NEARING THE END

Evening Post, Volume XC, Issue 88, 12 October 1915, Page 8

NEARING THE END

WORK OF THE SESSION FINAL MEASURE DISCUSSION ON APPROPRIATION BILL. The last measure to be dealt with by Parliament this session was the Appropriation Bill, which was introduced by the Minister of Finance (Sir Joseph Ward) at 11.45 a.m. to-day. Most of the clauses were old friends, inserted for machinery purposes, but there were several new clauses at the end. Clause 21 provided for the payment of house allowance to members of the Executive Council whether in receipt of a salary or not. Clause 22 validated the payment of travelling expenses by the Auckland Harbour Board in excess of the legal limit. Clause 23 made provision for the payment out of the Consolidated Fund of any sums required for the purchase of wheat from Canada' or elsewhere. Clause 25 authorised expenditure from the fund established for the equipment of the second hospital ship, and the final clause (26) provided that during the currency of the war local authorities could not borrow money without the consent of the Governor in Council. The Bill was read a first and second time. In Committee, Dr. Newman objected to clause 26. He also criticised clause 25, authorising the Governor to expend the funds for the hospital ship as he saw fit. He did not like to introduce the Governor's name on the floor of the House, but the overplus money from the last hospital ship had been diverted in other directions when it should have gone towards the second ship. Sir Joseph Ward replied that there was no "surprise packet" in the Bill, as contended by Dr. Newman. Clause 26 was to prevent local bodies from forcing th© rate of interest up when there was 210 necessity for it. The operations of the clause would only last as long as the war with Germany. As a matter of fact, in London all borrowing by local bodies without legal consent had been stopped for some time. As to clause 25, the Governor did not hold or control the money collected for the hospital ship. They were paid into a public account and administered by the Department of Internal Affairs. The clause was inserted only for the purposes of administering the fund. Touching on clause 23, Mr. J. M'Combs complained 'that a loss of £93 a 7OO had been sustained in connection with the purchase of Canadian wheat. What was the sum total of this glorious effort to save the situation? Bread had gone up to lOd per loaf, and the wheat from Canada arrived weeks after we had started our own milling. " The Prime Minister: That is not so. Mr. M'Combs went on to ask what was being done with the money that had been raised in excess of the requirements of the Hospital Ship Maheno. Sir Joseph Ward said that had nothing to do with the Government expenditure. At 1 p.m. the Chairman left the chair until 2.30 p.m. • After the luncheon adjournment sixteen clauses out of the twenty-six in the Bill were put through Committee in five minutes. A siib-clause was added to clause 17, providing for the payment of members' expenses in addition to their travelling expenses from 4th to 19th August during the adjournment of Parliament. Clause 25 was objected to by Mr. J. Payne, who contended that the funds subscribed for the hospital ship should be expended only on the ship and its equipment. Dr. Newman also objected to the clause. The funds were subscribed for a specific purpose, and a large number of people were very much disappointed at the way some of the money for the last ship was diverted. Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh moved the following subclause to clause 26 : " Pro vided that nothing in this section shall affect loans to any local authority of sums of money by way of deposit." The Chairman declared the subclause lost on- the voices, but Mr. Hindmarsh called for a division. The amendment was lost by 11 votes to 32. The Bill, with its schedules, was reported to the House at 2.57 p.m. On the motion for the third reading, Mr Hindmarsh complained of the manner in which the employ era were treating the Arbitration f Court. (Proceeding.)