POLITICAL NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 5, 6 July 1922, Page 7

POLITICAL NOTES

THE DAY IN PARLIAMENT

If a fee were charged lor admission to Parliament," and that august body had an advance agent and business managtr, the House of Representatives would certainly have adjourned at & o'clock yesterday afternoon to get a big "house" in the evening.. As it was,\the people who, by waiting or early application for tickets, had secured seats for the.evening arrived to find the biggest business already done., Mr, Massey had made hia statement concerning the cut in Public Service salaries, and ,the Leader of the Opposition had moved his amendment td the Address-in-Reply. The Prime Minister said that it was intended to withdraw £10 of the bonus from Public servants in receipt bi more than £190 and £5 from those in receipt of less than £190.. There was. no opportunity immediately of debating this announcement, but some members, especially on the Labour benches, appeared to be saying quite as much; as Mr/ Massey while the latter was speaking. Of course the discussion had. to end as soon, as Mr. Massey sat down. : Then there was a little bout on a Proportional Representation Bill. About 4.20 p.m. Mr. Wilford rose to move his amendment, which condemned the , Government on five grounds; 'failure to introduce a new election system, extravagance, failure to table the Economy. Committee report, failure to prevent of land, and failure to deal satisfactorily with unemployment. It was a long list of failings, and Mr. Wilford was unable to cover the whole ground in,, the hour allowed him. He spoke vigorously, and obviously enjoyed himself when showing how the Government had fallen from grace in the matter of proportional representation. • Just as obviously did the Minister "of Agriculture (the Hon. W. Nosworthy) enjoy replying to the criticism, particularly when, in the language of his Department, he predicted that at tEe next General Election the Liberal Party would "go down like stobble before the plough," and when he professed ' to see proof of an alliance between the Liberal and Labour parties. Mr. Veitch confined himself to a subject on which he feels thoroughly at home—the mis-! demeanours of the Railway. Department -=-but Sir John Luke went further afield on to Imperial topics. He finished: at 10.35 p.m., when Mr. J. T. Horn (Waka- j tipa) moved the adjournment of the de^ bate and the House iose.j SOUTH ISLAND SANATORIUM. A site for a South Island consumptive sanatorium has been acquired, stated the Minister of Health (the Hon. C. J. Parr) yesterday, in reply to Mr. J. Croieie (Timaru). The site is 1300 acres Up. tenure at Waipiata, Central Otago, and it has been acquired on the recommendation of a committee representing nine hospital boards, and the Director-Gen-eral of Health. The cost is, about j £3500. The price for the property, offered by Dr. Byers was considered too high, and the sit« acquired is almost noct door and equally suitable. The Government will now confer .with.the committee concerning the buildings, the whole cost to be equally divided between the Government and' the boards. The Minister said also that it was'proposed to advertise in England for a T. B. specialist: to. take ;charg© of the new sanatorium. ■-,"■•' ■.-■■-'•• ■" ■ . , THE TWO OPPOSITIONS. The Minister of Agriculture professed to see in the statements of the Leader of the Opposition yesterday, indications of agreement with the Official Labour Party. For instance, Mr. Wilford, had proclaimed himself, an/advocate of proportional representation and an "opponent of immigration. ■ . ■ Mr.. Wilford :"Yespat present."-..''•■ Mr, JNosworthy twitted the Opposition with being in complete agreement with the Labour Party on these points. What difference was there between the parties? Mr. Wilfoid :'"We stand for Krng aad country." . ' „.,'..'. Mr. Nosworthy suggested that there was proof of the affiance between the two oppositions. '.•.■;. (( Mr. W. E. Parry (Auckland Central): "We will have something: to gay about that.'1- . . , . ■ Mr.'Nosworthy said there wa* a third plank nailed down by the two oppositions —that of a State bank. . Mr. Wilford: "If they .weren't nailed down your party would thieve them.' 1 THEY A:rX DECLINED. When nominations for the position* of Chairman of Committees of the Legislative Council were asked for yesterday seventeen nominations were received, that might be taken as an indication of < keen competition for the post, but in' Teality it Was merely the result of a new Standing Order requiring each member present to nominate three candidates.. In fact, when Mr. Speaker read out.-the nominations sixteen councillors rose to their feet and.disclaimed all intention of standing for election. They one and all withdrew their names leaving the former Chairman (the Hon. 0.. Samuel) the only nominee. Mr. Samuel was~duly declared elected. ' , BENEFITING YOUNG MEN,' An urgent plea to the Government to place the peace-time defence organisation on as good a footing as possible was made by the Hon: Dr. Collins in the Legislative Council yesterday. He made it plain that lie did not aek for this because he feared a war, but because he was convinced that nothing else did so much good to the young manhood of the country as the ti-aining and discipline received in the military forces. Nothing near the same result was obtained by physical exercises alone. DOUBTFUL OF RESULTS. . The mover of the Address-iu-Reply in the Legislative Council yesterday; spoke j hopefully of the work of the Washington Conference, but he did not secure the. support of his seconder. The latter was the. Hon. Colonely Smith who frankly declared that he was rather cynical about, these conferences. While he hoped sincerely that war was far off, he was ex-, ' tremely doubtful whether this was acI tu.illy so. To him it seemed' that the j Washington Conference had merely provided a breathing space for the nations, who had felt the need for a chance to recover from the strain of the Great War. Though on paper there had been' a limitation of naval armaments, in.reality the effect was small, for the arms affected by the limitation would be of little use in future wars—the great capital ships, for instance, had been proved to be vulnerable to attack from the air. Some might mention the submarine and gas resolutions, but the Great War had proved that ho agreement was binding on a nation fighting for its existence. He did not give utterance to those comments with a desire to injure,, the work of the conference, but to show that there was still need for proper safeguards. ■NE TEMERE DECREE. i An Australian priest, Father Forrest, of the Sacred Heart Monastery, Kensing-. ton, recently stated, according to a. Bydj ney cablegram, that,the No Temere De- | oree is still in full force here, despite the I Mwms© Amendment Act, 1920, paesed

