HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 106, 31 October 1913, Page 3

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

"The House continued' its sitting after The Post went to press yesterday afternoon. RATING MAORI LANDS. The Rating Amendment Bill was, on the motion of the Hon. Mr. Herries, read a second time pro forma, and referred to the Native Affairs Commit* tee. BEER DUTY. • The Hon." F. M. B. Fisher, moved the third reading of the Beer Duty Amendment Bill. The Bill was read a third time and passed after a brief discussion. SCIENCE AND. ART. The House went into Committee on the Science and Art Bill. A number of amendments were moved by the Minister, . the principal alteration in ' the body of the Bill being the setting up of a Dominion Library. A new clause was inserted to overcome the objection of other town& to the establishment of a National Gallery in Wellington. The new clause provides that all pictures or other works of art purchased for the Dominion Art Gallery out of moneys ap- j propriated by Parliament may, on application in that behalf, be temporarily transferred for exhibition to such public art galleries as the board from time to time direct. Applications under this section may be made by the governing bodies of such galleries, but such governing bodies shall, if required, furnish to the Dominion Art Gallery a sufficient number of works to fill the places of those transferred. -The cost of such transfer shall be defrayed by the Government. Mr. Anderson objected to this provision, as calculated to destroy the value of the National Gallery if the pictures were perambulating all over the country. Mr. Fisher contended that the provision was more likely' to stimulate the artistic activities of the people, as each centre would obtain a view of all the important pictures purchased and would in return send to Wellington on loan pictures in their possession. The clause was adopted and the Bill was reported with amendments. RAILWAYS BILL. The Hon. W. H. Herries moved the second reading of the Government Railways Amendment Bill. He outlined the main provisions. The principal amendments were with regard to the question of level crossings, and in respect to the holding of public enquiries into railway accidents. He took it that the llouso was agreed as to the necessity for the Railway Department doing something to protect level crossings. The Department was willing to do something with regard to enquiries into accidents. He thought that the provisions of the Bill would be acceptable to the House and to the country. Under the existing law the Minister had no power to authorise a public enquiry. New Zealand had ; been singularly fortunate in ' having experienced comparative freedom from serious railway accidents. ' The crux of the whole Bill was in regard to the schedule. As far as the first division was concerned he thought that the members of it had got all if not more than they had contended for. He referred to the substantial advances, and mentioned that the various proposed increases would considerably enhance the cost of working the railways. It was essential to have a contented service. Replying to several interjections 1 as to the importation of the General Masiager of Railways at a salary of £3000 a year, the Minister pointed out that the leading officers were to be given substantial increases — from £800 to £1000. He wm quite satisfied that liter * year member* .would be convinced th*t th*

salary paid to the new manager was money well spent. Sir Joseph Ward thought it was gratifying to find that the men in the first division were to receive the increases they were entitled to. Touching the importation of a general manager, the Leader of the Opposition objected to the principle of the appointment. He proposed to divide the House upon the salary. He would not do it because the gentleman appointed was not a capable man. As a matter of fact he thought the General Manager was a capable man, and should obtain from members on both sides of the House fair play during the time he 'occupied the position. He (Sir Joseph) was opposed to the principle involved. Our railways were getting on for forty years of age, and there had. been few accidents. Surely it was not necessary to go abroad for a man to fill the high post. If the railways had been going to the dogs, he could have understood. He desired it to be known that he wished the new General Manager well. The Leader of the Opposition went on ' to refer to the freedom enjoyed by the railway service from the Public Service Board. It was a pleasure to approach the Minister of Railways. The Bill was a good one, and he would do all he could to get it through. He hoped that speedy steps would be taken to put the men in the second division on a better footing. He would like to see it done this session. Mr. Veitch followed, and proceeded carefully to analyse the varied clauses, borne amendments would, he thought be required while the Bill was in its Committee stage, and he hoped that before then they would have the regulations so as to enable members to more intelligently discuss the provisions of the Bill. He urged the Minister to provide that members of the Service should have the right to be represented by advocates from the Service at the various enquiries It was his opinion that the railwaymen could conduct their technical cases better than lawyers. He thought that the importation of a gentleman for the position of .General Manager was a mistake in policy. He hoped an effort would be made to meet, the wishes of the Second Division as expressed in the petition now before the House. He praised the increases already projected for other departments; and submitted that the country would be well repaid by the increased loyalty and efficiency. Mr.. H, G. Ell complained of the inadequacy of the provision for officers in the Stores Department. He argued that it was false economy to .deny adequate salaries to those who had very important duties in the control of materials of very large value. He hoped to see more encouragement given to those capable of suggesting improvements in various Departments, and • recommended the estab : lishment of a board io make awards for useful ideas. He urged that casual workers should liave 1b 3d an hour and a reduction of hours to forty-five a week. Mr. Hanan urged that' Civil servants should be allowed to take a part 'in civic matters, though not' in politics, and that the opportunities of passing from one division to the other should be increased. Replying to the debate,- the Minister of Railways said it -was noo intended to take away any rights now possessed by a member of the Service or by any probationer/ but the idea was that every person who joined the Service should be on probation for three years. Tie trouble with the Appeal Board, he went on to say, was that the Department was not represented, and -therefore the Minister had to hold the right of veto. But for that he would be prepared to abandon that right. He -would be only too glad to get rid of the right of veto, but he could not get rid of 'it as the. Appeal Board was . at constituted. He looked into both sides of the .case before he exercised his power of veto. For the past two years, he said, he had been endeavouring to get a contented and a continuous staff, and he believed the House -would agree that' its proposals were in that direction. He ,was prepared to submit the draft regulations to the Railways , Committee confidentially. Later he hoped to reduce freight charges, but the present outlook was not reassuring, and what was happening at Auckland and Wellington did. not give any increased hope. Expenses were going up, and that was going on everywhere. In New South Wales, for in6tanc,e^ there was an enormous increase' in expenditure and a small 'increase in revenue. The Bill was read a 'second time on the voices and referred to the Railways Committee. , POST AND TELEGRAPH. The Postmaster-General moved the second reading 1 of the Post and Telegraph Amendment Bill, the main features of which have already been' published. One of the principal provisions is to increaso the amount of deposits on which interest will be paid from £600 to £1000. \ Sir Joseph Ward complained of the excessive cost of wireless telegrams from New Zealand stations to ships arriving and departing, more especially as we possess the most up to date installation in the world. Also he wanted to know what was being done about a State-own-ed Atlantic cable, about which he had made j frequent representations. Until that was done the communication would not be complete, and rates could not be lowered. He believed the wireless system was going to operate in the direction of lowering cable rates. In the course of Mb reply the Minister said he was not going to provide for slot telephones at the expense of country telephones. As to wireless telegraphy, he said there were m&ny foreign vessels coming here, and it was not proposed to interfere with their operations at the present time. * The Bill was read a second time on the voices, and referred to the Public Accounts Committee. The House rose at 0.30 a.m. '