usual to regard a member filling the position of Senior Whip as a possible Minister. Mi\ Stallworthy said he regretted that the member for Mataura had seen lit to attack the member for Lyttelton in his absence. Mr. LauTenson, he said, was a monument of political consistency, and, like the member for Christchurch South, was respected for his political honesty and consistency. Mr. C. Hall said it "was enough to make one sick" to hear members of the Opposition r talk. Who was the Leader of the Opposition to speak of political honesty and consistency? Had Mr. Massey not to eat his own words when h© declared that the Advances to Settlers Department was a State pawnshop ? Had he nob turned a compete somersault on that occasion, and had he not been dragged at the cart wheels of the Liberal party for years? No member of the House, added Mr. Hall, held a higher reputation for honesty than the member for Christchurch South. (Applause.) Ms. Nosworthy proceeded to state his views on the subject of the necessity for repealing clauses 46 and 47 of the Bill. Mr. Pools, rose to a point of order, and called the attention of the Speaker to the fact that Mr. Nosworthy was reading his speech — a breach of the Standing Orders. Mr. Massey : How often has the Leader of your party read his speeches? No one on this side ever raised an objection to his doing so. Mr. Speaker informed the member for Ashburton that he could not read his speech. Mr. Nosworthy continued to state his objections to the clauses, and urged that the House should lose no time in repealing them. Mr. Wright said he agreed with the sentiments expressed by Mr. Ell in 1901. The power given by this Bill to the Prime Minister was the same dangerous and mischievous power that had been wrested from the King in the days of old. Sir Joseph Ward said the speeches just heard from members of the Opposition were no doubt being put ipto Han sard for a- special purpose. 'There was no doubt that it was intended to use the discussion for electioneering purposes at a later date. With regard to clauses 46 and 47, they had been put into operation in the case of railway employees, in the case of engine-drivers and firemen, to pay officers of the House additional salaries in view of the length of the session, and to pay for renovation, etc., at Government House. All these payments were subsequently affirmed. An attempt had been made to make political capital out of the extra payment of £40 to members, made in 1901. Vet it was a strange thing that no member had ever got up in the House since ,then and proposed the repeal of tho Act providing that increase. The Bill was then read a third time and passed. COUNTIES BILL. In Committee on the Counties Amendment Bill, the Hon. R. M'Kenzie said that in the last ten years Rotorua County had received £69,000 in road grants, Awakino £35,600, Manukau £36,000, and Eden £7075. He thought it was time they had the Act operating in these counties, but ho was willing to allow seventeen months' grace if the counties concerned desired it. The Bill was reported with amend ments. FINAL STAGES. The Companies Amendment Bill, the Judicature Amendment Bill, the Justices of the Peace Amendment Bill, and Ihe Education Reserves Amendment Bill were put through their final stages. STONE QUARRIES. The amendments made in the Stone Quarries Bill by the Legislative Council were considered, and were agreed to with the exception of new clause 14 (bringing quarries under the operation of the Factories Act). A committee was appointed to draw up reasons for so disagreeing. ' The House rose at 0.50 a.m.