by the New Zealand Parliament.'■'■" Thii" assertion was the subject of _a question- , to the Leader', of the Legislative .Council by the Hon. •M. Cohen, of Dunedin.] -V Replying yesterday, Sir William Frasrai said that what • Mr'. Massey had. stated! : v to the Bey. Mr.' Wilson was to the ef-". feet that the Marriage Act of .1920 wad: working., quite to his satisfaction, and *-. that he was unaware of any complaiii* having been made with regard to its Sir William added that the Registrar General, in .response to an inquiry, hadV. stated .that" he had not. reported: to the ■•! Government any instance of a priest o( the Roman Catholic Church,'or the clergj', of any other religious denomination,.oj fering to treat the'Marriage-Act vrith contempt, The Registrar ' Genera! ha*.' further stated that, so far. asthe'-PeparS" '■■"'■ ment was concerned, the Act was Kftll? ing satisfactorily.'.', ..';.." - f_ ,:•■.' . Members: "Hear, hear.'e '. ■ -.:■ :;. '. RELIEVING SOLDIER,'-SBOTJERR-y'; Am important statement: relating. !t<ftf soldier settlers was mad*. by. the Itf ioister of Lands (the Hori. D. H. Guthriaj in the House of Representatives yesterday. . . ■■■■. ''.■ ' • .;.-:,, -:} ■'.%■", '■'■ The1 Minister was asked.by Mr.v,WV-S^ >, .Glenn (Rangitikei) iwh&t" steps"'the\G«w« .'■ erament, had taken with -a view to r»; lieving soldier .settlers' who were expert encang difficulties. • He replied 'that th«l Government had the,matter inpsti , earnest consideration. The farmers had been confronted by .'.difficulties which they had not experienced"' before, and the soldier, settlers unfortunately 'shared in that experience.' The Government..liaci to take into consideration the position? of the soldier settlers and the' financial!', position of the country as a whole. Han was prepared to come down;with;proJ posals that wonld substantially. reduces the burden upon the soldiers; but he? could not say'more till the matter :hadj been considered by Cabinet. He believed! the. proposals would be acceptable, to;his\ colleagues, . and that Tie:',wpttld"shortlyi ' be in a position tq announce measures^ iiS benefit to the soldiers,> . . .- { "."' '.'(■' ■ LICENSING OOMMirarffi'SREPOBTi . In reply to questions by Mr."W;':,'T.| Jennings (Waitomo) it was stated in tlietj'. House of Representatives yesterday : the Licensing Committee set up last aes-f sion, and which heard evidence ..during the recess, had not yet fraaned. its-rjaj port, but would meet! to do, sointhv course of a few days. '!'. "V' " '.'. PROPHETS AND 'VICTORIES; . ,_'■ "My prophecies have/the knack of be* ing fulfilled," said the Prime' Minister*' when some reference was made to thel General Election' yesterday. .// T"They did not come troe.;at.,Durieclini,j North," said a Labour, member; ',;;■. The Prime Minister.*rejoined- that; iSf \ was a moral victory, for the Government ■anyway.' ' .;' : '■■•■'.'.' ..:V':.".-;". ;:.' i'^ Mr. M'Comtis: "Yon, can have a htro/ ' dred' of .them in December if you- like.' \ s Mr. Massey (smiling): '.'Does'.thafl mean Dunedin North was an immpra Labour'victory?1' (Laughter.)-". .'1- : v; ".-